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When ideology collides with reality: a crisis for students and universities

The events post budget in the last month have shown what happens when free market ideology collides with the stark reality of our times.   It’s not good, and the collision will probably slide well into 2023 as recognition of a…

Widening Participation OfS style

The Office for Students (OfS) ‘Consultation on a new approach to regulating equality of opportunity in English higher education’ closed at noon today. It marks an ‘upping the ante’ on universities that are already under severe pressure.  By putting the…

Changing the guard at the Department for Education and the labours of Halfon

Now the dust is beginning to settle this week after the skirmishes surrounding the leadership of the Conservative party, it appears that the Department for Education (DfE) will begin to turn around in a major way.  Prime minister Sunak’s pledge…

T-levels: tales of the unreliable in the twilight zone

News emerged last week that T-level examinations turned out to be ‘unreliable’ this summer. One assessment organisation, the Northern Council for Further Education (NCFE)  has been plagued by gremlins to such an extent that there had been rumblings and complaints…

The winter will get colder: the blind spot of a crisis in student finance

With yet another Conservative administration under Rishi Sunak about to set sail, it appears that a crisis in public finances is inevitable. Sunak is promising to adhere to the Conservative 2019 manifesto, but this is looking frayed at the edges…

Attainment gaps and questioning the purpose of examinations

Hidden in the background of extraordinary chaos across the government, the financial markets and fall of the Prime Minister, we learned that school examinations next year will be tightened further to bring the results in line with pre-pandemic levels.  This…

Conservative Conference 2022: The state of government thinking on Higher Education

With the dust settling in Birmingham after the Conservative conference this week, it seems the horizon is still not clearly visible and is out of focus. Most observers watched the conference horror show unfold with a morbid fascination. The role…

Nobel Prize in Physics 2022 and the late John Stewart Bell – A message to Conservatives on the precarious pathway to educational success

This is a message to all those in the government who claim to know how to manage Higher Education with a high degree of ‘Militant Ignorance’ (*see footnote). The pivotal role of universities should not be denigrated with false premise…

Budget 2022: Blowing the bloody doors off

The budget over a week ago sent a shock wave across the UK economy and brought it to the brink of disaster. A substantial intervention by the Bank of England was needed. Interest rates rose sharply and government bonds and…

Labour Party Conference 2022, higher education, and the ‘sound of silence’

The Labour party held its annual conference in Liverpool between Sunday and Wednesday of this week.  With a mounting crisis for students in Higher Education, it was hoped that the Labour Party would offer some alternative policy as a matter…

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