Analysis

Austerity, the Spending Review and a crisis in human capital

by Andy Westwood May 7, 2013

We thought the last Spending Review in 2010 was bad enough. But this one – covering 2015-16 and then 2016-2018 is beginning to look a whole lot worse. Alongside this is a growing attack on the knowledge economy and the idea of human capital in the media and by policy makers. What might this mean for the future of further and higher education in the UK? Andy Westwood gives his take.

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Interesting trends in latest UCAS data

by Andrew Fisher February 1, 2013

UCAS have now published their data for applications to the 15 January deadline. By this stage, almost all school-leavers who are going to apply have applied, and a significant proportion of the overseas and older applicants have also applied. This provides us with a reasonably firm basis for taking stock of this years’ recruitment position.

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UCAS Data: 2013 Cycle

by Andrew Fisher January 8, 2013

UCAS have now published their mid-December data on the 2013 cycle, and the press coverage has been mainly downbeat, perhaps because UCAS has not tried the faintly ludicrous ‘late surge’ spin that they put on the equivalent data last year. But there are several reasons why we need to be cautious about drawing hasty conclusions from the data released so far.

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Three clouds on the horizon?

by Andy Westwood October 5, 2012

You could be forgiven for thinking that all is well – we’ve gone through the pain of reform and everything is now in place for the long term – the system, give or take a few thousand students (on a like for like comparison with 2011 this looks like we are over 50,000 down but after factoring in deferrals this might be more like 30,000), is in place, the sky hasn’t fallen in, resources maintained for universities and so on. But while there is some confidence that the new funding system might bed down over time there are looming questions over whether it will. There are three storm clouds on the horizon that together may question the sustainability of the new settlement.

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Clearing 2012: How wrong was I, and why?

by Andrew Fisher October 1, 2012

Back in July, I wrote a post confidently predicting that this year’s Clearing would be less interesting than was widely expected, Somebody, somewhere will have a bad experience in Clearing because somebody, somewhere always does, but there is no reason to expect a pattern or trend. Those who do badly this year may do well next time. Life staggers on much as before. In this post, I look back at Clearing and ask who won, who lost and why? And why I got it wrong in July. Sort of.

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‘Seriously deficient’: or Whither London Met? or Where’s Willetts?

by Andrew McGettigan August 31, 2012

On Wednesday night the news broke at 10pm: the UK Border Agency confirmed the revocation of London Metropolitan University’s ‘highly trusted sponsor’ status. This means that London Met is no longer able bring in non-EU students into the UK to study under the ‘Tier 4’ visa scheme.

In fact, the move is more draconian in that such students currently studying at London Met will have their visas withdrawn: at least 2000 face deportation within 60 days of official notification, unless they can find another sponsor. Effectively they must find a place on another course at another institution.

By what extent is this disastrous episode a symptom of wider political and administrative failures? Last year’s HE white paper made it clear that the government was no longer prepared to act as the backer of last resort, perhaps making London Met’s situation even more precarious.

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The Pearson BSc

by Andrew McGettigan August 14, 2012

The media today has been covering the public launch of Pearson College. The new offering from the education publishing giant sees it move into full undergraduate degrees from the HNCs and HNDs it offers through its subsidiary, the examination board Edexcel. This post looks at the interesting changes to Pearson’s business model that have taken place which tells us a lot about the current state of HE reform.

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Employability: Congratulations to the best and ‘worst’ performers…

by Andy Westwood July 17, 2012

HESA have recently released the latest DLHE figures showing the destinations of graduates six months after obtaining their degrees. They have sparked headlines about unemployed graduates as well as underemployed graduates – those that can’t find work and those having to take non graduate jobs. Stories on the BBC and in broadsheets from the Guardian to the Telegraph have highlighted up to 1 in 5 graduates unemployed at six months and around 1 in 4 of those in work in jobs that might not require degree level qualifications. These findings come at a time when fees are rising to £9k a year and many commentators can’t resist seeing the data as proof that too many people go to university and that there aren’t the jobs to accommodate them all. Andy Westwood takes a closer look at the data and argues that this is a lazy and potentially damaging view.

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Comprehensive spending

by Mark Leach July 16, 2012

As Oxford announces a £75 million donation to help its poorest students, Mark Leach tries to put the money in context and dreams about what else could be achieved with a chunk of change that size in higher education. Also, the news that the 2013 Comprehensive Spending Review may be delayed until late 2014 tells us some interesting things about the state of the Coaltion.

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Understanding higher education in further education

by Mark Leach July 11, 2012

There are few things that excite wonks more than excellent and well-timed policy research. Last week, BIS published its report Understanding Higher Education in Further Education Colleges, written by a dream team of policy researchers – Gareth Parry from Sheffield and Claire Callender, Peter Scott and Paul Temple from IoE. HE in FE is one of the least-understood parts of UK tertiary education, and despite pockets of work in other quarters; no one else has attempted such an exhaustive study of this issue. Although it will surely have its critics, this new report is without a doubt the seminal work about HE in FE right now and absolutely essential reading no matter which side of the HE/FE divide you fall.

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The path of least resistance

by Mark Leach June 12, 2012

Yesterday the Government published its long awaited response to the HE White Paper and technical consultations. Smashing straight through the three-month deadline that Departments have to publish these, there were many who thought the long wait indicated that they were cooking up something big. It’s the classic policy wonk trap – you see big schemes, plots and grand strategies wherever you look because that’s how you think. But in politics – particularly in the Coalition, the truth is always much simpler. The Government’s response this week did a pretty good job of kicking issues into the long-grass and not committing to much at all. But it’s hardly a surprise when you consider the state of the White Paper itself when it was published last June – an equally thin document – and the political difficulties that HE has caused the Coalition to date.

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Why being a university matters

by Andy Westwood June 11, 2012

In last June’s Higher Education white paper (yes it really was that long ago), BIS declared their intention to reduce the qualifying threshold for university title from 4,000 to 1,000 students. All the other qualifying criteria – notably the need to hold degree awarding powers – would remain intact. Those institutions that might benefit from such a change made headlines when the precise proposals and criteria were published in the subsequent technical consultation in August 2011.

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