BU Research Blog

A Centre for Excellence in Learning [CEL] Seminar is taking place on Wednesday 18^th June 2014, 10:00-12:00 on Lansdowne Campus.

Professor Karen Evans, Chair in Education, Institute of Education, University of London will be facilitating the seminar on Putting different forms of knowledge to work in practice: conceptual issues, pedagogical strategies and enduring challenges.

 For more information and to book on please visit the Staff Development and Engagement Pages on the Staff Internet.

A Media Skills: What Journalist Want Workshop is taking place on Tuesday 15^th April 2014, 14:00-15:30 on Lansdowne Campus.

This workshop is designed for members of staff who are thinking about utilising media as a part of their work.
What sort of stories they are after, what BU has to offer and how you can help to give journalists what they want.
The session will be run by the Press and PR team, who will give examples of previous stories and current practices used to get BU into the press.

 For more information and to book on please visit the Staff Development and Engagement Pages on the Staff Intranet.

Following the Government’s recent response to the Witty Review of Universities and Growth, the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee has announced an inquiry into university-business collaboration.

The closing date for this Call for Evidence is Wednesday 23 April 2014.

If you would like to contribute to BU and the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)’s joint submission to the Committee, please email your thoughts and comments to Colette Cherry by Weds 16 April. They are inviting responses to the following questions:

The strengths and weaknesses of business-university collaboration in the UK and the UK’s performance against international comparators

1. What are the key strengths and weaknesses of the UK’s innovation system in relation to business-university collaboration?

2. How competitive is business-university collaboration in the UK against relevant international comparators?

Effectiveness of Government initiatives to support innovation through business-university collaboration

3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Catapult Centre model of business-university collaboration?  What areas of research should future Catapult Centres focus on?

4. What steps can be taken to improve the uptake of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), particularly among SMEs?

Funding

5. Recent BIS analysis found that the UK exhibits “a sustained, long-term pattern of under-investment in public and private research and development and publicly funded innovation”.   How does this affect business-university collaboration in the UK?

6. Will the changes to Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF), proposed in the Witty Review, be successful in increasing university engagement with innovative SMEs?

7. What has been the effect of including commercial ‘impact’ criteria in REF assessments, and should the weighting increase to 25% as suggested in the Witty Review?

8. Will the Government’s focus on the ‘eight great technologies’, as described in the industrial strategy, help to attract inward investment?

9. To what extent is this focus compatible with and complementary to the European Strategy for Key Enabling Technologies?

Local Growth agenda

10. Are Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) (and their counterparts in the rest of the UK)  investing as much as they could in innovation and R&D?

11. How can LEPs, universities and Government encourage greater regional R&D investment?

12. How should LEPs direct their allocation of European Structural and Investment Funds in order to maximise increases in R&D output?

13. To what extent will the new University Enterprise Zones encourage business university collaboration?

The Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon John Bercow MP, recently contacted Bournemouth University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Vinney, in relation to a Commission on Digital Democracy .

The objective of the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy is to consider, report and make recommendations on how parliamentary democracy in the United Kingdom can embrace the opportunities afforded by the digital world to become more effective in:

• representing the people
• making laws
• scrutinising the work and performance of government
• encouraging citizens to engage with democracy
• facilitating dialogue amongst citizens 

BU is very keen to engage in this initiative, and we are currently reviewing the calls for evidence with the intention of making a submission over the next month or so. We are also hoping to organise a debate on campus exploring one or more of the Commission’s five themes:

1. Making laws in a digital age – call launched
2. Digital scrutiny – call launched
3. Representation – call pending
4. Engagement – call pending
5. Encouraging dialogue among citizens – call pending

We will be setting up an initial scoping meeting to discuss BU’s contribution and if you are interested in participating in the project, please contact Colette Cherry giving your availability for the following dates:

• Wednesday 23 April 1-3pm
• Wednesday 23 April 3-5pm
• Monday 28 April 1-3pm
• Monday 28 April 3-5pm
• Tuesday 29 April 1-3pm
• Tuesday 29 April 3-5pm
• Thursday 8 May 9-11am
• Thursday 8 May 11am-1pm

On Friday 11 April, Christine Bosse will be visiting BU, and all staff are invited to hear her speak.

