Home | Wonkhe

Northern Ireland’s cheap degrees come with hidden price tags

With the Treasury dangling £237 million and Ulster cutting 450 jobs, Jim Dickinson unpicks why Northern Ireland's funding review is a set of trade-offs that cannot all be won at once

Jim Dickinson

|

Comment

|

24/07/26

Higher education postcard: is it the summer yet?

Hugh Jones

|

Comment

|

24/07/26

Admission testing needs proper oversight

Beth Hocking

|

Analysis

|

23/07/26

Wonk Corner

When the metric becomes the virtue, trust breaks

Jim Dickinson

|

24/07/26

Labour’s growing enemy of opportunity

Jim Dickinson

|

24/07/26

Fishing, with Neil O’Brien

David Kernohan

|

22/07/26

Farewell Patrick Vallance

James Coe

|

20/07/26

UCAS June deadline data shows a growth in application rates and offer making

David Kernohan

|

16/07/26

The Wonkhe Show

Podcast: The end of the year show

Team Wonkhe

|

16/07/26

Podcast: Funding, student loans, NSSmass

Team Wonkhe

|

10/07/26

Podcast: PhD students, Burnham

Team Wonkhe

|

02/07/26

Podcast: Burnham, IFS on value of HE

Team Wonkhe

|

26/06/26

The Post-18 Project: No country for young men

David Kernohan

|

The Post-18 Project

|

22/07/26

Survey fatigue is the symptom of a wider student feedback fragmentation problem

Emily Chapman

|

Comment

|

22/07/26

Why structural racism sits outside the vision of the Office for Students

Shaalinie Sivalingham

|

Comment

|

21/07/26

Devolution is not the only answer – higher education still needs a national policy agenda

David Kernohan

|

Comment

|

20/07/26

Higher education would look very different if local areas were in control

Michael Salmon

|

Analysis

|

20/07/26

Beyond equity of regard to equity in practice for college and university-based higher education

Nic Beech

|

Comment

|

20/07/26

The Post-18 Project

The Post-18 Project: The silence of the loans

John Blake argues that the student loan book – a £300bn accounting fiction – is the single greatest obstacle to reforming how England funds its universities

John Blake

|

The Post-18 Project

|

07/07/26

The Post-18 Project: A ministry for Manchesterism

John Blake

|

The Post-18 Project

|

29/06/26

The Post-18 Project: Demographic downturn and the post-18 system

David Kernohan

|

The Post-18 Project

|

08/06/26

The Post-18 Project: Blood, debt, toil, and arrears

John Blake

|

The Post-18 Project

|

20/04/26

Devolution Archives

North East England’s new investment fund is a template for university spinout success

Andy Long

|

Comment

|

11/06/26

Labour takes steps to bring higher education and local skills closer together

Michael Salmon

|

Policy Watch

|

19/11/25

Innovation and skills in the English devolution white paper

David Kernohan

|

Policy Watch

|

17/12/24

The case for devolving research funding to England’s regions

Ben Rogers

|

Comment

|

21/10/24

The local power of universities is transformative

Katie Normington

|

Comment

|

01/08/24

Successful devolution isn’t possible without universities

Katy Shaw

|

Comment

|

24/06/24

Policy Watch

UKRI’s new strategy: 60 day grant processing times, priority programmes, and devolved funding

Doing fewer things better and faster. James Coe and Michael Salmon summarise UKRI's new strategy

James Coe

|

Policy Watch

|

14/07/26

First round of consultation on future TEF sees movement on the implications of a Bronze award

Debbie McVitty

|

Policy Watch

|

11/06/26

Earning while learning? You’ll be lucky

Jim Dickinson

|

Policy Watch

|

03/06/26

The new UKVI student sponsor regime goes live

Michael Salmon

|

Policy Watch

|

01/06/26

Data on Wonkhe

The NSS shows us that students still seem to like higher education

David Kernohan

|

Data

|

09/07/26

What can GCSE performance tell us about salaries aged 27?

David Kernohan

|

Data

|

25/06/26

Graduate Outcomes, 2023–24

DK gets beyond the headlines in this year’s graduate outcomes data.

David Kernohan

|

Data

|

05/06/26

The financial state of the sector in England for 2026

David Kernohan

|

Data

|

15/05/26

Finding 2024–25 delivery partnerships

David Kernohan

|

Data

|

12/05/26

Northern Ireland’s cheap degrees come with hidden price tags

With the Treasury dangling £237 million and Ulster cutting 450 jobs, Jim Dickinson unpicks why Northern Ireland's funding review is a set of trade-offs that cannot all be won at once

Higher education postcard: is it the summer yet?

Admission testing needs proper oversight

When the metric becomes the virtue, trust breaks

Labour’s growing enemy of opportunity

Fishing, with Neil O’Brien

Farewell Patrick Vallance

UCAS June deadline data shows a growth in application rates and offer making

Podcast: The end of the year show

Podcast: Funding, student loans, NSSmass

Podcast: PhD students, Burnham

Podcast: Burnham, IFS on value of HE

The Post-18 Project: No country for young men

Survey fatigue is the symptom of a wider student feedback fragmentation problem

Why structural racism sits outside the vision of the Office for Students

Devolution is not the only answer – higher education still needs a national policy agenda

Higher education would look very different if local areas were in control

Beyond equity of regard to equity in practice for college and university-based higher education

The Post-18 Project: The silence of the loans

John Blake argues that the student loan book – a £300bn accounting fiction – is the single greatest obstacle to reforming how England funds its universities

The Post-18 Project: A ministry for Manchesterism

The Post-18 Project: Demographic downturn and the post-18 system

The Post-18 Project: Blood, debt, toil, and arrears

North East England’s new investment fund is a template for university spinout success

Labour takes steps to bring higher education and local skills closer together

Innovation and skills in the English devolution white paper

The case for devolving research funding to England’s regions

The local power of universities is transformative

Successful devolution isn’t possible without universities

UKRI’s new strategy: 60 day grant processing times, priority programmes, and devolved funding

Doing fewer things better and faster. James Coe and Michael Salmon summarise UKRI's new strategy

First round of consultation on future TEF sees movement on the implications of a Bronze award

Earning while learning? You’ll be lucky

The new UKVI student sponsor regime goes live

The NSS shows us that students still seem to like higher education

What can GCSE performance tell us about salaries aged 27?

Graduate Outcomes, 2023–24

DK gets beyond the headlines in this year’s graduate outcomes data.

The financial state of the sector in England for 2026

Finding 2024–25 delivery partnerships

Partners