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Tagged / NUS

April 4, 2022

HE policy update for the w/e 4th April 2022

The Government has announced the current Parliamentary session will be prorogued in April (date not confirmed yet) (you’ll remember that process from “that” prorogation). A new session will commence with a State Opening of Parliament and the Queen’s Speech on Tuesday 10 May. This means that legislation that is currently incomplete will either be dropped or will need to be allotted parliamentary time for a carry over motion debate (not quite as easy as it sounds). For HE this means the future of the controversial HE Freedom of Speech Bill is less certain although Wonkhe reported that it is likely to be carried over.

Meanwhile the Government has a plethora of consultations and white and green papers out. We can expect expectations for these to feature in the Queen’s Speech. For HE we will be watching for the legislative and regulatory changes required to implement the lifelong loan entitlement and the response to Augar (see our 3^rd March update for more info. Consultations on many aspects of these things close on 6^th May, so we won’t get definitive announcements on the detail that is being consulted on, and the Queen’s speech itself is very high level and so are the policy statements that come out with it.

Skills and Post-16 Education Bill

The Skills Bill is one they are trying to get through before prorogation. The Skills Bill parliamentary ping pong continues with MPs rejecting the Lords amendment relating to the changeover from BTECs and T levels. The Lords attempted to delay the defunding of BTECs and force a public consultation but MPs overturned it through their majority in the Commons. Compromises were also made on vocational careers advice provided by schools.

The outcome and more details of all the Skills Bill amendment are available in this Dods summary. The Commons Library also have a useful publication highlighting the changes as the Bill has progressed through the legislative system, shorter version here.

Next: the Bill will pong back to the Lords on Thursday 7 April. The Lords will consider the MPs’ rejection of Lord Blunkett’s BTEC amendment, which attempted to attach conditions to the defunding of BTEC/level 3 technical qualifications. Potential options:

The Lords will accept the rejection and will not push for the amendment to added again (at this point, the Bill would have completed its passage and will be sent for Royal Assent)
The Government will bring forward a compromise amendment, and the Lords will vote on this (if it passes, it will have to go back to the Commons where it would be agreed)
Lord Blunkett will move to disagree with the Commons’ decision on his amendment and re-introduce it again in its current form (this is the least likely option, but it would then ping back to the Commons).

Compromise is the usual solution when there is a hard stop like this.

Levelling Up

Citizenship within Levelling up policy: The Lords Liaison Committee published a follow-up report examining the Government’s progress in implementing the recommendations made by the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement’s 2018 report. While the (new) report focuses on citizenship, including the educational delivery of citizenship, it is worth looking past this because the Lords highlighting the importance of citizenship within the Government’s current flagship levelling up policy. In brief, the Lords criticised:

Poor progress in improving Governmental coordination of citizenship and civic engagement policy since 2018. The Lords recommended a Minister with responsibility for Citizenship and Civic Engagement be appointed immediately within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) or the Cabinet Office. The new Minister to be given latitude and authority to facilitate integrated policymaking across the Government departments including a permanent seat on the Domestic and Economic (Levelling Up) Cabinet Committee.
The Lords are also concerned that as cabinet committee meeting are not available for public scrutiny that the Levelling Up Cabinet Committee may not be meeting or gaining traction. The related Inter-Ministerial Group leading on similar Citizenship content has not met since 2019: the Committee saw good intent in relation to the Inter-Ministerial Group for Safe and Integrated Communities and yet that group did not meet for three consecutive years. They’ve called for evidence of the scale of the work expected to be undertaken by the Domestic and Economic (Levelling Up) Cabinet Committee.
Also the Levelling Up Cabinet Committee is criticised for the lack of cross-departmental members particularly from the Cabinet Office and the DfE.

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, who was the Chair of the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement commented:

Things have gone backwards rather than forwards with citizenship education in the UK since our last report. This is despite the government’s clear commitment to levelling up across the country and an Elections Bill where great stress is being placed on the importance of engagement with our voting system…
We were promised a cross-department Minister, we didn’t get one. We were told that Ofsted should treat citizenship education is a core part of the curriculum, the evidence shows they don’t. The government had a chance to put things right in its Schools White Paper. It appears that they have missed the opportunity to do so. There is just one mention of citizenship in the Schools White Paper, and it is mentioned in the context of volunteering. We urge the Government to think again. Otherwise, they risk damaging democracy for generations to come.

Also on levelling up – Wonkhe report: Speaking to Chris Skidmore at a ResPublica event yesterday, Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove expressed his view that the number of students in higher education should be further extended, and drew links between recruitment and research and development in the creation of local high quality jobs. On the future development of the sector he saw a mixture of national missions and provider aspirations driving future developments. A twitter thread describes the key points of the discussion, and a recording is available.

Research

Dods have this on the research side of the Spring Statement:

In his Spring Statement to the House, the Chancellor also unveiled a new ‘tax plan’, part of which outlines what his focus will be for the Autumn Budget later this year. This included:

Considering whether the current tax system, including the operation of the Apprenticeship Levy, is doing enough to incentivise businesses to invest in right kind of training.
Reforming R&D tax credits to be more effective, expanding the reliefs to include data, cloud computing and pure maths, and considering whether to make the R&D spending credit more generous.
He said he would also cut the tax rates on business investment in Autumn, and would consult with employers and businesses in the run-up to the Budget.

On R&D tax reliefs, the Chancellor announced these would be reformed in the Autumn Budget 2021, following a consultation launched in the Spring Budget earlier that year.

“The government set out in the Tax Administration and Maintenance Command Paper that R&D tax reliefs would be reformed to include some cloud and data costs and refocus support on R&D carried out in the UK. The government has listened to stakeholders and can confirm that from April 2023, all cloud computing costs associated with R&D, including storage, will qualify for relief. The government remains committed to refocus support towards innovation in the UK, ensuring that the UK more effectively captures the benefits of R&D funded by the reliefs. The government recognises that there are some cases where it is necessary for the R&D to take place overseas. The government will, therefore, legislate so that expenditure on overseas R&D activities can still qualify where there are:
material factors such as geography, environment, population or other conditions that are not present in the UK and are required for the research – for example, deep ocean research
regulatory or other legal requirements that activities must take place outside of the UK – for example, clinical trials
To support the growing volume of R&D underpinned by mathematical advances, the definition of R&D for tax reliefs will be expanded by clarifying that pure mathematics is a qualifying cost. Where required, legislation will be published in draft before being included in a future Finance Bill to come into effect in April 2023.”

Delivering a UK science and technology strategy: The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee heard evidence from NERC, the Medical Research Council and ESRC at the session on delivering a science and technology strategy. They covered funding and the relative responsibilities of the research councils and other delivery organisations. All the key points that you’d expect were touched upon such as 2.4% R&D funding, Horizon, interdisciplinary research promotion, research morale and opinion of UKRI, academic/industry interaction, and how the research councils will interact with Government departments and budgetary implications. Summary here. Your policy team was also happy to hear that incorporating more academic research into government policymaking was addressed and it was suggested that UKRI could do more to coordinate the work with research councils to this end. BU researchers who are interested in sharing their work with policy makers or interested in influencing policy making are encouraged to sign up to our regular influence digest which highlights opportunities, sector policy news and shares top tips to increase influencing success.

Russia research | Ukraine support package: The Government announced a £3m support package to support Ukrainian researchers at risk and the suspension of publicly funded research and innovation collaborations with Russian Universities and companies of strategic benefit to the Russian state. Research Minister George Freeman stated:

All payments for projects delivered through UK public research funds with a Russian dimension have been paused. I have commissioned an assessment, on top of the existing and strong due diligence processes of UK public research funders, to isolate and freeze activities which benefit the Russian regime.
We will not fund any new collaborative projects with Russia through our research and innovation organisations.
We have suspended existing government to government dialogue through our science and innovation network team in Russia including their collaborative science projects.
Where the UK is a member of multilateral organisations, we are working at pace with partners to respond appropriately – holding Russia to account for its actions while diminishing and isolating its influence.
We are standing up a £3 million package of support for Ukrainian researchers at risk. We stand with Ukraine, its democratically elected government and its brave people at this awful time.

Wonkhe tell us more on the Ukrainian package: The British Academy, UK National Academies, and the Council for At-Risk Academics have announced the Researchers at Risk Fellowship Programme – a new fellowship scheme for Ukrainian researchers who are fleeing the conflict or are already in the UK and unable to return. £3m is being contributed by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, and £0.5m from the Nuffield Foundation. The funding will provide visas, a salary, research costs, and living costs to successful applicants, and will be open to all postdoctoral or those with equivalent experience in all disciplines. Participatory institutions will need to identify six months’ worth of accommodation for recipients and their dependants.

A parliamentary question asking if universities should take action against academics who promote pro-Putin propaganda (set within the backdrop of the Government’s steer on HE upholding free speech) is met with a beautifully fence sitting answer: Alongside our allies, we are united in support for Ukraine. Universities, as independent and autonomous organisations, should decide whether to investigate such incidences.

Quick news:

Wonkhe – The Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, have announcedcollaborative UK-Japan projects which have been awarded funding to support international efforts to manage the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
George Freeman (Science, Research and Innovation Minister) provided a written ministerial statement on the Intellectual Property Office performance targets and transformation projects.

Parliamentary Questions

What steps BEIS have taken to develop the UK R&D Roadmap into the forthcoming R&D Plan
Steps to support scientific research consortia as a future funding model for domestic R&D.

Blogs:

Wonkhe – Alliances for research challenges – ARCs – can help expand access to research funding. Cat Ball from the Scottish Funding Council explains more.
Wonkhe – Patricia Jackman and Rebecca Sanderson argue that universitiesmust help early career and doctoral researchers to thrive.
Wonkhe – Where doctoral supervisions happencan have an effect on how well they work. Doug Specht shares his research findings.

Financial sustainability of the HE sector in England and the Spring Statement

The Public Accounts Committee published the oral evidence from the latest Financial sustainability of the HE sector in England session. The DfE and OfS were called as witnesses. A shorter summary is here. The session covered grade inflation, international students, financial support/Augar, risk modelling, student satisfaction and outcomes, regulation, value for money, student protection plans, minimum entry requirements, and the new loan terms.

In the Spring Statement the Chancellor said that there would be a review of the apprenticeship levy.

Regarding levy reform, last month the CBI challenged the Government to pursue more ambitious growth with new policies – one of which was to replace the Apprenticeship Levy with a new Skills Challenge Fund, to “incentivise more flexible training to meet skill shortages and rewards firms who invest beyond their apprenticeship levy levels”. Leaders across the sector have raised Levy reform for some time, and today’s announcement could represent a step towards this.

David Kernohan for Wonkhe finds graduates paying for many of the more eye-catching measures.
Jim Dickinson considers the cost of living crisis for students, and what the sector can do to alleviate its impacts.
Amid Spring Statement debates on student maintenance, Kathryn Cribbin argues that financing doctoral study is a flawed system.

PQs:

The potential impact of a redistribution of student numbers between providers as a result of higher A-Level grades awarded in 2020 and 2021 on (a) students’ experiences and (b) providers’ finances.
Steps to (a) support and (b) offer redress to university students whose face-to-face teaching has been replaced by online and pre-recorded lectures since the lifting of covid-19 restrictions.
Supporting students who have been disrupted by industrial action called by unions representing university staff.
Student drug use
No new steps planned to support students with the rising cost of living
Impact of proposed student loan repayment changes on industry areas with staffing shortages such as nursing or teaching
Online teaching is as expensive as in-person learning.

Education Committee: Universities

The Education Committee ran a session questioning witnesses on the HE sector. Topics included outcomes for disadvantaged students, anti-Semitism and free speech. The NUS was criticised by Committee Chair Robert Halfon as they did not provide a witness for the session. A summary of the committee session is available here provided by Dods and good coverage by Wonkhe is available in: Is OfS asleep or woke at the wheel?