Christine is widely known in the public for her direct and no-nonsense communication and is enthusiastically engaged in the societal debate for a better and safer world. She is a role model for many aspiring young people as the highest ranking female CEO in Denmark and was appointed the 22nd most influential business woman in the world in 2009 and 2010 by the Financial Times.

During this event, Christine will reflect on her experience as a CEO and now also as chairwoman and board member. She will discuss: 

– How leadership has become more relevant in a complex and fast moving world

– That balancing the stakeholders is key to success 

– Responsibility going beyond law 

– Communication as a special topic

To book a place on this event, please go to the Staff Development and Engagement intranet pages.

Monday

Labour’s manifesto for next year’s election will include a pledge to scrap the coalition’s £9,000-a-year tuition fees and may replace it with a maximum of £6,000, Douglas Alexander has confirmed. Labour is still, however, to agree a long-term policy.

• Labour may cut students’ tuition fees to £6,000 a year (Guardian)
• Where would Labour get the money from? (Telegraph)
• Labour eyes cut to tuition fees as repayment rate continues to fall (City AM)
• Miliband’s plan to lower tuition fees: Labour leader pledges to scrap £9,000-a-year charges in next manifesto (Mail)  
• ‘Reducing fees would mean fewer students’ (Times)

Information and guidance

A study by the consumer group Which? finds that tens of thousands of students did not attend any university open days before completing applications and half failed to consult lecturers about their course. Thousands of students do not research university before applying (Telegraph)

Private schools

Senior politicians are peddling “ignorant” myths about private schools and creating false barriers between the independent and state education system, the former headmaster of Harrow has warned. Private schools being undermined by ‘lazy stereotypes’ (Telegraph)

Tuesday

The pick of today is a piece in the THE, written by Liam Byrne (Shadow Minister for Universities and Skills). In the comment piece, Liam says that he will be setting out Labour’s funding plan in due course but “Ed Miliband has articulated a clear direction of travel on this: a core goal must be to bring down the levels of debt cancellation that are making the current system unsustainable.” Liam Byrne: ‘Funding system combines worst of a free-for-all and a money pit’ (THE)

Possible Conservative policy

Universities would have to apply new aptitude tests and cut the number of drop-outs in plans for a shake-up of the student loans system. Senior Conservatives are considering reforms that would reduce its cost and crack down on poor quality degrees. They include a new minimum qualification for students who qualify for taxpayer-backed loans and an end to the right to charge fees at institutions which see large numbers of students fail to finish courses or find well-paid jobs. Crackdown on dropouts to cut student loans: Tories consider reforms to reduce costs and tackle poor quality degrees (Daily Mail)

How have tuition fees affected students?

The Telegraph look at what affect the rise in tuition fees has had on students. The article says “fears that the higher rate of fees would put students off applying – particularly the very poorest – appear not to have materialised as degrees retain their value in the jobs market.” The final comment is somewhat surprising given the Telegraph rhetoric on graduate unemployment. How have tuition fees affected students? (Telegraph)

System reform 

Peter Scott argues that tinkering with the tuition fees system will not fix its problems. He says there “should be a fundamental rethink. The high-fees funding regime in higher education is sadly likely to be patched and mended rather than changed.” Opinion: Tinkering isn’t going to fix the failing fees system (THE)

Student representation

A report by NUS – on the changing nature of student leadership and its impact on the student experience – finds student officers now put their role as representatives far above their role as activists. Student union reps- happier in the boardroom than at the sit-in? (Guardian)

Best April Fool of the day (well hopefully it’s an April Fool) 

Students could be asked to wear gowns and mortarboards on campus in plans by education secretary Michael Gove to “restore rigour” to higher education, the THE has learned. Gowns and mortarboards ‘could be compulsory’ under Gove (THE)

Wednesday

As the debate on how we fund higher education continues to rumble on, University Alliance feature in two pieces setting out an alternative vision.
In the Guardian, and responding to the current controversy over the RAB charge, Libby Hackett says, “this is a really important issue that people tend to avoid because it is both technical and highly politicised. We need to consider some intelligent solutions that will deliver a more sustainable funding platform.” Tuition fees blunder: ‘there’s no need for this spiralling public cost’ (Guardian)
Writing in the Times, and responding to Labour’s £6,000 plan, Libby says, “fees of £6,000 may end up as a credible position but it is deeply worrying that Labour sees this as its starting point rather than the result of calculations based on a well-designed student finance and university funding system.” Big picture, small print in student loan jungle (Times)

Design&

Rob Law, Founder of Trunki and graduate of Northumbria University, features in an article promoting our Design& project. Northumbria University hailed as shining example in call for design focus (The Journal)

International students

A new analysis from HEFCE has found that the number of foreign students, recruited by universities, has dropped for the first time in three decades. We have today called for a reintroduction of two-year post study work visas.

