BU Research Blog

January 20, 2017

HE policy update w/e 20th January 2017

EU, Global engagement, international, policy, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, Research news, Research Training, RKE development framework, Student Engagement jforster

Higher Education and Research Bill – the Bill continues its committee stage in the Lords, with long and lively debates. Only government amendments have been approved so far, apart from last week’s amendment to clause 1. The list of amendments has continued to grow in the meantime, there is a genuine risk that they may not get through it all and run out of time. The next sessions are 23^rd, 25^th and 30^th January. Some interesting new proposed amendments over the last week:

ensuring name and gender blind assessment on application and on marking for all student assessments at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels – Lord Desai
power for the Office for Students (OfS) to initiate investigations (including a student perspective) into changes to the admissions system and the system of degree classification – Lord Lucas
preventing changes to the repayment of loans – Lord Watson
banning cheating services (see Contract Cheating below) – Lord Storey
amending the ‘balanced funding principle’ to ‘long-term, stable block grant’ to facilitate strategic research development investment – Lord Stevenson
reserving funding for Research England whenever new grants are awarded to UKRI – Lord Liddle

Research Professional cover the Minister’s uncompromising stance towards amendments. They suggest the Government is listening and may yet propose amendments to address some of the issues raised by the Lords, but points out that there is a risk of further symbolic resistance as more Lords ‘dig their heels in’.

Immigration

in response to comments in the HERB debates in the Lords, when concerns were raised about using the TEF to limit student visas, Lord Younger informed the House of Lords during the HE bill committee stage that the government has “no plans to cap the number of genuine students who can come to the UK to study, nor to limit an institution’s ability to recruit genuine international students based on its teaching excellence framework rating or any other basis. This applies to all institutions, not just to members of the Russell group.”
The Home Affairs Committee invited written submissions for an immigration inquiry in December with a deadline of 20 January, however, it has been confirmed submission will be accepted after the deadline. BU is not proposing to respond to this as we already provided evidence on staff and student mobility after Brexit to the Education Committee, which is continuing its hearings. The next one is on 25^th January at UCL.

Research integrity select committee – A Commons Science and Technology Committee has launched an inquiry into research integrity. The inquiry is accompanied by the recently published POSTnote: Integrity in Research which discusses the questionable practices and considers whether a regulatory body for UK research would be beneficial. The original committee investigation into peer review from 2010/11 is here which led UUK to set up concordat to support research integrity. A call for written evidence to the Committee has been published. We will be working with RKEO to consider whether BU should submit evidence, please contact policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you would like to be involved. Issues raised in include:

The extent of the research integrity problem;
Causes and drivers of recent trends;
The effectiveness of controls/regulation (formal and informal), and what further measures if any are needed;
What matters should be for the research/academic community to deal with, and which for Government.

Contract cheating – WonkHE reported on the difficulties in preventing cheating with the rise in companies offering one-off essays and dissertations. The BBC (May 2016) ran an article about a commercial essay writer motivated by revenge for believed racial discrimination and noted five methods universities can undertake to tackle plagiarism. Lord Storey is leading the campaign for a proposed amendment within the HE and Research Bill which aims to make providing or advertising cheating services an offence, focussing on ‘unfair disadvantage’. The Australian Government currently have a national project reporting in 2018 that aims to stamp out ‘contract cheating’. Finally a THE article explains ta new law may only have a deterrent effect; countries with contract cheating laws do not in practice have many successful prosecutions.

Digital skills crisis – The Government have published their response to the Science and Technology Select Committee’s special report on the digital skills crisis within industry and teaching capacity within schools – it lists a number of areas that need focus: cyber-security, big data, the Internet of Things, mobile technology and e-commerce. There is a focus on degree apprenticeships, immigration and the Shadbolt and Wakeham Reviews of relevant degree provision.

Fees: the Government published a Statutory Instrument that allows institutions to increase tuition fees by inflation, this came into effect on 6 January 2017. This enables the first year of the TEF related fee increases – all institutions which have been designated as meeting expectations in year 1 of the TEF can now increase fees by inflation in September 2017. Some institutions have announced their intention to apply this to all students – including existing students – but BU will only change fees for new students. You can read more about the process and background to this on the intranet. The change went through as a formality – there is already legislation in place – but there are still amendments to be debated in the Higher Education and Research Bill seeking to break this link.