Here are the key discussion points from the session (which at times felt like an echo chamber):

92% of the British public believe antisemitism is a problem in universities.
The witnesses presented a number of points to evidence that universities are not upholding free speech.
The Committee criticised the OfS for not intervening enough to tackle antisemitism in universities including noting that the rapper Lowkey had been asked to attend the NUS conference, a rapper he said had made antisemitic statements. The committee then went on to criticise the University of Nottingham for revoking the honorary degree award to Tony Sewell following a report on UK institutional racism. Highlighting once again the difficulty of drawing the unclear free speech/antisemitism line with different actors believing it should be drawn in different places.
While headline figures suggest more disadvantaged pupils are going to university the number of part time students has dropped. Disadvantaged pupils remain less likely to access the higher tariff institutions, more likely to drop out and less likely to have good employment outcomes. Concern was express that the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged is not narrowing.
On disadvantaged students witness McKellar (VP at UUK) said disadvantaged students started form a legacy of poorer education, and often had to do part-time work, because they lacked social capital. There was a need for universities to create Access and Participation Plans (APPs) which supported disadvantaged students. He said in general these plans had worked better in other areas, such as closing the BAME attainment gap.
Witness Humphries (Chair, University Alliance) said the availability of more scholarships and support – including grants as low as £500 – would help. She also pointed to the role of peer mentoring and better careers guidance.
Dandridge (OfS) stated tackling disadvantage was a core priority as in addition to APPs the OfS looks at post-university progression, as poor progression after university could be a breach of a regulatory condition. Dandridge also stated disadvantaged participation was creeping up but measures not happening fast enough.
Careers and the role of research and knowledge exchange with employers were discussed.
Old chestnuts such as students not repaying their loans and is attending university really of value to society or enabling social mobility were trotted out. As were courses that were poor value for money (due to strike action, poor mental health support, high costs of tuition and lack of in-person teaching). Pensions were mentioned.
Blended learning was discussed with an overall positive tone.
BAME students drop out / lower degree classification and staff representation in senior roles were raised. Diversity at Board level was raised. McKellar (UUK) called for quotas for both academic staff numbers and senior representation of BAME staff. Dandridge (OfS) highlighted the UKRI programme on black progression into research careers.
On the Government’s implementation of the Augar review Clare Merchant (Chief Executive, UCAS) said recent UCAS analysis on GCSE English and Maths levels suggested that those on free school meals, some BAME communities, and those in certain disadvantaged areas, were less likely to obtain the requisite levels at GCSE. Other concerns about the impact of minimum entry requirements and possible student number caps and their disproportionately disadvantaging effect compounding existing disadvantage were raised by other witnesses.

Related to the above points made during the Education Committee are comments that Emma Hardy (previous Shadow Minister for FE & HE Education) made at an accountability meeting and again at the Treasury Committee Spring Statement session. Wonkhe report: At the Treasury Committee Emma Hardy highlighted the regressive nature of changes to student loans, and the impact of these changes on the national accounts. Rishi Sunak described the reforms as “sensible”, and emphasised that nobody will pay more back in real terms than what they borrowed. Hardy noted that this change would only affect higher earners, with lower earning graduates likely to pay more than under the current system. Sunak rejected Hardy’s characterisation of the changes as “a tax on low earners” despite the evidence presented from Office for Budgetary Responsibility and Department for Education figures. You can watch the committee session on parliamentlive.tv.

There’s also a very short Wonkhe explainer, snippet:

Hardy’s argument is that this has a place based effect – graduates earning around the average wage in Hull will pay a lot more than they currently do, graduates earning around the average wage in London will pay less than currently. The opposite – in other words – of “levelling up”.
There’s a tendency in expert commentary to see this as a niche issue affecting only a small part of the population – but with participation rates rising (and set to rise further if we take into account both demographic bulging and the LLE opening the loan system to more people) there is a sizable marginal tax rate impact for a large part of a generation.

Graduate Jobs

The Institute of Student Employers has released their 2022 Student Development report which compiles trends following a survey of the Institute’s employer membership base. It’s sat behind a paywall so here is Wonkhe’s synopsis:

Every year Institute of Student Employers (ISE) surveys its member employers to get their view of graduate skills – in this year’s Student Development Survey reportwe get the picture of the impact of the pandemic, as well as an update on larger trends in graduate employment, with data drawn from 107 employers. ISE analysis concludes “there is a renewed focus on the soft skills required for a post-Covid workplace.”
A third of respondents say their skills needs have changed as a result of Covid-19 – focusing on independence, resilience/growth mindset, adaptability, and confidence. 65 per cent of employers expect their new hires to be able to work remotely, up from 45 per cent in 2021. There is also greater expectation that graduates will arrive with technical skills such as coding and data analysis – or be able to acquire these skills. Expert insight from University of Leeds academic Helen Hughes suggests that early career hires may struggle to access development opportunities and secure visibility of their work if there is more hybrid and remote working.
There is a long term downward trend in retention of graduate hires three years post-graduation – down to 72 per cent from 79 per cent in 2011, suggesting that employers may need to work harder to retain early career staff in the post-Covid workplace. 61 per cent reported demand for mental health support has increased during the pandemic and 89 per cent report providing mental health support and counselling particularly for early career hires.

There’s also a blog written by Nicola Thomas of ISE: Never have the skills required to thrive in the workplace shifted so dramatically in a two year period as in the last two years.

Access & Participation

We wrote about UUK’s new Fair Admissions Code of Practice recently – as of 1^st April there is a long list of universities who have signed up to it.

The OfS issued some data on their participation performance measures.

As you have seen in our recent commentary on the B3 licence condition consultation and TEF plans, continuation is a key metric for the OfS. They note from this data that there is a difference of 3.7% for continuation between the most and least represented groups. These splits will feature in the regulatory and the TEF data and so we can expect scrutiny of this – the Ofs target is “To eliminate the unexplained gap in non-continuation between most and least represented groups by 2024-25, and to eliminate the absolute gap by 2030-31”.

Wonkhe report on the black attainment (degree classification) gap:

The gap between the proportion of black undergraduate qualifiers and the proportion of white qualifiers in England achieving a first class degree has almost doubled in a decade, widening to almost 20 percentage points in 2020-21…..Its headline measure on “good honours” attainment, which combines first class and upper second class honours, saw further improvement as a continuation of a long term trend – but masks the significant differential when only considering firsts.

Similar issues apply to the degree outcomes for disabled students.

As well as updating the KPM analysis, OfS has updated its Access and Participation Dashboard with figures for 2020-21, updated sector-level information on student’s qualifications on entry to higher education and their subject of study, and published a report that summarises the key gaps in access, continuation and attainment at a sector level for different student characteristics.

Blogs

The gap between the proportion of black and white undergraduates achieving a first has grown again. David Kernohan gets across the latest set of Office for Students access and participation data.
In light of persistent awarding gaps, the National Student Survey and the Teaching Excellence Framework should confront race head on, says Caryn Franklin.
Brief encounters of the evaluation kind – Julian Crockford disentangles demands for access and participation work to prove its impact and efficacy.

Parliamentary Questions

Effect of the proposal not to provide university students loans if prospective students have failed GCSE Maths and English, on the ability of young people from low-income households to attend university.
What steps the DfE (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to increase access to specialist higher education facilities for people with special educational needs and disabilities.

OfS

It is Ministerial letter time. After the flurries of letters from Gavin Williamson, things had gone a bit quiet, but a letter appeared on 31^st March 2022, offering guidance on strategic priorities. It replaces the previous guidance up to February 2021, but notably the guidance on teaching grant (strategic priorities grant) stays in place. The priorities as set out will not surprise you. Although the encouragement to the OfS to carry out in person inspections of 10-15 institutions is interesting and the instructions on how the new B3 enforcement regime will be carried out.

We are clear that HE has an important role to play in delivering the government’s moral, economic and social vision for levelling up: supporting strong regional and economic growth, developing partnerships with Further Education colleges and local employers to improve the skills base nationally, and working with schools to drive up attainment
We welcome the OfS’s ongoing engagement on the development of the LLE to date and would like this engagement to continue in 2022-23. Together we need to ensure that the LLE is supported by an appropriate regulatory regime, fully equipped to support radically different, flexible arrangements, measuring quality using metrics that are meaningful in the new system and which interact positively with our admissions regime
Cold spots…We would like the OfS to explore ways of encouraging the expansion of HE provision into new areas, while ensuring that high quality provision is maintained
We would like the OfS to work with officials to help to grow the uptake of high-quality technical education and degree apprenticeships including, where possible, through the use of access and participation targets, information and guidance, as well as supporting the raising of the profile of IoTs.
… it is our clear and firm expectation that the OfS will use the new outcome thresholds to identify providers with unacceptable levels of performance and challenge them. In the event that they cannot convincingly explain and justify their student outcomes data, then this should provide the basis for generating robust regulatory investigation and action. In cases where low and unacceptable quality is confirmed, action should include, where appropriate, financial penalties and ultimately the suspension or removal of the provider from the register (and with it, access to student finance)
our priorities for investigation are:
- larger providers with university title which are below proposed numerical thresholds either for the whole provider, or multiple subject areas; and
- a set of investigations focused on a major subject grouping with large numbers of students and high variation in outcomes, such as Computer Science or Law, with the intention to drive up the quality of those courses across the sector as a whole; and
- providers where OfS has long-standing concerns about quality which are confirmed or strengthened by numerical data on student outcomes
Our expectation is that the OfS should … implement a visible and effective inspections regime against the other B (Quality) conditions of registration, that will involve on-site inspection of 10-15 providers next year, that will root out pockets of poor provision and will result in regulatory action where appropriate. Through this activity, we would expect the OfS to focus on the following priorities:
- that online learning should be used to complement and enhance a student’s learning experience, not to detract from it;
- the provision of sufficient contact hours, particularly where this has been flagged by intelligence from students; and
- the importance of maintaining rigour in assessment, including appropriate technical proficiency in English necessary to secure a good outcome for all or some students.
…., we want to offer our support for the OfS proposals for a refreshed Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and, in particular, welcome the proposed introduction of the new ‘Requires Improvement’ category
On APP: we would like the OfS to work at pace to publish guidance this spring, calling for providers to bring forward variations to their current A&P plans where these do not currently meet the new expectations. We would like to see these approved this autumn, to take effect from September 2023. Where providers with substandard plans fail to bring forward variations voluntarily, the OfS should not hesitate in calling on those providers to submit a new plan for approval.
We endorse the OfS’s proposal to move to a four-year A&P plan cycle, with a full rewrite of new A&P plans at the end of 2023, to come into effect by September 2024
We would also like to see providers incorporate data on completion rates and entry into professional employment, or further study, in all their advertising of subjects and courses from the start of the next admissions cycle
Anti-Semitism, freedom of Speech bill
We welcome the OfS’s publication of the statement of expectations on sexual harassment and misconduct last Spring …. in our view, the OfS should include this in a condition of registration as soon as possible.
we would like the OfS to work with officials and sector stakeholders to consider how we can ensure that the student interest is placed at the centre of fair and transparent admissions practices, and that the sector avoids practices where students may feel pressured into making decisions, including through the use of ‘conditional unconditional’ offers

And on funding – a separate letter also came out on grant funding. Research Professional have a summary:

…the ministers set out how funding will be distributed next year after it pledged £750 million over three years last month to support “high-quality teaching and facilities” such as engineering and nursing.
The strategic priorities grant will rise by 5 per cent to £1,397m in 2022-23 from £1,330 million in 2021-22. Of the £56m rise, £32m is for strategically important subjects, particularly those connected to health.
Capital funding will be £450m between 2022-23 and 2024-25, compared with £150m in 2021-22. There will be up to £4m across the 2022-23 financial year to support Ukrainian nationals and Ukrainian-domiciled students affected by the war, and universities will have £5m to set aside for “emerging priorities”.
However, the student outreach programme Uni Connect will lose £10m next year after losing £20m this year, and student hardship funds will go without the £5m pandemic-related boost they received last year.