• Tuition fee hike blamed as international students at UK universities fall by a quarter (Independent)
• Foreign student numbers ‘drop for first time in 30 years’ (Telegraph)
• Almost a quarter of postgrad students at English universities are Chinese (Guardian)
• Has government hurt education exports? (BBC)

Student satisfaction

Student satisfaction does not say much about the quality of education, says Joanna Williams. Labour’s manifesto needs to be more radical and push for intellectual challenge. Students are made to believe that ‘university is all about them’ (Guardian)

HE ‘errors’

Almost one in 10 university degrees claimed by graduates have “errors”, such as wrong grades or subjects, according to the agency which carries out checks for employers. The Higher Education Degree Datacheck (HEDD) says they also see degree certificates from bogus universities. Some errors could be honest mistakes, but there is also clear evidence of fraud, says HEDD’s Jayne Rowley. Degree checks ‘uncover grade fraud’ (BBC)

Skills and employability

John Longworth, DG of the BCC, has accused some universities of ‘losing the plot’ when it comes to preparing the future workforce. Britain told to prepare for ‘real austerity’: Warning over future from business leaders (This is Money)

Thursday

In the news today, figures published by UUK today reveal that Universities’ contribution to the UK’s economy has increased by 24%. UK higher education generates £73 billion for the economy and contributes 2.8 per cent of the UK’s total gross domestic product. This is reported in the Times Higher Education (THE), where Sir Christopher Snowden is quoted, “with the 2015 general election on the horizon, this report serves as a timely reminder to policymakers of universities’ growing impact on local communities, jobs and the wider economy” (THE).

University funding                                                       

• UK universities should be allowed to charge higher tuition fees to students with wealthier backgrounds according to the Morton Schapiro, president of Northwestern University in Illinois (THE).
• The London Evening Standard features journalist and economist Ann McElvoy criticising Labour’s policy proposal to charge £6,000 tuition fees saying, “everything speaks for the idea – except the facts”.

International students

• An opinion piece by Ross Clark in The Times criticises the government for pursuing policies which have led to a decrease in the numbers of foreign students coming to Britain to study (The Times).
• The Times reports that fees from Chinese students are being used by British universities to pay for new campuses and expansions. Vice Chancellors are reported to have said that the popularity of British universities amongst Chinese students is enabling growth during a time of austerity (The Times).

Research Assessment

HEFCE has been asked by David Willetts to review the role of metrics in research assessment. Professor James Wilsdon of the University of Sussex will chair the review, which will look at the role of metric based assessment in determining the quality, impact and other key characteristics of research undertaken in higher education. THE reports that the review could lead to research excellence framework assessments being less frequent (THE).

A report published yesterday by HEFCE looking at decision making has revealed that greater amounts of information does not necessarily mean that people will be better informed or be able to make better decisions. This is reported in THE, overwhelmed university applicants filter out information to cope (THE).

Friday

The main stories from Friday centred on the UUK report on the economic contribution of universities. British universities contribute £73bn to the economy in a year (Independent)

Also, the call by David Willetts to create university campuses in “cold spots”.

Minister proposes university campuses to revive towns (FT) 

N.B. All information is provided by University Alliance.

This week the Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL) Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) theme, hosted a two day visit for ten senior academics from Linkoping University to share our ideas, progress and examples of good practice in TEL at BU. The visit was facilitated by the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education who are working with us on a project to enhance our TEL provision. Linkoping supports a large team of senior colleagues to undertake annual study visits and this year there were three groups, one visiting us, one going to University of Essex and one to Southampton Solent. They will then share the learning they did across the three HEIs and integrate it into their delivery plans for the next year.