PM’s Brexit speech: If you missed this, the main points of the PM’s speech this week are below. Universities and research received a high number of positive mentions, which is encouraging:

Leaving the single market and the customs union
Not using any other existing model
But would like a deal on customs tariffs and access to the single market
MPs and peers will get a vote on final deal
Not making huge contributions to the EU but may pay something to have access to the single market
EU citizens welcome here but no guarantee – needs to be reciprocal
Warm words about universities – hope for deal on participation in science and research

Industrial strategy – A Green Paper is expected around 23 January on the Government’s industrial strategy. Meanwhile Labour’s Industrial Strategy Consultation closes on 16 February.

New DLHE – Dan Cook writes for WonkHE on the new DLHE describing a centralised model aiming to achieve high response rates, allow for continuation of post-graduation support to alumni from HEIs, and exploring a dashboard so institutions have near-real time interaction with their data.

Widening Participation and Outreach–

HEFCE have published a resource pool covering a wide range of outreach initiatives all of which were funded by the National Networks for Collaborative Outreach.
Maddalaine Ansell has written about the schools policy for Wonkhe. We are waiting for the government response to the recent schools consultation -read more here.

HESA 2015/16 staff data was released on 19^th January.

49% (98,620) of academic staff are teaching and research
26% (52,590) teaching only
24% (48,645) research only

And:

66% of academic staff were on permanent contract.
4% of academic staff were known to have a disability
15% of academic staff were BME (not knowns excluded)

Nationality of academic staff:

70% UK (139,910)
17% (33,735) EU (non-UK)
12% (24,535) non-EU (presumably international)

(Atypical contracts and not knowns account for the percentages not totalling 100%)

January 19, 2017

Deadline extended! Made in Dorset – Made for the Future: Invitation to attend sandpit on 1st February 2017

BU research, Events, Funding opportunities, Research news, RKE development framework, Training Emily Cieciura

Deadline extended to 23rd January

If you have local business contacts who would like to attend, please send them the link to this blog post.

Engineering underpins human progress. …. Their work literally creates the fabric of society, whether the buildings we live and work in, the energy that powers our world or the transport networks that we use every day…. As with medicine, engineering expertise only comes with practice, by means of exposure to real-world dilemmas and techniques for addressing them. Engineering the Future

BU’s Research & Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) will be hosting an event on Wednesday, 1st February 2017, at the Lansdowne Campus, exploring how BU can engage with the Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering agenda.

What does this mean for me…?

Here are some examples of how you could contribute to this day:

Personalised healthcare requires technology but also input from those working directly with the end users and the medical profession to ensure efficacy and uptake
Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering does not exist in a vacuum and must respond to the changing global social, economic and political landscape
Animation and augmented reality already assist in visualisation and development across the engineering field, including automated production systems, infrastructure projects and forensic engineering
People are at the heart of any organisation – how do we ensure that engineers have effective management skills and managers understand the complexity of this sector?

So, who should attend?

We want anyone who thinks they might have something to contribute. We will also be inviting relevant external attendees to contribute to the day.

What do I need to prepare in advance? What will the day entail?

Absolutely nothing in advance. During the session, you’ll be guided through a process which results in the development of research ideas. The process facilitates creativity, potentially leading to innovative and interdisciplinary research ideas. These ideas will be explored with other attendees, and further developed based on the feedback received.

What if I don’t have time to think about ideas in advance?

You don’t need to do this but it will help. Attendees will come from a range of backgrounds so we expect that there will be lively conversations resulting from these different perspectives.

What about afterwards? Do I need to go away and do loads of work?

Well… that depends! This interactive day will result in some novel research ideas. Some of these may be progressed immediately; others might need more time to develop. You may find common ground with other attendees which you choose to take forward in other ways, such as writing a paper or developing a new placement opportuntity.

What if my topic area is really specific, such as health?

Your contribution will be very welcome! One of the main benefits of this type of event is to bring together individuals with a range of backgrounds and specialisms who are able to see things just that bit differently to one another.

So, is this just networking?

Definitely not! It is a facilitated session with the primary intention of developing innovative research ideas, which also enables the development of networks. It gives you the opportunity to explore research ideas which you may develop over time, together with the chance to find common ground with academics from across BU and beyond.

So, how do I book onto this event?

This event will take place on Wednesday, 1st February 2017. Please only book to attend if you can particpate in the full event from 09:45 – 14:00. There will be additional networking time from 14:00 – 15:00. To book, please complete the application form and return this to Dianne Goodman by end Monday, 23rd January. As places are limited, this will be assessed to ensure good mix of attendees with different perspectives. Places will be confirmed w/c 23/1/17.

This event is part of the new Research Knowledge Exchange Development Framework.