More detail from RP here. And you can find the letter itself here. Some interesting points:

we want to further accelerate the growth of degree apprenticeships and encourage Higher Education Providers to expand their existing offers, or develop new ones, where they are best placed to do so. We will explore options with the OfS for supporting this important provision with up to £8m of funding for this goal
To encourage greater provision of level 4 and 5 qualifications we are providing £8m in the 2022-23 financial year to be allocated to providers with eligible learners on level 4 and 5 qualifications, through formula funding
we will explore options with the OfS for using an additional £10m of funding in the 2022-23 financial year to increase the amount of skills provision at levels 4 to 6 available in preparation for the launch of the LLE from 2025.
Mental Health: We have listened to students and the HE sector and would like the OfS to distribute funding, at a similar level to that disbursed last year, to give additional support for transitions from school/college to university, and through targeting funding to support partnership working with NHS services to provide pathways of care for students
No additional student hardship funding for 2022/23
Capital funding: We would like the OfS to continue allocating the majority of funds to providers through a competitive bidding process, to continue to target funds at specific projects and activities supporting high-quality, skills-based education but to do so using a multi-year approach.

In the meantime the OfS had published their 2022-2025 strategy focusing on quality and standards, and on equality of opportunity. The strategy aims for:

students to receive a high quality academic experience that improves their knowledge and skills, with increasing numbers receiving excellent provision
rigorous assessment and for qualifications to be credible and comparable
a focus on free speech
using incentivisation, regulation and providing a focus so that the subjects graduates study contribute usefully to the economy/industry and the levelling up agenda
student access, success and progression is not limited by their background, location or characteristics
a diverse range of courses and providers are available for students to choose from; provision is flexible and innovative and access to people at all life stages
harassment and sexual misconduct are responded to effectively if they occur
the environment supports student mental health and wellbeing to enable success in HE
HE providers are financially viable, sustainable and have effective governance
the promised academic experience is delivered to students and consumer protection is applied
minimising the OfS regulatory burden – action to meet the OfS goals and regulatory objectives

A summary is available here. Full content here.

Details of the latest appointments to the OfS board are here.

PQs:

Ensuring the Office for Students has a full set of key performance indicators against which its performance can be measured.
Ensuring that the Office for Students has an integrated model to assess the potential impact of ongoing, multiple and systemic risks to the financial sustainability of higher education providers
What threshold would have to be reached in order to trigger an intervention by his Department in the event of a higher education provider exiting the market

Education Policies: White and Green

Education: Schools White Paper: The Schools White Paper – Opportunity for All: strong schools with great teachers for your child. Dods summary here (see first 6 pages).
Key aspects of the paper are:

Strong teaching (including aspects on teacher training, recruitment and the retention of teachers delivering key subjects in deprived areas through enhanced pay).
High standards for the curriculum (English and Maths are key foci, increasing average GCSE grade from 4.5 to 5 by 2030), behaviour and attendance (minimum 32.5 hours in school by 2023). Every school to have access to funded training for a senior mental health lead to deliver a whole school approach to health and wellbeing. New plans for sport, music and cultural education. New modern foreign language network hubs and professional development. More students to take the EBACC.
Targeted support for children who are behind in English and maths via a new parent pledge, guidance on the catch up (again with parent communications so parents stay informed) but without labelling and over testing; tutoring expected to be funded out of school core budgets including pupil premium.
All schools to be in a ‘strong’ multi-academy trust (MAT) by 2030 with new intervention powers to address MATs that are not strong. (There’s a new consultation on it here.) Plus transparency measures for parents to understand their top slicing of school budgets. Exceptionally schools may be able to move MATs. Local Authorities will receive ‘backstop powers’ to force trusts to admit children, and to object to schools’ published admissions numbers. Lots more on MATs in the summary.
A nice section in the summary page 5-6 which highlights the ‘re-announcements’ i.e. the aspects the Government have already released information or funding on. So if you are wondering if some aspects are new money or new interventions the ‘re-announcements’ detail what isn’t new but makes sense to sit under the White Paper umbrella.

SEN Green Paper: Nadhim Zahawi launched the green paper Special Education Needs and Disability Review through a debate in Parliament on Tuesday. Dods summarise the content here or there is a short Government press release: Ambitious reform for children and young people with SEND.

Other news

NUS: The NUS have elected new leadership. Wonkhe – NUS has announced that Shaima Dallali – currently President of City, University of London Students’ Union – was elected UK President for a two year term starting in July. Chloe Field – from Liverpool Guild of Students – was elected Vice President for Higher Education. Jewish News reports on concerns over Dallali’s “historic tweets” (since deleted), and her apology for them.

HE Data Reduction: Yes, you’ve heard it all before. Here’s the news from Wonkhe: Higher and further education minister Michelle Donelan has announced that she will chair a HE Data Reduction Taskforce. The new taskforce will meet every six weeks to “streamline and simplify reporting requirements” on higher education institutions. We understand that representatives from HESA, the Education and Skills Funding Agency, the Student Loans Company, OfS, Ofsted, Ofqual, UCAS, and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education – along with experts from the wider sector – will have a particular focus on instances of duplication in data requirements. The Task Force will produce interim recommendations within three months, and a final report after six months.

This announcement comes following a written parliamentary question from Shadow HE minister last week asking Michelle Donelan what steps have been taken to ensure that higher education providers have a good understanding of (a) the reasons for which the Office for Students collects the data it does and (b) how it uses that data.

Turing mobility scheme: PIE news has a good quick read:

Improvements proposed for UK Turing scheme. Excerpt: while the new outward mobility program is being praised for the short mobility opportunities it presents and its weighting towards disadvantaged students, improvements could create a more efficient program, they have suggested.
UUKi is calling for the current 12-month project cycle to be shifted to a multi-year funding model.
“We think [that] would better support, not only the Global Britain agenda and the widening participation goals, but students to apply for actual funding so they can have funding confirmed earlier on,” said UUKi head of Global Mobility Policy Charley Robinson.

More here. And the second year of the Turing Scheme bids has opened.

Graduate shaped learning: Wonkhe – Miriam Firth explains why incorporating graduates’ working experiences into teaching is essential to helping students develop.

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April 22, 2020

HE policy update for the w/e 22nd April 2020

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, HEIF, Industry collaboration, innovation, international, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement, Research assessment, Student Engagement jforster

Lots of MP commentary on universities this week including the (lack of) HE financial support measures. Virtual voting in the Commons wasn’t a great success, HEPI re-examine student experience across the 4 regions of the UK, concerns for graduate employment abound, and there is news on REF and KEF.

Most importantly, happy World Earth Day! Do try the google animation – it is particularly special (you get to control the bee!).

Parliamentary News

Virtual Commons – The House of Commons intends to follow a hybrid approach sitting Mon to Wed for approximately 2 hours (and with restrictions on volume of attendance and contact for those (up to 50) actually present in the chamber). These sessions will also be attended virtually to allow a fuller range of MPs and urgent business to take place. Question sessions will be facilitated online through Zoom (let’s hope the Treasury has stretched to procure the paid version otherwise debates may be shorter than usual – and are using passwords!). These sessions will mainly consist of parliamentary, departmental and urgent questions (30 minute sessions) and ministerial statements followed by the standard scheduled business. Operational detail for many aspects of parliamentary business hasn’t been worked out, e.g. how to manage voting and the legislative bills stages. However, a commitment has been made that any MP in the Chamber will be treated the same as one appearing virtually and would only be called to speak if scheduled to. And if a Member is called but cannot be heard or seen due to tech failure they’ll be given the chance to speak again later in the proceedings.

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said:

By initiating a hybrid solution, with steps towards an entirely virtual Parliament, we are enabling Members to stay close to their communities, while continuing their important work scrutinising the Government. I do not want Members and House staff putting themselves at risk. By working virtually, this is our contribution to the guidance of stay home, protect the NHS and save lives.”

Dods discuss challenges and how the virtual parliament could work here.

Tuesday saw a trial of the secure voting procedure in the Commons. It was unsuccessful with some entertainingly choice language and a lot of commentary online about MP’s living room backdrops. Work on a more secure solution is taking place and Parliament hopes to have a workable voting system live by ‘early next month’.

Staff changes

DfE Board: Theresa May’s close advisor and campaign leader Nick Timothy has been appointed to the DfE Board as a non-executive director. Research Professional (RP) note Nick is

a fierce critic of the higher education sector…In a statement issued on 16 April, a DfE spokeswoman said that Timothy would bring “a range of experience that will support our work as we continue to develop our world-leading education system”. Since then, he has been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, a position he has used to criticise the higher education sector. In August 2017, he wrote in his column that England’s tuition fee system is an “unsustainable and ultimately pointless Ponzi scheme”. RP also point out that Nick is a former director of the New Schools Network—the free schools charity from which Toby Young, the controversial Spectator columnist, resigned in 2018 after criticism of his appointment to the board of the Office from Students, from which he also ultimately resigned.

BEIS select committee chair: Rachel Reeves, who was elected Chair of the prestigious Business Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee, has resigned the Chair role (as required) upon her appointment to the Labour Shadow Cabinet. Several Labour MPs are vying to take over the Chairmanship. Politics Home are running a series profiling each candidate and Research Professional have a short piece. Business presented today states voting will take place electronically to elect the Chair (when is still to be confirmed).

Brexit & Immigration

The EU and UK have agreed three new rounds of Brexit negotiations to take place via video link during the weeks commencing 20 April, 11 May and 1 June.

There is a new poll examining whether the public are supportive of a Brexit deadline extension (47% support, 23% opposed).

There is more information on the UK points based immigration system was released as the Home Office published an introductory employer guide for Post-Brexit immigration.

The Home Office has also further updated the Tier 4 guidance in light of C-19 stating that no one will have a negative outcome through the immigration system due to a circumstance that was beyond their control. It also confirmed that enforcement actions will not be taken against sponsors who are responsible for students absent from studies due to coronavirus and that absences don’t need to be reported when due to coronavirus (e.g. self-isolating or travel). The guidance goes into more detail on distance learning; attendance monitoring during the coronavirus pandemic; English language requirements and pre-sessional courses; ATAS studies; right to work check and child students. It covers extending visas – students whose leave would have expired between 24 January and 31 May, will be able to apply for further leave within the UK. Extended leave will also be provided if students haven’t been able to complete a course/meet all requirements due to other requirements. Other points:

Students who would normally be subject topolice registrations who are extending leave, and are unable to leave home, will not need to do so.
There is information regarding working hours and volunteeringfor NHS trusts in particular. Hours will not be restricted to 20 hours per week during term time. Where all study has been suspended, students will be considered on “vacation” and will be able to work full time.
Right to rent checkshave been adapted so that landlords can see documents over videocalls during this period.

Challenges for the sector

The House of Commons Library have published Coronavirus implications for the FE and HE sectors in England. Library briefings are a good basic introduction to the subject matter presented so if you missed the debate in previous policy updates this library briefing will catch you up on the concerns facing the HE sector.

Exams, offers and clearing

The Financial Times has a longer read on the international admissions crisis.

Education Minister, Gavin Williamson, confirmed A level results will be released on Thursday 13 August, and GCSE results on Thursday 20 August meaning the release dates will mirror all other years. What this means for the HE sector and clearing is still to be clarified. Earlier rumours suggested Government were considering a beefed up clearing with more students encouraged to enter the process than in previous years.

On this Wonkhe wrote: Last week brought news from the Department for Education (DfE) that grades for cancelled A level exams in England will now be published on their originally-planned day of 20 August. Those who have seen drafts of the government bailout package told us that it also included proposals for a “bolstered” Clearing period to encourage students to wait until August to make their final decisions. There’s also no consensus yet about the proposal for number controls next year, with some voices both in government and the sector concerned that it would still enable high-tariff universities to expand at the expense of others.