It was an excellent visit and they were impressed by a number of projects they heard about including the CEL theme approach to meeting objectives from the BU2018 strategic plan, the iBU app for new students, the online case studies and ‘heart, head and hands’ approach to teaching about evidence based practice in HSC and the enthusiasm of the students they met along with John Gusman, SUVP from SUBU. It would appear that they have adopted a new E learning platform, having moved on from Black Board, and have an opt-in model to using technology in their teaching.  It seems certain that we can learn from them about how we might take our E learning platform forward in future and we feel a staff mobility fusion bid coming on to provide support for some interested volunteers to investigate further!

Professor B Gail Thomas, Director of CEL & Dr Geli Roushan, TEL Theme Leader

We would like to invite you to the next research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre that will be delivered by Hayder Mammood.

 Title: Protecting BGP Message Communication from Man-In-The-Middle using AIS

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 9^th April 2014

Room: P302 (Poole House, Talbot Campus)

 Abstract:

The internet consist number of Autonomous Systems (ASes). Each AS consists of many routers. The main protocol that facilitates the communications between designated routers in different ASes is Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). BGP evolved to version four (the currently used one); this evolution made BGP scalable to handle the growing traffic of the internet. However, BGP is still lacking the appropriate security to protect against intrusions. Successful security breaches range from communication disruption up to losing the integrity of sensitive routing information or receiving falsified routing information.

In this seminar the application of Artificial Immune Systems (AIS) to protect communication of BGP messages is discussed. The focus of the discussion will be around protection against intruders such as Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attack. An algorithm has been developed and tested in a simulation environment. The results show successful isolation of malicious routers. 

We hope to see you there, 

Dr. David John

BUDI welcome 
Associate Professor Elaine Wiersma to deliver a lunch time seminar

Date:     Tuesday 8 April
Time:     12 Noon until 13.00
Venue:   EB203

Limited places available:  email mobrien@bournemouth.ac.uk to reserve your place.

Engaging People Living with Dementia in the Development of Services: Lessons Learned from a Canadian Context
This presentation will explore the ways that a Canadian research team is engaging people living with dementia in the development of services. Specifically, two projects will be discussed—the development of a self-management program for people living with dementia, and a dementia journey mapping project. The engagement of health and social care providers with researchers and people living with dementia will be described within those two projects. Lessons learned about people, relationships, and process will be described and discussed.

Bio:
Elaine Wiersma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. She is the Advisor for the Interdisciplinary Certificate in Dementia Studies, the lead of re-THINKing dEMENTIA, the division of Dementia and Seniors’ Mental Health at the Centre for Education and Research on Aging & Health, Lakehead University, and the chair of the North West Dementia Network. Her work has spanned community and long-term care sectors, using qualitative and participatory methodologies to examine the social dimensions of aging and dementia. Currently, her work is focusing on the development of self-management in dementia and exploring the context of aging and dementia in rural northern communities in Ontario. Elaine is engaged in a number of initiatives, both research and community initiatives, that seek to engage people living with dementia and care partners as equal partners, recognizing that the involvement of these groups is vital to creating more effective services and programs.

Professor Catherine Cassell will be visiting Bournemouth University on Thursday 3^rd April to deliver two events.  Professor Cassell was the founding chair of British Academy of Management’s Research Methodology group and is currently a member of the Association of Business School’s Research Policy Committee. Catherine is an Associate Editor of the ‘British Journal of Management’, a Fellow of the British Academy of Management and an Academic Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Event 1: Developing an Academic Career, 12.30 – 13.30

Event 2: The State of Qualitative Management Research and Future Challenges for Qualitative Researchers, 14.00 – 16.00

There are still places available on both events.  For more information and to book a place please visit Staff Development and Engagement

Monday

The sustainability of the current HE funding system is being questioned once again and has been hot news this weekend. On Friday Nick Hillman (previously Willett’s SPAD) called for a rethink of the student loans system and admitted the government got its maths wrong by overestimating the amount of graduate debt that will be repaid. David Willetts told Channel 4 news that the structure for “£9,000 and £21,000 (was) working,” however Cathy Newman tweeted that she asked Willetts the question again about the possibility of higher fees after 2015 as he was leaving the studio and the minister replied “could be”.

