As we edge ever closer to the next General Election, it cannot have escaped anyone’s notice that politicians from both major parties are starting to ‘talk tertiary’ in a bid to fix Britain’s growing skills shortages and ensure people receive appropriate education and training to unlock meaningful careers within key…
Universities across the UK offer an impressive scope and scale of interventions to support students in financial need but despite the scope and scale available, as HEPI report – How to beat a cost-of-learning crisis: Universities’ support for students – pointed out, students in many universities are unable to receive…
The Robbins Report was not produced (paras 1-2) out of a political vacuum. The Government had been alerted to the future funding dilemmas posed by the likely increase in the demand for student places in higher education by the Treasury through the University Grants Committee (UGC) and appointed Lord Robbins…
QAA has the privilege of a UK-wide remit, with varying roles across the nations. With this comes a bird’s-eye view of approaches to higher education quality. While the exact way in which higher education is governed, funded and regulated may differ, the devolved nations share a number of key principles…
A recent report highlighted that a large part of the UK Higher Education sector had seen a decline in enrolments from both India and Nigeria in their September 2023 intakes. The news prompted a swathe of internal reviews amongst universities, keen to understand such unexpected shifts. It is now important…
With September marking the beginning of the new academic year, most students will now be settled into their accommodation for the year and beginning their studies at universities across the country. However, with demand for affordable housing increasing, some students must commute to university from their hometowns, couch surf, or…
There is no shortage of commentators on higher education. Academics and administrators, students and parents, politicians and union leaders, regulators and employers, all have points of view that they want to share. With so many voices already speaking, hearts might sink at the idea of yet another one. Nevertheless, the list above…
During the last decade, English universities have become increasingly focused on addressing the ethnicity awarding gap – that is, the difference in the proportion of White students achieving the highest degree grades (first or upper-second class) compared to their counterparts of other ethnicities. National evidence shows that, across the country,…
The funding system for undergraduate teaching in UK universities has drifted into crisis. Bolder changes might now be worth the risk. One option is to recast the system as students investing in their education through an advance of their anticipated higher pay. Graduates would pay much more than now, but…
There are currently 53 institutions of higher education whose TEF results are marked as “pending” on the official OfS website. These cater for over 420,000 students, or 15% of the total UK student population. It’s a reasonable assumption that many of these have been (provisionally) given “Requires Improvement” status. This…