The ban on unconditional offer making has been extended for a further two weeks until 4 May. The OfS and Government remain vigilant and determined to crack down on providers who find ways to flout the ban. The Universities Minister wrote to Vice-Chancellors last Saturday stating that any new conditional offers to students that asked for lower grades than expected “must be in the best interests of the student and not an unconditional offer by the back door”. The UCAS decision making deadline has also been pushed back and applicants are not required to select their preferred institutions until 18 June.

Disadvantaged tech access: Gavin Williamson announced an online learning support package making laptops and tablets available to disadvantaged children across England to enable remote education for pupils staying at home during the coronavirus outbreak. The provision will be available for children in the most vital stages of their education, those who receive support from a social worker and care leavers. 4G routers will also be available for disadvantaged secondary school pupils and care leavers to access the internet – where those families do not already have mobile or broadband internet in the household.

Some Parliamentary questions in this area:

Q – Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) accuracy of predicted grades for (i) GCSEs and (ii) A-Levels and (b) potential effect of unconscious bias on those predicted grades in terms of (A) gender and (B) race. [34386]

A – Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation.

Q – Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department is having with universities and higher education providers to ensure that students who are unable to sit their exams for A-Levels and other qualifications as a result of school closures are able to access higher education in the next academic year. [33629]

A – Michelle Donelan:

The calculated grades awarded this year will be formal grades, with the same status as grades awarded in any other year. The higher education sector has recognised this and is working with us to ensure that this year’s cohort of A-Level students are at no disadvantage when it comes to progression to university because of these unprecedented circumstances.
Department officials are working closely with Ofqual, UCAS, Universities UK, the Office for Students and others to ensure that the admissions system functions as effectively and efficiently as possible during this unprecedented time.
The latest guidance for schools and other educational settings can be found here.

Financial sustainability

In last week’s policy update we described how UUK were lobbying the Secretary of State for Education to recognise the dangers and approve a range of stabilisation measures for the HE sector. Gavin Williamson appeared receptive to the requests but no announcements were forthcoming during the opportunities on Friday or Sunday among rumours that the Treasury squashed support spending. Wonkhe have this to say on the matter:

If the last few days have told us anything, it’s that the government bailout of higher education, when it does land, will be patchy, controversial in parts, arrive in fits and starts, and will likely never be able to deal with all of the gigantic consequences of the pandemic. But to say the conditions for good policy making are imperfect would be an understatement.
There’s a version of history where at last night’s government coronavirus press conference education secretary Gavin Williamson announced the first major steps of a wholesale bailout of higher education after urging from Universities UK. It would have been a remarkably quick turnaround for the Whitehall machine, and so it proved to be, falling foul of final approval from the Treasury in a joint ministerial meeting on Thursday. In the meantime, low-key announcements were made confirming that universities would have access to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and the Covid Corporate Financing Facility.
The bailout was also due to be coming out against a backdrop of further data showing just how rocky things are likely to be over the next year. …Andy Westwood argues that the bailout will build bridges to the sort of sector the government hopes to see, potentially including linking research and development more closely to economic and industrial strategy, and a long-term vision for teaching and student numbers across post-compulsory education. In other words, anyone expecting a bailout to preserve the status quo is likely to be disappointed.

Research Professional’s reports are interesting due to their sources on the inside. They write:

Whitehall insiders have suggested to Playbook that the extent of the challenge for universities is well understood by the government, but at this moment the feeling is that there is no need to rush out a solution that does not hit the target and merely creates perverse results. For example, UUK’s request that quality-related research funding be doubled from £2 billion to £4bn a year would see much of that cash land at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge—two of the institutions most able to ride out this storm.
Playbook has been told by sources close to the discussions that there are three variables at play: first, the short-term loss of income for universities; second, the medium-term loss of demand for higher education; and third, the government’s long-term promises on R&D spending. It is not that the government is disinclined to help out universities—as science minister Amanda Solloway wrote early on in the crisis, it is a government priority that the research base be protected so that the UK has something to bounce back with when the country exits lockdown. Rather, any rescue package will come with expectations, i.e. strings attached. As it was put to Playbook, “something better is possible”.
With the government firefighting on an hourly basis to get personal protective equipment into hospitals, prop up a shrivelling economy and ramp up testing to a level that would enable any kind of exit from lockdown, universities may be about to learn a harsh lesson concerning their place in the national pecking order. This week, UUK will need to play its cards with care and no little skill.

The last minute news from RP on Wednesday (from a source they are unable to name, presumably at UUK) is that the Government have not told them to rethink their support measures request. Although it was indicated that such a deal will need to encompass a solution on “admissions restraint”, research spending and targeted support for vulnerable institutions.

And on Monday the Government issued guidance about the C-19 support measures universities can access. They also confirmed the Student Loans Company plans to make Term 3 tuition fee payments as scheduled; and we understand maintenance payments will be paid too.

Wonkhe have a blog on the scale of the financial risk for HE providers and whether the doubling of QR funding will be a drop in the ocean or help.

The opposition view

Shadow Minister for Universities, Emma Hardy, has written to the government calling on them to underwrite higher education funding to protect and prevent institutions from going bankrupt as a result of the coronavirus crisis. The letter argues that an over-reliance on international tuition fees and an unequal regional distribution of research grants mean higher education providers are vulnerable to closure or functioning at a reduced capacity, with a damaging effect for jobs and social mobility. Excerpts from the letter:

Labour is calling on the government to guarantee that no university will be allowed to go bankrupt. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the failures and weaknesses within the government’s higher education policy. Our universities are not just businesses and should not be treated as such. Our higher education institutes provide value to our country every day, supplying final year medical students to fight on the frontline of our NHS, creating PPE, and providing accommodation for key workers.

The letter goes on to say:

My greatest concern is that a failure to provide timely and comprehensive support to our universities in the face of this crisis will create “cold spots” in the country for access to higher education to those who benefit from it the most. We know that students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and part-time and mature students, make up the large proportion of commuter students and they will suffer disproportionately if regional HE institutions close.
….It is essential therefore, that no institutions are allowed to fall. I welcome your comments that you are looking closely at the Universities UK proposals for comprehensive sectoral support and I would ask again for you to provide a clear message that the security and certainty our Universities are desperately looking for will be available.
….I welcome your comments that UK Universities are “open and accessible” and I would ask if you could speak to your colleagues in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to have a joined up approach in promoting our UK universities and addressing some of the concerns held by some countries on the validity of ‘online degrees’, if only as a short-term measure. It would also be useful to have increased clarity from the Home Office about student visas too.
I would urge you to look again at convening representatives from institutions, examinations bodies, practitioner unions and students organisations to agree on the timing and character of teaching in the new academic year and ensure that this is communicated clearly to students.
I am also concerned that teacher assessment, an unequal home schooling experience and ‘digital poverty’ will result in a weaker performance of BAME groups and pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and that this in turn could impact student admissions. I am keen to know what actions you are taking to ensure that the already disadvantaged are not further disadvantaged

Another perspective

Research Professional (RP) interviewed Daniel Zeichner, Labour MP for Cambridge and Chair of the Universities all party parliamentary group. The interview shows the human side of policies and politicians; the honesty around Labour’s tuition fee approach is refreshing too. Excerpts from comments in the RP interview:

“Universities are very different [from each other], and some of them are very, very vulnerable. Some rely very heavily on international student income and they must already be in a very difficult situation…the response from researchers and the whole academic community has been uplifting, with the wider public looking to expertise and knowledge for a route out of our difficulties.
Whether epidemiologists or clinicians, it has also shown the value of appreciating that there is no simple answer—evidence is patchy and has to be interpreted, questioned and contested. This is all part of the daily experience of the university and research community but is not always more widely understood.
As in so many parts of society, the crisis has highlighted longer-term problems that may now need to be addressed directly. Research funding was overly dependent on cross-subsidy from the lucrative international student market, while the unresolved long-term issues around student funding in general, and the market-based approach in particular, will have to be faced.”
Zeichner’s fear, he says, is that “some will use the crisis to try to reduce rather than widen access and participation—but that argument will be for when politics resumes as usual”.

When Daniel was pressed on whether Labour’s approach to no tuition fees was right he responded: “It seems that virtually every party has occupied every position on tuition fees at one point or another, which ought to allow us all off the hook slightly, because we’ve all been in all the various places,”

RP write:

He’s not far wrong—as this HEPI blogpost shows, in the past 16 years, the Labour Party has backed the tripling of undergraduate fees, supported a big cut in fees and is now backing the abolition of fees. The Conservative Party has shifted from opposing fees to tripling them while in power.
“Having said all that, you can’t start to pluck figures out of the air,” Zeichner says—adding that he was “never entirely convinced” that Labour’s 2015 pledge to cut tuition fees in England to £6,000 “was particularly evidence-based”.
“I think it was kind of splitting the difference. Once you start down that route, there comes a logic to say if you’re going to reduce fees a bit and replace them with extra public money, you might as well go the whole hog [and abolish fees altogether].”
Most important, he says, is not implementing a system that “goes back to universities being under-resourced”. “Given we are at the start of a four-and-a-half-year parliament, it may well be time to draw a line and, certainly for the Labour Party in opposition, to have another think about it…I would be perfectly happy to open it up again,” he adds.
“There does seem to be a growing sense that somehow too many people are going to university and it is not worth doing it. I really think that needs to be countered, because I still think the university experience in terms of social mobility is so incredibly powerful. In a rich country, we really ought not to be saying we can’t afford to do it anymore.”

Knowledge Exchange

Research England has confirmed that the KEF submission deadline has been delayed due to the disruption caused by the pandemic. Submissions are now expected to be made by Friday 16 October 2020. Research England blog on Wonkhe: Now is the time for knowledge exchange.

OfS and Research England have announced the 20 recipients of the £10 million knowledge exchange projects. The projects aim to identify the benefits to students who involve themselves in knowledge exchange activities and partnerships with businesses, engagement with communities, third sector organisations and professional training. Furthermore, to address issues of equality, diversity and inclusion within the KE activities. OfS say

students play a significant role in this [KE] activity by, for example, establishing start-ups and spin-off companies, and providing skills and expertise for businesses, public services and community groups through consultancy, internships and work placements.

The successful projects aim to explore a range of knowledge exchange activities, including free-to-access courses run in partnership with the NHS for mental health service users, start-ups in the creative industries, and pro bono, social impact-driven consultancy and venture capital services. Flexibility over the projects and timescales has been conferred to adjust for the impact of C-19.

Research

REF delays: UKRI have announced a short consultation on new deadlines for the REF. The consultation runs until 5^th May and at BU we will work with RDS on preparing a response. There are two key deadlines in play – the end of the impact assessment period (which may end up being 31^st December instead of 31^st July) and the submission deadline (which could be 31^st March next year).

Research funding

Meanwhile Chancellor Rishi Sunak continues to emphasise the Government’s focus on the levelling up agenda, and particularly how it might boost research and R&D spending levels.

“We remain very committed to the agenda that we set out before, which was about levelling up and spreading opportunity around this country,” he said. That agenda, including improvements in productivity and investing in infrastructure around the country “will only become more important as we exit from this crisis”.

The Research Professional article continues:

Graeme Reid, chair of science and research policy at University College London, said it should not be surprising if boosting R&D is high up in any post-Covid-19 budget. “After the banking crisis hit in 2008, the government protected research and innovation—while cutting many other areas of public spending—because it recognised that the UK had become a knowledge economy,” he said. “Now the levelling-up agenda depends on a combination of infrastructure investments that include the UK’s knowledge infrastructure.”
Diana Beech, a former adviser to three universities and science ministers, said: “It is noteworthy that we now have a government that is intent on being led by the science. Experts are not just back in fashion but at the front and centre of informing the direction of government policy. “For this public trust in experts to last, the science we need to be investing in now is a science which we know will deliver the tangible outcomes our society needs—in this case, vaccinations to fight the coronavirus and economic and social measures to minimise risk to people, supply chains, businesses and jobs.”

PhD students: UKRI have announced that UKRI funded PhD students who cannot continue their research due to C-19 will be allocated additional support funding to extend their study period by up to 6 months. UKRI have issued FAQs here.