• Universities minister refuses to rule out increase in tuition fees (Guardian)
• Unpaid student loans ‘a fiscal time bomb for universities’ (Guardian)
• Government got maths wrong over tuition fees – adviser (Guardian)  
• ‘Catastrophic’ cost of student loans (Telegraph)
• Student loans cost taxpayers £6.6bn (Independent)
• Student loans face timebomb, says Labour (BBC)
• Explained: how is it possible to triple tuition fees and raise no extra cash? (Guardian)
• ‘Massive’ budget hole predicted as RAB charge rises (THE)
• Leader: Teetering on the brink (Guardian)

Social mobility

According to information published by the Department for Education, just 0.1 per cent of year 11 pupils who claimed free school meals who then took A levels or level 3 qualifications progressed to the universities of Oxford or Cambridge in 2010-11. Oxbridge access: DfE releases free school meal stats (THE)  

Skills

The Government is “letting down a generation” of children by failing to equip them with the skills needed to secure a good job, a former Conservative education secretary has warned. In a strongly worded intervention, Lord Baker insisted that every level of the education system was “dysfunctional” and struggled to meet the needs of modern business. Generation of children left without vital skills (Sunday Telegraph)

Scottish referendum

Universities have called on the Scottish Government to provide “legally-defensible certainty” that institutions will be able to deal with an influx of English students following independence. In a submission to the Scottish Parliament’s education committee, Universities Scotland said a yes vote would “inevitably” lead to more students heading north of the border in search of free tuition. Scottish independence: University influx fears (Scotsman)

University reform

Universities must recognise they cannot continue to operate using their current business model argues Vasant Dhar. Universities unbundled (FT)

Tuesday

The sector continues to respond to reports that the RAB nears ‘break-even point’. The letters page of the Guardian feature some interesting comments, Letters – If education is for life, perhaps repaying tuition fees could be, too, while, Andy Westwood (CEO of GuildHE) takes a look at the uproar and questions what will happen next. RAB and the wizardry of student finance (Wonkhe)

Scottish referendum

A plan to charge students from the remainder of the UK up to £36,000 to study in an independent Scotland must be revisited “as a matter of urgency”, students’ unions will tell MSPs today.

• Scottish independence: Unions call for clarity over post-Yes tuition fees (BBC)
• Level of uncertainty our universities do not need (Herald)
• Scottish independence: Warning over student fees (Scotsman)
• Do Scottish universities want a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’ in the referendum on independence?  (Guardian)

Employment

Graduates rely on the public sector when they go hunting for a job in Wales, according to a new analysis published today by the Complete University Guide. Graduate job market in Wales is dominated by the public sector, according to new analysis published today (Wales Online)

Wednesday

Ed Miliband has said that Labour wants to give voters a “radical offer” on tuition fees at the next election, a possible hint that the party could replace tuition fees with a graduate tax. “Young people feel they have no control because they are going to get into mountains of debt if they go to university,” he said during an appearance on ITV1’s The Agenda programme.

• Miliband’s promise of a “radical offer” on tuition fees is a major policy hint (New Statesman)
• Ed Miliband talks of ‘radical offer’ on fees (THE)

Also worth looking at this interesting piece by John Denham (Ed Miliband’s PPS). Universities need to look beyond higher tuition fees – John Denham (New Statesman)

Lib Dem Policy

In contrast, Nick Clegg has insisted there is “absolutely no need” to raise tuition fees, although he sidestepped a question on whether he would rule out such a move out altogether. Clegg insists there is no need to raise tuition fees level again (Guardian)

Immigration policy

The Conservative Party’s “obsessive” focus on immigration is destroying the party’s appeal to a growing group of voters from ethnic minorities, a Tory MP has warned. Soften immigration stance or we will lose votes, Tory MP warns his party (Times)

Regulation

Writing on a new blog launched by Hepi, Andy Westwood, CEO of GuildHE, claims universities may be moving away from their current system of self-regulation via independent peer review towards an “external model of quality and inspection”. Universities warned over ‘sleepwalking’ into Ofsted-style regime (THE)

Scottish referendum

The CBI has said it is concerned about the knock-on effect a Yes vote could have on defence; financial services; energy; food and drink and higher education. Scottish independence: Should the CBI be worried about a Yes vote? (BBC) 

Thursday

Design&: Creating the Future, our new report launched on Tuesday, is featured in Design Week today. It says that a, “new report is calling for a ‘revolution’ in design education while making a strong economic case to Government for backing design-led research.” BU’s IP research features on page 12 of the report. Report calls for a ‘revolution’ in design education (Design Week)

