Yesterday was the culmination of two years of worry and angst endured by students in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Their A-level, BTEC, and T-level results were posted. Many had not sat a formal external examination before due to the…
With the exam results in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland due to emerge within the next 24 hours, febrile anticipation is mounting. But confidence in the examination system is now at an all-time low as more about the process is…
With the exam results looming this week in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, there is a sense of impending doom. In the swirling confusion, the BTEC results will no doubt take a back seat. Yet many BTEC students are equally…
The announcement this week that the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) could no longer assure quality in universities in England from March 2023 comes as a profound shock. They will not act as the Designated Quality Body (DQB) for the Office…
Recent attention in the media has turned to existing student hardship and fear of what the future might hold. The ongoing heatwave is deflecting attention from the possibility of inflation in a cold and harsh winter that will leave many…
Recent attacks on Advance HE and the National Union of Students add to suspicions that the government seeks to exert more control through its regulator, the Office for Students. Under the ‘doublespeak’ of freedom of speech, academic freedom is more…
The cracks dividing the government’s vision of Higher Education and that of the HE institutions in England are becoming wider. It is hard to ignore the dangers of the rift as the main regulator, the Office for Students, flexes its…
This is the first part of an overview of the ‘Levelling up’ agenda and the role of Higher Education (HE) reform announced last week. HE reform must be viewed in the context of wider moves by the government and their…
The long-awaited response on higher education reform from the government to the Augar recommendations of May 2019 emerged today. It will take considerable time to take in the full implications and prejudgements are probably premature. Meanwhile the announcement was swamped…
The position of head of the Office for Students (OfS) is pivotal in steering the future of post-18 education institutions in England. Late on Friday saw the announcement of the process to recruit a new CEO for the OfS. This…