R&D Tax Credits: HMRC has published statistics on Research and Development Tax Credits from Corporate Tax detailing the cost of tax credits and the type of companies claiming them.

Regional Inconsistencies in the Student Experience

HEPI published One for all or all four one? Does the UK have a single higher education sector?

The report draws on the Student Academic Experience Survey data from 2015 to 2019 comparing the experiences of students from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on seven areas: value, finance, wellbeing, accommodation, pedagogy, workload and regrets. Devolution has resulted in different policies, priorities and funding regimes. As expected, there are both similarities and differences. HEPI conclude:

it is also fair to conclude that more continues to unite than to divide higher education in the different parts of the UK. In other words, the concept of a single UK higher education sector has sustained despite increasing devolution and increasingly divergent policies in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. This is in line with the concept of higher education as an endeavour that crosses political boundaries.

Nick Hillman, Director of HEPI and the author of the report, said:

‘Students in England seem to work less hard than those elsewhere in the UK. Students in Scotland have more positive perceptions about the value of their course and are more likely to believe higher education should be free. Meanwhile, students in Wales tend to think more positively about their academics and students in Northern Ireland are more content, with higher levels of wellbeing. Many of our results are surprising. Policymakers in England have often tried to portray high tuition fees as offering more student choice and a better student experience. Policymakers in other parts of the UK have tended to regard lower student debts as a way to improve student wellbeing. Both these claims are pooh-poohed by the results from students themselves. Nonetheless, it is easy to exaggerate the scale of any differences. The most important finding overall is that any differences in the student experience in different parts of the UK are fairly modest. Despite increasing devolution and increasingly divergent policies, there is still more that unites higher education institutions across the UK than divides them. The current Covid-19 crisis is bringing this home, as higher education institutions across the UK are all facing the same new challenges.’

Social Mobility

The Sutton Trust published a report: Social mobility and covid-19 – Implications of the Covid-19 crisis for educational inequality examining the future challenges to the C-19 generation.

In their weekly newsletter NEON stated outreach projects are suffering as a result of the pandemic [with] The majority of organisations… trying to make the move to replace face to face activities with online resources and sessions.

HEPI have a guest blog: Navigating the aspiration trap: white working-class students and widening access to higher education. PhD Student Alex Blower, with a background in outreach, criticises the aspiration deficit model and argues for more nuance in tackling the white working class access gap.

Wonkhe report:

The UPP Foundation has invested £100,000 in five university-led projects to tackle pressing issues in access to and progression from higher education. Project commencement will be delayed during the lockdown, but projects were approved prior to the current emergency. Wonkhe have a blog on one of the 5 funded projects. Richard Brabner, Director of the UPP Foundation, said: “These projects to support and develop our communities are more important than ever in light of the developing Covid-19 crisis. We will be working closely with the grant recipients to support them during these exceptionally challenging times, and to help implement their projects once it becomes safe to do so.” Research Professional has a little more coverage

Youth unemployment: Impetus and the Youth Futures Foundation have published a report on youth unemployment and the profile of those young people struggling to access the labour market. It shows that those most likely to be out of work and education are some of the most vulnerable young people, and that the headline numbers overlook some pressing issues such as underemployment. The report also predicts that – even without the covid-19 pandemic – the numbers of young people affected were likely to rise, given economic, demographic and social changes. Excerpts:

Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and particular ethnic minorities are disproportionately likely to be NEET or underemployed than their peers. The most common reasons given for not being able to look for work are caring responsibilities or health problems.
Having been eligible for Free School Meals in Year 11 increases a young person’s chances of being NEET later on by 50%.

Recommendations:

Effective engagement: Using magnets, including cultural magnets such as music, sports or arts; and financial magnets for example cash vouchers, to ensure that provision looks different to compulsory education and encourages take up
Delivery of personalised support packages: Including options for employability skills, job search skills, work experience

Graduate Employment

The likelihood of a squeezed job market and economic recession as a result of the worldwide pandemic has been regularly reported. Many parallels have been drawn to the 2008 graduation cohort who struggled to access graduate level employment, and often for a greater duration than other cohorts. Research Professional discuss a similar concern for the coronavirus cohorts. Here are the key points in relation to the call to provide tuition fee relief for the graduating cohort:

An analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed that this year’s graduates are likely to face a squeezed job market as the coronavirus pandemic causes “a huge economic downturn”, leading graduate employers to shut their doors. But this does not mean that the government should cut the debt owed on graduation.
According to the IFS analysis, published on 18 April, those who graduate during recessions are more likely to end up in non-graduate work than those leaving university in better years, and they are more likely to earn less or be out of work in the first few years after graduation.
Due to the expected scale of this year’s downturn, the IFS said those graduating in 2020 might have “an especially hard time” and it could take up to 10 years for their earnings to recover. Although graduate earnings fell by around 20 per cent after the financial crash between 2008 and 2013, the IFS said those graduating this year would find it even harder to secure “well-paid employment” and that a hit to their earnings could last “for a considerable period of time”.
However, the financial think tank warned that that waiving or reducing some tuition fee debt for theses graduates would not be an “appropriate response” as repayment levels are linked to salaries, and a fee reduction would therefore benefit top earners the most. (Source: Research Professional.)

The Guardian has an article describing how large graduate employers are ceasing graduate recruitment programmes and internship opportunities.

NUS Student Safety Net call

The NUS are calling for a student hardship fund and the option for students to retake or be reimbursed for the academic year. A recent student survey conducted by the NUS found that 81% of students are worried about their future job prospects and 95% are concerned about the impact of Covid-19 on the economy.

33% of students are at critical risk of being unable to access their education;
74% are worried about the risk to their final qualifications;
Up to 85% of working students may need additional financial support as incomes drop;
71% worried about the impact the pandemic will have on their employability

NUS Recommendations:

A UK Government £60 million national hardship fund, accessible to all students who are currently in further and higher education. The Scottish government has led the way on this, NUS Scotland is calling for this support to be available to all students, including international students.
An economic package for those who complete their qualifications during the current pandemic, providing access to a grant which can be used for training, reskilling or development.
The option for every student, in every part of education, to redo this year at no further cost, with full maintenance support, while ensuring those returning to education next year receive high-quality education, training and support
Reimbursement of one year’s course, college or tuition fees for students who have paid upfront, or a write-off of one year’s debt for those who have paid through loans.

Speaking at NUS’ Student Safety Net campaign launch, Zamzam Ibrahim, NUS National President, said:

We urgently need a student safety net for all students across the UK. Coronavirus has hit thousands of students in the pocket and severely affected the quality of their learning. The current crisis has shown that students occupy the worst of all possible worlds – with the majority paying extortionate fees for their education and are treated as consumers but are left out in the cold when the product cannot be delivered as described. On top of this, thousands of trainee ‘key workers,’ such as healthcare students, are currently racking up debt whilst having their education disrupted or volunteering to fight coronavirus on the frontline. Student maintenance support is inadequate, and the government has failed to address the various cost of living crises for students in everything from housing to transport to course costs.
Face-to-face teaching and assessments have had to be hurriedly moved online, and placement and other practical activity has had to be cancelled. Students have lacked access to key resources, such as libraries and spaces, disabled students have been left unsupported, and students and staff have been struggling with other demands on their finances, welfare and wider lives as lockdown restrictions are enforced. The impact of this disruption will not be felt equally, with those on placements and disabled students feeling the impact particularly severely. Students are being forgotten during the Covid-19 pandemic. We are the future workforce that will have to help to rebuild our economy over the coming years. Students must not be forgotten. A Student Safety Net will demonstrate that this government cares about the students of today and recognises the role of all students in our future.

Media coverage: TES, BBC, Guardian

And a couple of relevant parliamentary questions:

Q – Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has had discussions with the university sector on the potential for rent refunds for students leaving campuses following the suspension of teaching as a result of the covid-19 outbreak. [33720]

AND, similarly

Q – Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will provide financial support to universities to establish hardship funds for students residing in (a) private rented and (b) university accommodation. [35031]

A – Michelle Donelan:

The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available. (Same ‘answer’ for both questions.)

Inquiries and Consultations

Click here to view the updated inquiries and consultation tracker. Email us on policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to contribute to any of the current consultations.

New consultations and inquiries this week:

Ofquallaunched a consultation on the proposed exceptional arrangements for GCSE, AS and A level exams.
The DCMS select committee have opened an inquiry into the Impact of COVID-19 on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Sectors.

Other news

Nursing student debt: Over Easter 80+ Labour MPs petitioned Matt Hancock requesting that student nurse debts be cancelled. Media Coverage: Mail, Nursing Times, and ITV News. The Guardian has a more recent piece including student comment.

Home productivity: And in non-policy news Ipsos Mori have a poll highlighting how Britons are occupying themselves at home during lockdown.

Surveillance: In a new online survey by Ipsos MORI, a majority of the public say they would support the use of mobile phone roaming data for surveillance by the Government in a range of ways to help limit the effect of coronavirus.

65% of responders support tracking those diagnosed with Coronavirus and those they’ve been in close contact with (16% opposed).
58% support surveillance for the Government to track whether the public overall are following social distancing and lockdown rulings – as to penalise those who are not (29% opposed).
51% support tracking for the Government to determine how many British citizens are currently abroad to help bring them home (22% opposed).

Coronavirus cost: The Centre for Policy Studies has published The Costs of Coronavirus estimating that government borrowing could hit £301 billion this year as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. Page 2 has a neat table of how this adds up. The estimated total is nearly double the cost of public expenditure on health (£153bn in 2018-19). The cost estimations do factor in any bailout figures for HE institutions.

OfS business plan delayed: The OfS is revising their 2020-21 business plan to adjust for the impact of C-19. They intend to continue activity that was already planned whilst prioritising work relating to the current crisis. The business plan was due to be published during April 2020 however OfS have confirmed they will release the revised plan once they have a better sense of the scale of the disruption caused by the outbreak, and the timeline for the pandemic to pass.

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April 8, 2020

HE Policy Update for the w/e 8th April 2020

Business Engagement, Industry collaboration, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, NHS jforster

Well, what a week! Lockdown hasn’t reduced the volume of content, analysis and comment out there (although there is a bit of a theme). Welcome to your fully stuffed policy update which contains more goodies than the average panic buyer’s larder (we know, that is such an outdated concept already). Exams, grades and admissions remain a key focus for the sector, Parliament plan to embrace virtual working, there are some fab opportunities for researchers and we’ve a new Labour leader and Shadow Cabinet.

Good news

One good thing to come out of all this is that the role that universities can play in contributing to wider societal issues is being highlighted – not that it will make much difference to perceptions long term, but it’s nice to share good news. Take a look at the UUK website for more information on their #wearetogether campaign. There’s more on the BU website about our own efforts, and the BU news team are looking for more stories so let them know what you are up to.

Parliamentary Business

Virtual Parliament – There is a push for Parliament to operate virtually in a formal capacity during the Coronavirus lockdown. This is challenging because, as we mentioned in the policy update two weeks ago, Parliament has terrible facilities for this. However, Labour’s shadow minister for innovation, Chi Onwurah, sums it up: “People up and down the country have made huge behavioural changes in a matter of days and we must show we are capable of it too”.

Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg have both given their backing to the virtual Parliament proposals from 21 April (the end of recess). The plan is for certain types of important business to be conducted virtually. Lindsay Hoyle writes:

Parliament’s role of scrutinising government, authorising spending and making laws must be fulfilled and in these unprecedented times that means considering every technological solution available. We are exploring options with the parliamentary authorities in readiness for parliament’s return… Once the house returns, if we are still in the grip of the crisis where the physical presence of members, or too many members, in the palace is not appropriate, I am keen that they should be able to participate in key parliamentary proceedings virtually, for example oral questions, urgent questions, statements.

Some select Committees are already operating virtually (you can read the key points from the Education Committee’s session later in this policy update).