January 12, 2017

HE policy update for the w/e 13th January 2017

Business Engagement, EU, Global engagement, international, policy, Research news, Research Training, RKE development framework, Student Engagement jforster

HE and Research Bill – the Bill was debated in the House of Lords on Monday and Wednesday with a lively debate on both days. Monday’s was marginally more exciting because the House voted on one amendment (248 to 221) and the government was defeated, but this is likely to turn out to have been more symbolic than substantive. Read the Wonkhe perspective here and some other coverage from the Times Higher here.

The amendment that was passed was the first amendment on the list and related to the function of universities and included the statement that “universities are autonomous institutions and must uphold the principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech” and another of other statements about the purpose of universities – in practice this will not be adopted as drafted as it is hard to see how it would work as part of legislation – but it set the tone of the debates and showed that – if pushed – the Lords can and will muster a majority to defeat the government – and may do so again.

So far, apart from the first amendment, only government amendments have been agreed, with the rest withdrawn or not moved – including amendments on part time and flexible study, the role of the Director for Fair Access, and the relationship between the OfS and UKRI – and the name of the OfS. The Government have said that they will reflect on the debate and the comments made, so there may be more Government amendments forthcoming. Many members of the House of Lords have reserved their position on the points made which will arise again on later amendments. The latest “marshalled list” of amendments is here with a supplementary list here.

Blog from Jo Johnson on Conservative Home on 9^th January 2016 on autonomy and the purpose of the bill
Wonkhe article on academic freedom ahead of the Lords debates
Andrea Coscelli (Acting Chief Executive) of the Competition and Markets Authority has blogged on why competition is good for universities and their perspective on the Bill
Lord Stevenson, author of many of the proposed amendments for Labour, in the Times Higher on the problems in the Bill
Lord Knight has also blogged for the Times Higher on the Bill – his interesting last comments is “Finally, the chatter in the voting lobbies was one that questioned the need for the bill. Many are trying to understand exactly what problem this legislation is trying to fix, or whether it is just an ideological move to advantage the private sector.”
Jo Johnson has written in the Telegraph and blogged on the amendment that was passed: “We have seen this week how passionately expert members of the House of Lords feel about institutional autonomy and academic freedom – and, on this point, we wholly agree. ….The Government is listening carefully to powerful arguments made during Committee Stage and understands the passions that these important questions arouse. We must avoid, however, hasty attempts to incorporate into primary legislation unprecedented declaratory statements about the nature and purpose of universities. While it had the best of intentions, the new clause promoted on Monday would inadvertently hem them in and stifle innovation.”
He suggests that the sector is just being resistant to change: “As history tells us, every period of university expansion in this country has met with opposition. And the arguments against new entrants put forward today echo those aired more than a century ago when UCL – now a pillar of academic excellence – was dismissed as ‘a Cockney university’. Similar opposition befell the civic colleges, Manchester and Birmingham among them, when they elected to transform themselves into red brick universities before the Great War, and could be heard again during the ‘plate-glass’ expansion of the 1960s. The same arguments were also made in opposition to the 1992 reforms that allowed the Polytechnics to convert into a wave of new universities, enabling them to play their part in ensuring higher education was never again rationed for the benefit of the socially privileged.
We must be careful to distinguish between legitimate and shared concerns that the Bill should protect cherished institutional autonomy from self-serving arguments cloaked in the garb of principle. As the Bill re-enters Lords Committee stage today, bear this in mind: those who would dig their heels in now ignore a central truth about our higher education system – our universities did not get where they are by accepting the status quo.”
There is a response from Andrew McGettigan here.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office has advertised for board members for UKRI.

Brexit, immigration and the impact on staff and students There is an interesting read from HEPI (with Kaplan) this morning, balanced by the stories about the Education Select committee hearing yesterday – (thanks to Wonkhe):

Hard Brexit a ‘disaster’ for universities warn vice-chancellors – The Independent
University leaders and academics warn hard Brexit could be disaster – The Guardian
Hard Brexit Would Be The ‘Biggest Disaster In Years’ For Universities, Say Leading Academics – Huffington Post
Hard Brexit ‘may spark disaster’ for universities, MPs told – Sky News
Oxford academics warning of Brexit ‘disaster’ – BBC