Policy and funding

Student places: Universities with lower applications this year have had their student number allocations for next year cut, despite the government making 30,000 extra places available. Figures from Hefce reveal for the first time which universities did not meet their places quotas in 2013-14, a year in which most institutions’ enrolments bounced back after the first year of higher tuition fees. No bonanza for those who left places unfilled (THE)

Funding: Universities have been forced to slash their teaching budgets in order to protect research funds in a move that Madeleine Atkins (Chief Executive of Hefce) has admitted “will hurt”. Lower government funding will hit university teaching budgets in England (THE)

Connecting research & growth

Regional growth: A study of the economic impact of graduates recommends universities should be placed at the centre of strategies to boost regional growth. ‘Invest in regional universities to rebalance UK economy’ (THE)

International

A look at Australia: Australia’s move to a demand-driven higher education system has not increased the proportion of poor students entering the system, a report has concluded. According to The Australian newspaper, the forthcoming report by Australia’s National Centre for Vocational Education Research finds that although the demand-driven system – which was fully implemented in 2012 – has led to more students entering higher education, most of the extra places have been taken up by students from relatively wealthy backgrounds. Lifting the cap ‘fails to widen access’ in Australia (THE)

Recruitment: Universities have been warned that they are not “profit-maximising corporations” and to ditch “marketing speak” when recruiting international students. Nigel Healey, pro vice-chancellor for internationalisation at Nottingham Trent University, rounded on universities that were using international students simply to increase their income. Focus on recruiting foreign students reveals ‘mission drift’ (THE)

Partnerships: A pioneering formal tie-up between a UK university and a US university promises to be much more than a “mountain that brings forward a mouse”, David Eastwood has pledged. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, said that the strategic alliance between his institution and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was “probably unique at the moment in terms of its breadth and depth”. UK/US institution alliance aims for collaborative growth (THE)

Student visas: The new immigration minister has said that he wants to welcome international students to the UK, in a departure from the threatening rhetoric he used earlier this month towards universities. Foreign students: a belated welcome (THE)

Friday

Research by Hefce finds that state school pupils perform better at university than privately-educated peers with the same A-level results, prompting fresh calls for a reform of the admissions system.

• White students get better degrees than minority peers with same grades (Guardian)   
• State-educated students ‘achieve better degree passes at university’   (Independent)
• Universities ‘given go ahead to favour state school pupils’  (Telegraph)
• State pupils ‘get better results at university’  (Times)
• State students who outperform private pupils at university  (Mail) 
• State pupils do better at university, study shows (BBC)
• State pupils on same grades as private counterparts ‘get better degrees’ (THE) 

Retention

Figures from HESA show that 6.7 per cent of students dropped out of university after a year in 2011/12, rising to almost one-in-five at one institution. This raises fears that school leavers are being pushed into studying at an unsuitable institution.  More than 26,000 students ‘dropping out of university’ (Telegraph)

Worth a read

‘Soft Power’ – a key asset in new international order (Guardian)

As ever, thanks to colleagues at University Alliance for the content of this post.

Monday

Sir Andrew Witty called for the boost in innovation funding in his review of universities and growth issued last year. But in its response to the Witty review, published on 14 March, the government has said it was unable to commit to raising the level of Heif in the “current tight fiscal environment”. University innovation fund will not be increased, says government (THE)

Funding

Teaching grants for universities in England are to fall by more than the £45 million announced last month, Hefce has said. Universities to get near 6 per cent cut to ‘most teaching budgets’ (THE)

Employability

A growing shortage of engineering skills threatens to hold back industry’s nascent recovery and wreck efforts to rebalance the UK economy, industrialists and politicians have said. Vince Cable told the Financial Times that skills shortages were “a massively serious problem” that could disrupt the recovery “unless we get this right”. Lack of engineers threatens UK recovery, say industrialists (FT)

Widening participation

A study has found that there is some evidence that state school students are getting more 2:1s and first class degrees. The research into 132,000 students, over three years, found state school pupils were up to 8% more likely to get a 2:1 or first-class degree than their private school counterparts with the same A-level results.