In addition, the Speaker is urging the Government to set up a forum of Ministers and senior Government representatives during recess for MPs to ask questions at set times on different days ‘about how things work and how they can be improved’. Hoyle writes: MPs are being swamped right now with questions and case work from distressed constituents who need answers…Responses cannot wait for the House to sit again.

Acting leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey is calling for a specialist select committee focusing on Covid-19. He stated:

If it wasn’t a dangerous infectious virus but a major emergency, parliament would have been recalled. We wouldn’t have gone on recess. …We think scrutiny is good for government policy. We’ve shown opposition parties are prepared to behave responsibly. I think we can find a way to get things cracking and get an online virtual parliament to serve the nation.

The Guardian report on the virtual parliament here.

PM powers – ICYMI Prime Minister Boris is in hospital and has designated Dominic Raab (Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State) to deputise “where necessary”. The UK’s unwritten constitution does not provide a clear outline of what the situation now allows, but as Cabinet takes collective decisions it is understood that Raab will be the first amongst equals. It is unlikely Raab will be afforded the prerogative powers of the Prime Minister, such as the ability to conduct reshuffles or take significant security decisions. However, there isn’t a clear outline of Raab’s new responsibilities nor the limits he has been given by the Government. The decision on whether or not to extend or end the lockdown is due to be taken next week, but it is likely this will be deferred or made by Cabinet collectively if the Prime Minister is incapacitated. In extreme circumstances, it would be expected that the Queen would ask Raab to form a government on a permanent or interim basis.

On Raab Dr Catherine Haddon, from the Institute for Government, said the situation remains uncertain and that some powers could be distributed to a number of Cabinet ministers – “the power would derive from the prime minister saying who he wants ministries to respond to“.

Labour Leader & Shadow Cabinet – Keir Starmer was elected the leader of the Labour Party in the first round, of voting. He won 56.2% of first preference vote (more actual votes than Jeremy Corbyn in 2015, although a smaller overall percentage of the total). He also won the majority of votes across all three groups – MPs, affiliates and party members. Rebecca Long-Bailey took 27.6% of the vote share and Lisa Nandy 16.2%. On Keir Research Professional say: His grass-roots mandate is significant—and is coupled with a shift away from Corbyn loyalists on the party’s national executive committee.

The new leader pledged to work constructively with the Government whilst holding them to account:

Under my leadership we will engage constructively with the government, not opposition for opposition’s sake. Not scoring party political points or making impossible demands. But with the courage to support where that’s the right thing to do…We will shine a torch on critical issues and where we see mistakes or faltering government or things not happening as quickly as they should we’ll challenge that and call that out.

Here is the full Shadow Cabinet Line up:

Leader of the Opposition: Keir Starmer
Deputy Leader and Chair of the Labour Party: Angela Rayner, elected in the third round of voting with 52.6% of the vote.
Shadow Chancellor: Anneliese Dodds
Shadow Education: Rebecca Long-Bailey
Shadow Home Secretary: Nick Thomas-Symonds
Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care: Jonathan Ashworth (incumbent)
Shadow Foreign Secretary: Lisa Nandy
Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Rachel Reeves
Chief Whip: Nick Brown
Shadow Justice: David Lammy
Shadow Defence: John Healey
Shadow Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy: Ed Miliband
Shadow International Trade: Emily Thornberry
Shadow Work and Pensions: Jonathan Reynolds
Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Jo Stevens
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Bridget Philipson
Shadow DEFRA (Environment, Food & Rural Affairs): Luke Pollard
Shadow Communities and Local Government: Steve Reed
Shadow Housing: Thangam Debbonaire
Shadow Transport: Jim McMahon
Shadow International Development: Preet Kaur Gill
Shadow Women and Equalities: Marsha de Cordova
Shadow Employment Rights and Protections Secretary: Andy McDonald
Shadow Minister for Mental Health: Rosena Allin-Khan
Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Engagement: Cat Smith
Shadow Attorney General: Lord Falconer
Shadow Leader of the House: Valerie Vaz
Shadow Northern Ireland (interim): Louise Haigh
Shadow Scotland: Ian Murray
Shadow Wales: Nia Griffith Shadow
Leader of the Lords: Baroness Angela Smith (incumbent)
Lords’ Opposition Chief Whip: Lord McAvoy

Shadow Secretary of State for Education – Rebecca Long Bailey has the Shadow Secretary of State for Education brief replacing Angela Rayner. Rebecca has held Shadow Ministerial posts for almost all of her parliamentary tenure. This gives us little evidence from which to judge her opinions and intents for Education. Dods have pulled together snippets from her parliamentary career when she has spoken out on Education matters.

Universities: That brings me to local industrial policy. Labour has been clear on the need for a national industrial strategy, but we are also clear about the need to be regionally powerful and distinctive, with the resources to match, and to build on the already world-class universities and businesses in our regions and nations (2018)

Further Education: Businesses also need a highly skilled workforce, but the Government have cut real-terms school funding, scrapped the education maintenance allowance and imposed huge cuts to further education funding over the past seven years (2017)

Schools: We have rampant regional inequality, hunger in schools and public services pushed to breaking point by a policy that even the Chancellor now admits was a political choice all along—the choice of austerity (2020)

Technical and Adult Education: Key policies include establishing a technical education system, investing £406 million in maths, digital and technical education, and creating a national retraining scheme with an investment of £64 million. Again, the intent is good, but let us remember that the Government cut £1.15 billion from the adult skills budget from 2010 to 2015. Similarly, on first analysis the £406 million appears to be the sum of the amounts the Government have already spent on maths, computing and digital skills (2017 budget debate)

T levels: Some of the Government’s commitments are welcome, including the national retraining scheme and the T-levels that she has just mentioned, but sadly they are meaningless in the context of the cuts that we have faced over recent years (2018)

Research Professional have this to say on Rebecca’s expected approach to the universities brief:

…for the foreseeable future Long-Bailey will double down on the Corbynite legacy of the National Education Service. Starmer committed during the election campaign to retaining the party’s pledge on the abolition of university tuition fees.
With Angela Rayner—former shadow education secretary—as chair of the Labour Party and now having a considerable say in policy formation, the National Education Service is probably safe for now. The problem with it as a policy is that it manages to be simultaneously expensive and vague, without cutting through to the public.
The appointment of Long-Bailey as shadow education spokesperson is perhaps indicative of how Starmer views the brief. It is not a priority for now and is a safe holding pen for the thwarted aspirations of those still loyal to the Corbyn project.
Long-Bailey will find an appreciative audience among many within the University and College Union, which Corbyn’s Labour Party leaned on heavily to outsource thinking about universities. However, others in the union will regret that the choice of shadow education secretary will make it harder, not easier, to move on from past impasses.
Playbook would be very surprised if Long-Bailey made it to the next election still in the education role. It is standard practice for a party leader to appoint their recent rivals to sit around their first cabinet table, only to rotate them out in the fullness of time.

HE Connections – Labour does have substantial academic and HE connections within its elected representatives. The shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, was a lecturer in public policy at King’s College London and Aston University before becoming an MP. Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, was a history and politics lecturer at Oxford. Rupa Huq was a lecturer at Kingston University. Shadow Justice Secretary, David Lammy, was the Universities Minister under Gordon Brown’s Government. Robert Zeichner, who doesn’t have a ministerial brief in the reshuffle, is the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Universities. Lastly, Paul Blomfield worked with then Universities Minister Jo Johnson to amend the post-work visa system for international students.

Exams, Grades & Admissions

GCSE & A Level – The Government released their grading system for GCSE and A level exams at the end of last week. Alistair Jarvis, UUK Chief Executive, commented:

No aspiring student should be disadvantaged because of the current Covid-19 outbreak and this is welcome progress towards ensuring students and universities alike can take confidence in the way A-levels are awarded this year. It is clear that a robust process will be in place that takes account of a wide range of information about a student and their performance throughout the course of their current study, and that standardised judgements and an agreed methodology will ensure consistency and fairness. We are committed to supporting Ofqual as they continue to develop their precise methodology.
To provide additional reassurance to students, it is important to note that universities will also have the power to be flexible in taking an applicants’ context into account as part of the admissions process.

On students dissatisfied with their grades who will opt to take the autumn exam Independent Schools Council Chairman, Barnaby Lenon, said: We hope that universities will show flexibility to ensure that students who take this option are able to begin their course with a delayed start time.

Clare Marchant, UCAS’ Chief Executive, said:

It’s essential for their future education and careers that students receive a set of fair and justifiable examination results. The processes outlined by Ofqual today will do exactly that. The best available evidence in the extraordinary circumstances we are all in will be used to calculate regulated grades that will stay with students for years to come. For those applying to higher education, we expect them to be treated fairly and consistently, and universities and colleges to consider these grades in the same way as any qualifications from previous years.

On Tuesday Wonkhe reported that A poll by the Student Room found that nearly two-thirds of GCSE and A level students in the 700-person sample answered “no” to the question “Do you think you will be given a fair grade this summer?”. Tes has the story.

Wonkhe discuss HE uncertainties for admissions colleagues from the proposed grading:

we don’t know when the 2020 A level results will be available, which is a big deal for universities and those applying to them. This year’s grades will be predicted by teachers and normalised by a nationally applied formula – meaning that taken together, results will look very similar to those from previous years. While this feels fair, there are risks that high-achieving students in historically low-achieving schools may be disadvantaged.
A level grades are predicted every year, of course, as a part of the UCAS application process. We are familiar with the weaknesses of those predictions and, in many ways, compensate with these in offer-making and admissions behaviour. With offer-making still furloughed for the time being, it remains to be seen if these same mitigations will work against newer, normalised, predications as the end point – or how many students will want to take the opportunity to sit an exam later in the year.
Universities will understandably want to think through how to proceed with admissions in the way that supports good decision making, and is as fair as possible.

The blog We can make admissions work without A levels explores:

a model that dataHE has developed to support admissions on the basis of predicted grades. Though predicted grades are less accurate than exam results, this matters less this year, because there won’t be any exam results. Importantly, since predicted grades were assigned before exams were cancelled, they have roughly the same amount of bias baked in as in any normal year. That makes it possible to use them – carefully, and in an evidenced way – to build a model of exam-awarded grades on which to base admissions decisions.

Wonkhe’s data expert David Kernohan has a blog setting the current situation in context with the wider practice of predicting grades.

And there is another on Changing student recruitment in light of Covid-19.

HE Exams – Wonkhe report that QAA will publish new guidance this week:

on academic standards and student achievement alongside a section on practice and lab-based assessment during the Covid-19 crisis. These materials offer examples from providers around the sector alongside principles-based planning – there are detailed proposals for digital assessment alongside suggestions for student support.
The general guidance covers modifications to academic regulations (emergency academic regulations), gathering details of local circumstances from students and applying mitigations accordingly, arrangements for progression with reduced academic credit (apparently OfS guidance is on the way here), and assessment boards.

As many universities have already worked out, or made good progress in working out what they are going to do in this area, this is a bit late, really.

There is also a blog by Douglas Blackstock, Chief Executive of QAA, on Wonkhe describing how QAA is helping universities and PSRBs (Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies) accredit students as meeting the requirements to practice within their field.

Surveys – It was inevitable that potential HE students would be surveyed to death and asked about their concerns and whether they intend to continue with their plans to commence HE. The UCAS poll (sample size – 500 students) states the 86% intend to continue on to HE despite the pandemic disruption. 60% have selected their first choice place. 27% are waiting before they confirm their firm choice of institution. UCAS also report that over half (51%) of respondents feel supported at the moment, but want more help. While 37% said felt fully supported now, this is higher amongst white applicants (40%) and lower amongst BAME applicants (29%).

Research Professional (RP) cover the survey and mention the uncertainty surrounding when the next academic year will commence. Humorously, RP remind us that After months cooped up at home with their parents, it’s understandable—and their hopes [to attend HE] might be the only thing keeping us all going.

TES also cover the UCAS poll results.