Nick Hillman has written about the HEPI report in the Guardian. Although the conclusion is that the impact may not be the disaster that has been predicted (or at least not for all institutions) it comes with a big warning about the cumulative impact of changes to international student visas, which are still to be announced. “Of course the number of EU citizens who come to UK universities will probably fall as a result of Brexit. In part, this is because they are likely to lose access to tuition fee loans and to face full international fees, which are much higher than the UK fees they have been paying. Any fall is regrettable and, sadly, the latest UCAS figures suggest it has already begun. But working out how big the drop-off will be is hard partly because it depends on the type, location and mix of students at each university. Our assessment of Brexit’s impact takes such factors into account and finds the effect on student numbers and university incomes could be less dramatic than expected.
There are almost three times as many foreign students in the UK from outside the EU as from within it. This is because, until recently, EU undergraduate students came within the student number controls imposed on universities. So there was limited incentive to recruit them. Our analysis shows that, overall, their numbers could fall by more than half – that is by over 31,000 new students each year. But that is still only about 3% of all first-year undergraduate and postgraduate enrolments. Moreover, because of the higher fees, our modelling suggests that, despite receiving 31,000 fewer new EU students, universities will only lose £40m a year in the first year. That is just 0.1% of the total income of publicly-funded higher education institutions across the UK. Some institutions, such as Oxford and Cambridge, will actually see their fee income rise even as their EU students fall. This is because their full international fees are so high.”

In a separate story about staff immigration (Sky News but also widely reported – see Reuters) a Home Office Minster suggested that the £1000 per year per employee levy that applies to overseas workers might apply to EU workers post-Brexit and the PM has said this is not under consideration. Business reacted strongly to this (International Business Times). The levy will apply to employers of skilled international staff from April.

The House of Lords discussed the EU worker’s right to remain yesterday but with no new news – the rather strange dance continues on who will concede first that they do not intend to throw out each other’s citizens post-Brexit: “My Lords, the Government have been absolutely clear that we will seek to reach an agreement on this issue at an early stage of negotiations with the EU. I totally dispute the notion of a trade-off, because the EU’s refusal to guarantee the status of UK nationals elsewhere in the EU prior to negotiations shows that the Government have been absolutely right not to give away the guarantee of status for EU citizens in the UK. As the Prime Minister has said, that would have left UK citizens high and dry.”

The amendments to the HE Bill on international students were not accepted in the House of Lords yesterday.

Student enrolments data – The HESA UK HE 2015/16 enrolments and qualifications statistical first release (published 12 Jan) highlighted that 2015/16 UG enrolments were at their highest since the 2011/12 peak. In contrast, there was a notable decline in foundation degree enrolments (15%) and part time provision (overall 5%) within the sector. Most interesting are the changes in volume and geography of EU domiciled students between 2011/12 and 2015/16. Overall there is a 4% decline with regional variability between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There was a 1% decrease in international students from 2011/12 to 2015/16, contrasting the disproportionate growth from China (+12,500 students). Furthermore, 3% (207,522) fewer study visas were granted.

Changes to HE fee policies abroad – while international student numbers in the UK are dropping, there are changes afoot in competitor countries according to the BBC:

Germany and the Philippines are scrapping tuition fees in state universities
Finland intends to charge overseas and non-EU students from this autumn
Scotland retains free tuition
meanwhile Governor Cuomo is trying to push through free tuition for middle-class families in the state of New York. However, as it only applies to state universities this is perhaps a double edged sword, potentially pushing WP students away from accessing the most prestigious institutions.

There are also more resources available for home students to consider the cost of studying abroad – a Telegraph article notes the UK is the sixth most expensive place in the world to study and links to the FairFX Study Abroad Cost Calculator for students willing to relocate to obtain a cheaper degree.

Adult Students – part-time and flexible study was debated at length in the House of Lords but the amendments so far have not been passed, and John Wrathmell and Simon Hughes of the Open University have blogged for HEPI on this issue, arguing that Personal Learning Accounts are an important way to support learning and meet our national skills needs.

Predatory conferences – not really a policy issue but an important one – an article by James McCrosbie for the Times Higher which is worth a read.

New DLHE – we noted last week that a response and second stage consultation on the DLHE consultation is due soon – at a conference last week HESA indicated, amongst other things that a move to a centralised system – so away from universities administering DLHE themselves – was likely. “The responses received to this were mixed, with marginally more respondents in favour of moving to a central system, and many respondents making detailed points in support of their position.” BU raised concerns about this because it could reduce response rates and also remove a valuable contact between universities and graduates. We look forward to the consultation, which HESA has confirmed is due in early February.