• Colleges to favour state pupils (Sunday Times)  
• State pupils beating private school rivals in university results (Times)

Scottish referendum

A Westminster committee has said independence would have a damaging effect on higher education and research in Scotland. Scottish independence: MPs claim Yes vote would damage education (BBC)

Women in science

• Girls soar in science, yet why still so few women in the lab?  (Observer – Comment)
• Academics Anonymous: sexism is driving women out of science (Guardian HE)

Tuesday

The “hidden talent” of 2.5 million young adults is being wasted because they are unemployed, working part-time or in jobs for which they are over-qualified, the Government is warned today. A report for the LGA says 40 per cent of 16-to-24-year-olds are failing to make the most of their abilities in the workplace, with nearly 1.3 million not working at all and another 1.2 million who are “underemployed or overqualified”. In some areas the proportion is close to 50 per cent. Fall in jobless hides plight of 2.5m young adults whose talents go to waste (Independent)

Gender disparities

There is concern over female participation rates in science, but gender disparities need to be addressed in many subjects argues Laura McInerney. Education: Only 29% of English A-level students are boys. Why don’t we think that’s a problem? (Guardian)

Wednesday

A letter from a group of academics in the Guardian argues that prior to 1970 science was led by mavericks with limited funding but much more academic freedom, this led to huge scientific discoveries that have enriched our lives and driven the economy. They argue that the HE system must find a way to support blue-sky thinking. We need more scientific mavericks.

Social work

A discussion piece in the Guardian examines the quality of teaching of social work courses in response to the release of two books which are critical of the preparation courses give to students. Social work training courses need to offer high quality work placements.

Thursday

The government “will not have saved any money” by trebling fees to £9,000 and scrapping nearly all direct grants to universities, a senior sector figure has said in response to data showing the “break-even point” for the new system could be rapidly approaching. Cost of new fee regime may soon exceed the old (THE)

Politics

Universities returning to Department for Education?: Asked in an interview with the FT what he would like to do next, Mr Gove replied: “What I’d really like to do is this job, plus universities.” He added: “I think that universities and science should be in this department.” The week in higher education (THE)

Research and growth

Budget 2014: George Osborne announced that £106 million will be spent over five years in 20 new centres for doctoral training, to strengthen Britain’s science, maths and engineering capabilities. It will help to train about 750 post-doctoral students to prepare them for the demands of industry. A new Alan Turing Institute is also to be built, costing £42 million over five years, to specialise in the analysis and application of “big data”.

·         Alan Turing Institute to be set up to research big data (BBC)

·         Research centre to honour Turing (Telegraph)

·         Millions to boost training and enhance research (Independent)

·         Budget 2014: Osborne seeks to boost UK’s scientific credentials (FT)

Research funding: The UK’s research councils will look at tying funding to membership of schemes such as Athena SWAN, which promotes good employment practices for women in science, if they decide universities are failing to improve gender and ethnic diversity among academic staff. Research councils may tie funding to diversity accreditation (THE)

University-business collaboration: Universities are now “hungrier” to work with industry than they have been in the past, according to a man who builds links between academia and industry for a major pharmaceutical company. Malcolm Skingle, director of academic liaison at GlaxoSmithKline, said that the change has been helped along by the research excellence framework’s impact agenda. Growing appetite for university-industry collaborations (THE)

Social mobility

Career guidance: Improving career guidance before students apply to university would significantly cut dropout rates, analysis suggests. According to a BIS research paper, those who consulted only a few sources of advice when picking their degree course were far more likely to drop out by the end of their first year. Better careers guidance ‘will reduce dropout rates’ (THE)

International

Reputation: The UK’s reputation in higher education is being tarnished by an overseas student recruitment process that is full of pitfalls, says Zakaria Mahmood. Blog: ‘The access labyrinth for foreign students’  (Daily Telegraph)

Universities

Student numbers and marketing: Does an increase in marketing spend result in an increase in student numbers? Marketing spend up, but applications fail to follow suit (THE)

Student accommodation: More than three-quarters of students live in poor accommodation, says NUS. It also claims many struggle to get help from landlords. The NUS wants tougher regulation for letting agents, like there is in Scotland, to help stop “exploitation of students”. Many students living in poor accommodation, says NUS (BBC Radio)

Friday

It is a very quiet HE news day today but one story that may be of interest. John Raftery, who has served as pro vice-chancellor at Oxford Brookes University for nine years covering areas including student experience and international strategy, will succeed current London Met vice-chancellor Malcolm Gillies later this year. London Met appoints next vice-chancellor (THE)