HEPI have a wider poll, we’ve covered this separately below due to the volume of detail. However, they find that a third of applicants feel less confident they will get into their chosen university since the pandemic.

The Times reports on a QS survey in Universities face crushing blow as overseas students stay away. QS surveyed 11,000 prospective international students (only 4,600 intended to study in UK). 55% stated their plans to commence study in the UK in September 2020 had changed. 32% were still deciding and 14% were determined to go ahead despite disruption and potentially online learning. The Times article states: Our higher education sector will be crucial to the post-crisis recovery, so it is vital that the UK remains a welcoming place for people from across the world, including from China.

International Admissions – HESA released HE sector finance data on Friday and Wonkhe have produced a series of tableau tables showing where institutions sit against the variables. There is an interesting table highlighting the providers with the highest international student incomes (those who may be hit hardest if the predicted downturn in international students for September 2020 intake is realised). Predictably UCL and other London institutions congregate at the top. However, the table can be filtered down to other regions and exclude PG or UG or full/part time provision. You may also be interested in the key financial indicators table, again filterable by different measures of financial health and stability.

The Times and the Telegraph also cover the data release.

Unconditional Offers – Moratorium Extended

Universities Minister Michelle Donelan has extended the moratorium preventing universities from making unconditional offers until 20 April.

Research Professional (RP) say: The Department for Education seems to have rejected the argument that making unconditional offers to prospective students following the cancellation of A levels would be in the interest of stressed and concerned applicants.

RP report in the same piece that Donelan states: I know many students will be anxious at this unprecedented time and worried about what it means for their future..My top priorities are to both reassure students and protect our world-leading higher education sector. That is why I am calling for an extension to the pause on changes to university offers, and I urge universities to adhere to this so we ensure long-term stability across the admissions system.

The OfS are supporting the Minister by exploring the use of regulatory powers to take enforcement action against universities and colleges not acting in the best interests of students or undermining the stability and integrity of the higher education sector—including – considering options for enforcement during the moratorium period. And: Universities and colleges must also ensure that their admissions processes work effectively to identify applicants with the potential to succeed, particularly where those applicants have experienced barriers and disruption on their route to higher education.

RP conclude: The Department for Education has been rattling its sabre over admissions and the regulator has threatened fines. But autonomous university admissions are guaranteed by the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. When push comes to shove, the government might find that there is not much more it can do beyond expressing censure.

Fighting talk certainly, but a later RP blog with content from HE Legal expert Smita Jamdar and Nick Hillman (HEPI) considers the grey areas. The blog is well worth the quick read.

The Times has a related article: Fines for universities using low offers to ‘poach’ students from rivals. In the article they report the OfS as stating it would be looking closely at the financial stability of universities over the next few weeks: “Clearly coronavirus will have a significant impact on universities. One of our main areas of focus in the coming months will be to support the financial sustainability of the higher education sector in England.”

RP were quick to point out The Office for Students has always insisted that it will not bail out universities that are failing. The next few years could test that to the limit. There is also a RP piece on the reduced regulatory load the OfS is requiring of HE institutions during the current crisis: OfS freezes normal regulatory requirements during pandemic and here are the details of the suspended requirements from the OfS website.

OfS

The OfS has been busy. First, they supported the Minister in the extension of the moratorium (above) and pledged to crack down on any wizard wheezes that universities had found around the request. They’ve also reduced the standard regulatory requirements so universities can focus on the most pressing operational issues caused by C-19.

Next they issued guidance for universities on quality and standards of learning and academic assessment during the pandemic. And accompanied it by an introductory descriptive blog: Maintain good courses and credible qualifications for students during pandemic, says regulator urging flexibility, reasonable adjustments, teaching and support on a relative par to ‘normal’, clear communications to students to keep them informed and setting out what the OfS considers examples of effective practice from across the higher education sector.

HEPI Student Survey

HEPI polled 1,000 full-time UG students and 500 HE applicants to explore how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting them.

Current Students on Assessment

70% of students feel the messaging from their HEI on Coronavirus has been either ‘clear’ or ‘very clear’
36% think the current crisis should lead to their assessments for the rest of the year being cancelled
42% expect universities to continue assessments online but 17% would prefer for the assessments to be postponed until after the crisis.
A greater proportion of first year students (44%) thought assessments should be cancelled, compared to second year students (32%) or students in their third year (31%).
Just under half of students (49%) are satisfied with the online learning that has replaced their face-to-face teaching; 23% of students are dissatisfied.
The majority (55%) of students are living away from their normal term-time residence as a result of the Coronavirus crisis. However, another 45% of respondents said they are still living in their term-time residence.

Applicants

29% of applicants are concerned about whether they’ll get a place at their chosen university (the overall picture is interesting – see later chart).
46% expect their predicted grades to reflect their final grade, whereas 27% think their predicted grades are worse than their final grades would have been.
79% of applicants stated the pandemic has not had any impact on which university will be their first choice. Only 7% plan to change their first-choice university and another 14% are undecided.
53% of applicants feel the messaging they have received on Coronavirus from their prospective universities has been clear.

Rachel Hewitt, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Higher Education Policy Institute, said:

These results show universities are supporting students and applicants well through these challenging times. Despite having to scale up online provision very quickly, few students are dissatisfied with the offering from their institution. Both applicants and students feel they have had clear information around the pandemic. On admissions, it is clear applicants need greater certainty about what will happen to their university places. It is essential this group, who have already lost out on the end of their school experience, are not disadvantaged from getting into the university of their choice. The data shows this is a concern for a significant minority of applicants. Despite all the uncertainty, much remains the same. Two-thirds of students still want the opportunity to complete their assessments from afar. The majority of applicants still intend to go to the same university as before the crisis. What’s more, many students are still living in their term-time residence, meaning they may be reliant on the support of their university and accommodation providers.

Dods say:

Whilst the poll suggests that the pandemic has had a limited impact on students consideration of their first choice institution, there is concern that the combination of cancelled exams, the absence of university open days and the potential that the UK could still be moving in and out of phased social distancing measures, could have an impact on the number of students choosing to defer their entry to higher education by twelve months. For universities, the financial impact of a decline in international students, coupled with the cancellation of potentially lucrative conferencing opportunities over the summer, could be further exacerbated by a fall in domestic uptake. Given the lack of control over how students are distributed across institutions and subjects, a decline could result in some providers significantly under recruiting. As such, calls have emerged for the Government to mitigate against volatility in the market by exercising control over student numbers. This could be achieved via statutory instrument under the emergency Coronavirus Bill.

Education Committee – Disadvantage

The Education Committee has published a summary of their 25 March private meeting (with the DfE as part of the inquiry investigating the impact of COVID-19 on education and children’s services). The meeting tackled the impact of school closures on the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their wealthier peers.

DfE expects schools to do all they can to ensure lessons continue online or via other means, and that learning should continue. Schools to remain open for the most vulnerable but acknowledged that the effect of school closures on vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils was a concern.
DfE expect the system to act flexibly to support vulnerable children. Local Authorities should work with schools and the sector to ensure children with an education, health and care (EHC) plan or social worker are supported and there is appropriate oversight of children remaining at home.
Children’s services, already under significant financial pressures, will be given additional resources – an additional non-ringfenced £1.6 billion has been allocated to support councils on areas including social care. The Department said that Clause 5 of the Coronavirus Bill would allow the emergency registration of social workers, to tackle the strain on social care.
On concerns where the key worker status is being interpreted differently by schools, parents and employers – DfE stated that if a school refuses to take a child of a key worker as defined by the Department, the parent should raise this with their local authority in the first instance. Initial feedback from schools is that the number of key workers sending children to school is lower than expected.
On whether the DfE will undertake longer-term work on the public health implications of exam cancellations on young people (for example, the possibility of increased rates of drug and alcohol abuse). They answer was no, that the DfE expect young people not at school to continue their education at home and would not commit to undertaking work on public health implications.
Support for further education (FE) colleges and their students – The number of eligible students taking advantage of provision is very low, and there was already substantial online learning in place for 16-18-year-olds. The DfE said it was working with exam boards on advice and guidance on qualifications. They said this was complicated because of the number of types of qualifications there are for this phase.
Support for independent training providers – the DfE stated that as ITPs operate as businesses, they can access the support for businesses that the Treasury has announced. The Department explained that they will not pay for training activity that is not taking place, and encouraged providers to consider greater use of online and remote learning to allow their business activities to continue.

Access & Participation

Graeme Atherton, Director of NEON, writes for Research Professional, No closed doors, summarising the threats facing disadvantaged access to HE as a result of the current Covid-19 crisis. Graeme points to the cancellation of the Aim Higher outreach programme after the 2008 financial crash and issues a plea for the recent progress reducing the access gap and the new, stretching, access and participation targets set by universities with the OfS not to be lost.

Jonathan Simons, Director of Education at Public First, blogs for Wonkhe: We must not abandon widening participation this year following a similar line to Graeme and urging the section to retreat on equality work.

The Telegraph has an article suggesting that undergraduates should be drafted into a national service to boost social mobility by acting as English and Maths tutors for underprivileged children at local schools.

The OfS has a provider guide to coronavirus with a Q&A section. Commenting on the Q&A content Wonkhe suggest that providers are expected to deliver their full access and participation plans. In assessment the regulator will take into account the efforts and suitable modifications each university has made.

There is a HEPI blog tackling concerns over How to square widening participation with student number caps: Student number caps are normally a bad idea. But we don’t live in normal times. If needs must, a one-off cap might be a necessary measure to whack a particularly problematic mole. But we need to make sure that, in implementing it, we don’t hit disadvantaged applicants too.

The Sutton Trust has a report on this too looking at the implications for social mobility and setting out priority areas:

Widening access to private and online tuition, both during and after the school closures, in order to minimise the impact on the attainment gap.
Ensuring access to technology and online resources for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds while schools are closed.
Fair access to higher education, and making sure this year’s changes to A levels and the admissions process do not impact negatively on the prospects of young people from less welloff backgrounds
Protecting apprenticeships, making sure that current apprentices are protected financially, and trying to ensure that the apprenticeship system is ready to bounce back when restrictions are lifted.

Allied Health Profession students – paid jobs during COVID-19 outbreak.

Health Education England (HEE) is asking universities to contact their eligible Allied Health Professional (AHP) students to discuss their options for using their education programme to help with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I.e. if they would like to opt-in to undertake a paid NHS role.

HEE state the options vary depending on the student’s stage of study and that HEE has worked collaboratively with the HCPC, professional bodies, Royal Colleges, Council of Deans of Health, Government departments of the four nations, NHS Employers and staff side representatives to consider how best to support AHP students to continue their studies and where appropriate use their skills and expertise to support the health and care system during this time of emergency in the safest possible way.

Emergency legislation was also passed by the UK Government earlier in March, giving the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) powers to automatically register former Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) who had de-registered in the last three years and final year AHP students on UK approved programmes who have successfully completed their final clinical placements.

Beverley Harden, Associate Director for Education & Quality at Health Education England, said;

We are continuing to develop proposals to provide safe and beneficial opportunities for our AHP students that allows them to keep developing their skills while supporting the NHS at this difficult time. I would like all students to read Suzanne’s and my letter to them, and for those eligible to consider voluntary opting-in to help in the COVID-19 response alongside their registered AHP colleagues.
AHP students, during the course of their education and training all spend a large percentage of their time working in clinical environments, learning alongside qualified staff to develop into the outstanding professionals we need.
You will be given the option to opt-in to a voluntary revised programme structure whereby students can spend, for example, a maximum of 60% of their time in a support worker role, which would be remunerated, and a minimum of 40% of their time in academic study. The exact nature of the role to be undertaken and the level of supervision will be agreed between you, your university and the organisation in which you will be working in. These roles may be able to be used to support achievement of required practice hours; your university will determine if this is the case.

Research

REF – Kim Hackett, REF Director at Research England writes for Wonkhe on the uncertainty surrounding the REF submission deadlines. The blog reiterates when the clock does start again that institutions will have at least 8 months notice to submit, that they are keen to discussion options with Universities as soon as possible when the disruption associated with the C-19 timescales are better understood.