Managing intellectual property transfer – during the 11 January hearing of the Science and Technology committee on managing intellectual property transfer Jo Johnson stated that: “…work on the government’s Industrial Strategy would emerge from extensive consultation which had already taken place. In the coming weeks the government would be launching a discussion period that would begin a further period of consultation before publication of a white paper.”
He also spoke of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, a ‘sizable financial commitment’ that aims to encourage greater interaction between universities and business communities. The fund will focus on priority technologies that are “significant in scale” and on areas “where the UK had a comparative advantage”; commercialisation of research was stated as a big part of the fund. Johnson stated the Treasury would be reviewing the research and development tax environment to ensure it was competitive (in response to a committee discussion about the lack of business investment in research and development).

January 12, 2017

Interreg Visit BU 21st February

EU, Events, RKE development framework eknight

On Tuesday the 21^st February 2017 Interreg will be visiting BU 10.30-16.00 at the EBC.

Interreg is an economic development programme that funds innovation, low carbon, climate change and resource efficiency projects which take place across EU countries and regions. These projects aim to find common solutions to common problems which exist in multiple countries. BU has been awarded and is involved in projects from the Channel, 2 Seas and Atlantic schemes.

The event will be split into two parts.

The first part will include;

An introduction to Interreg: The Interreg programmes, how they are different from each other and from other EU funds. This will also cover the types of project that are funded.
Tips on how to develop a good Interreg project: Lessons from the selection process by Sallyann Stephen from The Department for Communities and Local Government, based on her experience on the Interreg project selection panel.
How to apply: the two stage process going through the selection criteria and the key documents involved.

The second part will have a more informal set up aimed to get you thinking, collaborating and developing project ideas.

Throughout the afternoon there will also be one to one appointments on specific project ideas with one of the Interreg facilitators. This is an excellent opportunity to develop a project and get feedback from the experts. If you would like to book a one to one session you will need to email Dianne Goodman at dgoodman@bournemouth.ac.uk. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, if you have specific preferences on the time we recommend contact as soon as possible so your request can be accommodated.

Please note that to attend the one to one session you are required to send a 1 page project summary to Paula MacLachlan, 2 Seas Territorial Facilitator p.maclachlan@interreg2seas.eu no later than 14^th February. Apologies, without this ahead of time they will be unable to prepare adequately for your personal one to one session.

We have also invited the the M3 group, which includes: AUB, Bournemouth, Brighton, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Southampton Solent, Surrey, Sussex and Winchester. BU will host a networking lunch for all attendees. This is a great opportunity to learn about Interreg and how you can strengthen your applications for funding. If you would like to attend, then please book through Eventbrite.

For further information on this event please contact: RKEDevFramework@bournemouth.ac.uk

January 12, 2017

Wanted! External Bid Writers

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, international, Knowledge Exchange, REF Subjects, Research news, Research Training, RKE development framework, Training Emily Cieciura

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, Bournemouth University is expanding its pool of external bid writing expertise, through a tendering process.

If you have worked with a good bid writer or, as an external subscriber to this blog, you have written successful research funding applications, please contactus in the Research & Knowledge Exchange Office

We are particularly interested in those who can provide short courses, one-to-one support, bid writing retreats, application review or a range of these and related activities.

Examples of key funders include:

British Academy
European Commission funds including Horizon 2020
Innovate UK
Leverhulme Trust
National Institutes of Health and other US Federal funders
Research Councils
Royal Society
Wellcome Trust
etc.

We look forward to hearing from you.

January 10, 2017

Made in Dorset – Made for the Future: Invitation to attend sandpit on 1st February 2017

BU research, Events, Funding opportunities, Research news, RKE development framework, Training Emily Cieciura

Reminder to book by 20th January 2017.

If you have local business contacts who would like to attend, please send them the link to this blog post.

Engineering underpins human progress. …. Their work literally creates the fabric of society, whether the buildings we live and work in, the energy that powers our world or the transport networks that we use every day…. As with medicine, engineering expertise only comes with practice, by means of exposure to real-world dilemmas and techniques for addressing them. Engineering the Future

BU’s Research & Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) will be hosting an event on Wednesday, 1st February 2017, at the Lansdowne Campus, exploring how BU can engage with the Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering agenda.

What does this mean for me…?

Here are some examples of how you could contribute to this day:

Personalised healthcare requires technology but also input from those working directly with the end users and the medical profession to ensure efficacy and uptake
Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering does not exist in a vacuum and must respond to the changing global social, economic and political landscape
Animation and augmented reality already assist in visualisation and development across the engineering field, including automated production systems, infrastructure projects and forensic engineering
People are at the heart of any organisation – how do we ensure that engineers have effective management skills and managers understand the complexity of this sector?