Unless we’re looking at a very considerable delay, the funding bodies do not intend to alter significantly the period being assessed in REF 2021. So the issue around the existing deadlines is really one around determining what the best approach will be to ensuring the exercise can take account of affected areas of submissions.

On consulting with the sector:

We’ve paused the REF because universities have other priorities right now. So we can’t fill that with lengthy consultation documents and expectations of similarly lengthy responses. We’ll also need to approach the issues in a phased way, balancing the urgency of the question with how well it can be answered in the current context. That means we’ll be looking to get input on the deadline for impact and environment first.
The overarching timetable for developing the revised framework is not fixed – and it has to be this way, so that we can stay responsive while so much is still unknown. But our aim will be to ensure the exercise remains a level playing field, is fair in recognising the extent of impact this period has had, and is also able to capture the tremendous contribution UK research is making to this fight.

On the REF2021 site there is a blog by Anna Grey, York University – Stopping the REF clock – highlighting the changes within an institution and particularly how professional services are reducing the burden on academic colleagues and recognising fears relating to fixed term contracts roles.

Statistics – The Office for National Statistics published estimates of research and development performed and funded by business enterprise, higher education, government, research councils, and private non-profit organisations, for 2018. This is set within the Industrial Strategy target to increase Research & Development investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. Key figures:

Research and development (R&D) expenditure rose by £2.3 billion to £37.1 billion in 2018; this is an increase of 6.6%, which was larger than the 4.8% growth in 2017 and the largest annual rise since 2013.
Total R&D expenditure in the UK in 2018 represented 1.71% of GDP; this is up from 1.67% in 2017, but it remains below the EU (EU-28) provisional estimate of 2.12%.
Funding of UK R&D from overseas increased by 1.4% to £5.1 billion in 2018 compared with 2017, but this was 8.4% lower than the peak in 2014 of £5.5 billion.
The UK spent £558 per head of population on R&D in 2018; this is up from £527 in 2017.

Contribution of Each Sector:

In 2018, the business enterprise sector spent £25.0 billion on performing R&D, accounting for 68% of total UK expenditure. The sector grew by 5.8% from £23.7 billion in 2017, which was larger than the growth between 2016 and 2017 of 4.8%.
The product groups with the largest R&D expenditure in 2018 were: pharmaceuticals (£4.5 billion), motor vehicles and parts (£3.8 billion), computer programming and information service activities (excluding software development) (£1.9 billion), aerospace (£1.7 billion)
The higher education sector had the second highest R&D expenditure of £8.7 billion in 2018. This accounted for 24% of total UK R&D expenditure in 2018. However, this was up one percentage point from 23% in 2017.
Government (including UKRI) R&D increased by 11.5% to £2.5 billion. This accounted for 7% of total expenditure on R&D carried out in the UK in 2018.
UKRI R&D expenditure (excluding Research England) grew by 11.1% from £866 million reported by the seven research councils in 2017 to £962 million in 2018. This jump is in part a result of the new reporting structure established in 2018, which is inclusive of Innovate UK.
The Private-Not-For-Profit sector, (including, for example,several cancer charities that carry out extensive research, from cancer prevention to drug development and clinical trials), spent £0.8 billion, up 9.2% from 2017. This contributed 2% to total UK-performed R&D expenditure

Academics – POST

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology launched a Covid-19 Outbreak Expert Database as the lockdown began. It provides parliamentarians and civil servants with information on academic colleagues’ research specialisms to help them find the experts throughout the country whose wide-ranging work can be applied beneficially to the national context during these changed times. It is a fantastic opportunity for colleagues to obtain greater reach with their research and connect into networks that in the past relied on a ‘who you already know’ system. The database is live and accepting new entries. Please share this information with any academic colleagues you have contact with and encourage them to sign up – the categories are much wider than the Covid-19 context because the pandemic is touching on every aspect of life.

Survey Opportunity – POST also offer the opportunity for colleagues fill in a 15 minute survey sharing expert insights around the short, medium and long-term concerns and issues you perceive relating to COVID-19 and its impacts. The insights derived from the survey will be shared within Parliament and will be used to help inform the work of the POST. POST expect to publish anonymised responses and/or a public synthesis of these insights with a list of acknowledgements to experts who have contributed (no responses will be directly attributed to individuals). POST intend to analyse the first set of responses Tuesday 14 April. They may do a further round of analysis after this initial deadline if the responses warrant it. Colleagues need to be signed up to the Expert Database before they complete the survey.

Learn more – As colleagues will be aware policy impact can be an influential factor within REF gradings. POST support Parliament’s evidence base decision making agenda and aim to maximise engagement with academic research. MPs, Peers and parliamentary staff all use research in their work carrying out the functions of Parliament; scrutinising Government, debating important issues, passing legislation and representing the people. There is a video describing how Parliament uses expert research. And resources and general advice and information on how you can work with Parliament as a researcher here.

Best of all is that POST will be running free 90-minute webinars – Parliament for COVID-19 outbreak experts. The webinars will cover a brief overview of what Parliament is and does, and how it uses research. It will explore the different ways you might engage with Parliament through your research over the coming weeks and months – both in the context of COVID-19 and its impacts, and regarding other areas of research. And share tips around communicating with Parliamentarians and those who work to support them. Don’t be put off by the Covid-19 mention – the majority of the content is usually offered through a paid for traditional training session. This is an opportunity for colleagues to access the training for free and without travelling! Please do share and encourage research colleagues to sign up. We’ll let you know as soon as registration is open.

NUS

Wonkhe tell us about the new NUS executive team that was elected last Wednesday:

The National Union of Students (NUS) has published the results of its full-time officer elections, the first election held since last year’s reform. Only three full-time roles were available – national president, and vice presidents for further and higher education – and each officer will hold their role for two years, starting this July.

Larissa Kennedy, a former officer at Warwick SU and member of NUS’ National Executive Council, has won the election for NUS national president, promising to “build a movement that stretches across the whole of the UK, across students’ and trade unions across the world”. Kennedy is profiled in the Times.

Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, undergraduate education officer at Bristol SU and Wonkhe contributor, has been elected vice president for higher education, advancing the view that “students should be at the centre of their education, not simply viewed as metrics in a market”.

The role of vice president for further education has gone to Salsabeel Elmegri, vice president of Bradford College SU, who says she will “ensure that tackling climate change, fighting for better mental health provisions and tackling harassment all top the agenda”. Elmegri has a profile in TES.

Student Concerns

Wonkhe report that MPs and Peers from every party in Parliament have called for action from the Government to address concerns of students on exams, accommodation costs and financial difficulties caused through the loss of earnings from casual employment. 110 MPs have signed a letter to Universities Minister Michelle Donelan calling for a flexible approach to assessment, refunds of rents on unoccupied accommodation, and a temporary suspension of the rule preventing students claiming universal credit. They argue that students should have the option to resit the year without further fees and with additional financial support. i News covers the letter to Donelan, and the Mail also reports the story.

And…yes you guessed it…yet another Wonkhe blog – Students need strong leadership and practical solutions from Government sets out practical advice to the Government on changes which would reduce the student struggle. The blog has some refreshing ideas.

The Guardian has an article where 5 students from A level to PhD make sense of the sudden change in their education.

Student Rent – In the Scottish parliament a proposed amendment to the Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill that would have allowed students to bring their tenancies to an immediate end without having to fulfil notice requirements was defeated.

Disability

The Government has a news story announcing that the Cabinet Office’s Disability Unit is working with government colleagues, disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, charities and businesses to achieve practical changes that will remove barriers and increase participation. This work is tied to the National Strategy for Disabled People and is planned work rather than a response to C-19.

The Strategy aims to put fairness at the heart of government work, to level up opportunity so everyone can fully participate in the life of this country. The strategy will build on evidence and data, and critically on insights from the lived experience of disabled people. It will include existing commitments, such as to increase special educational needs and disability funding and support pupils, students and adults to get careers advice, internships and transition into work, whilst identifying further opportunities to improve things.

The press release sets out the following objectives for the National Strategy for Disabled People:

develop a positive and clear vision on disability which is owned right across government
make practical changes to policies which strengthen disabled people’s ability to participate fully in society
ensure lived experience underpins policies by identifying what matters most to disabled people
strengthen the ways in which we listen to disabled people and disabled people’s organisations, using these insights to drive real change
improve the quality of evidence and data and use it to support policies and how we deliver them

The strategy development has been delayed by the Coronavirus and the press release states we want to ensure we have enough time to get this right and undertake a full and appropriate programme of stakeholder engagement.

Parliamentary Questions

Q – Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support universities during the covid-19 outbreak. [32182]

A – Michelle Donelan:

The higher education (HE) sector is facing challenges during these unprecedented times. The government’s priority is the safety and wellbeing of students and staff. On Friday 20 March, I wrote to HE providers to thank them for the huge amount of work they have done to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and to outline the steps that the department is taking to support them. On Thursday 26 March, I wrote a second letter to HE providers, giving further government advice on key issues.
We are ensuring that information-flows between the department and providers are as strong as possible. We are actively supporting the Universities UK-led Sector Coordination Group and providing guidance on GOV.UK relating to all educational settings. Working with the Office for Students (OfS), as the regulator in England, we will supplement this general guidance with more HE-specific information and have suspended a number of regulatory reporting requirements for the duration of the crisis, so providers can focus on doing their best for students.
We will do all we can to support our HE system. The department is working closely with the Home Office, the Student Loans Company, UCAS and Ofqual, as well as equivalent bodies in the devolved administrations, on measures designed to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the HE sector. We are also working closely with the OfS to ensure that we understand the potential financial implications of COVID-19 on the sector and to keep abreast of developments.
The latest guidance for schools and other educational settings can be found here.

Q – Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his policy is on universities charging accommodation fees for students while they are closed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak. [33432]

A – Michelle Donelan: We expect universities to communicate clearly with residential students on rents for this period and administer accommodation provision in a fair manner. I have written to vice-chancellors and set out this expectation to them.

Inquiries and Consultations

Click here to view the inquiries and consultation tracker. Email us on policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to contribute to any of the current consultations.

There are a number of inquiries which focus on the coronavirus context:

Home Office preparedness for Covid-19 (Coronavirus) – Commons Home Affairs Committee|Deadline for evidence submission 21/4/2020
The COVID-19 pandemic and international trade – Commons International Trade Committee|Deadline for evidence submission 24/4/2020
The impact of coronavirus on businesses and workers – Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee|Deadline for evidence submission 30/4/2020
Unequal impact: Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the impact on people with protected characteristics – Commons Women & Equalities Committee|Deadline for evidence submission 30/4/2020
The impact of COVID-19 on education and children’s services – Commons Education Committee|Deadline for evidence submission 31/5/2020
The Government’s response to COVID-19: human rights implications – Joint Human Rights Committee|Deadline for submission 22/7/2020
UK Science, Research and Technology Capability and Influence in Global Disease Outbreaks – Commons Science and Technology Committee|Deadline for submission 31/7/2020
COVID-19 and food supply – Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee|Deadline for submission 01/05/2020
What can we learn from the COVID-19 crisis about social connection with isolated groups? – APPG on Social Integration Inquiry | Deadline: 14 April 2020

These inquiries will be placed on the tracker if colleagues indicate they intend to submit a response.

Next Week

The Policy team are taking a few days off over the Easter break. We’ll return with the standard policy update on Wednesday 22 April. In the meantime if there is big news we’ll issue a short email to keep you abreast of developments.

Other news

Online Graduation: The Daily Mail describes how four students used robots to cross the stage and ‘attend’ their graduation ceremony in Tokyo.

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JANE FORSTER | SARAH CARTER

Policy Advisor Policy & Public Affairs Officer

Follow: @PolicyBU on Twitter | policy@bournemouth.ac.uk

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HE policy update for the w/e 4th April 2022

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