As someone with experience with independent reviews of higher education, I understand the energy and effort that panel members and officials put into such exercises. MillionPlus as a mission group inputted constructively into the Augar review process, submitting three tranches of written evidence. More...
Students will be given more than 1.5 million wrong GCSE, AS and A level grades this summer. Here are some potential solutions. Which do you prefer?
The results of this year’s school exams will be announced in a few weeks’ time. But as recently reported in the TES, Times and Telegraph, different examiners can legitimately give the same script different marks. As a consequence, of the more than 6 million grades to be awarded this August, over 1.5 million – that’s about 1 in 4 – will be wrong. But no one knows which specific grades, and to which specific candidates; nor does the appeals process right these wrongs. To me, this is a ‘bad thing’. I believe that all grades should be fully reliable. More...
“I can call up 50 academics who will tell me how to design the perfect pension system, but I can’t find any who can tell me how to improve the one we have now.” – New Labour minister
Like all such statements, the words aren’t literally true, yet successfully convey an important message. There is too often a disconnect between the language spoken by academics and that spoken by policy makers, a disconnect which can make it harder for the world-class research taking place in our universities to influence policy. More...
It is not beyond the realms of possibility that there will be a general election before the year is out – perhaps as early as September. I once thought a second referendum was more likely than a general election but, at this moment, it seems I was almost certainly wrong. More...
Beyond the headline announcements of the Augar Review, there are wide-ranging proposals, covering everything from Level 2 to adult education. Its recommendations regarding the promotion and expansion of Level 4 and 5 education demand particular attention, and I am pleased to see several recommendations I sought in my paper for HEPI last year (Filling in the Biggest Skills Gap). More...
We now have a new Prime Minister. I have written before about what Boris Johnson thinks of higher education. But his first impact on higher education will be the formation of his government. More...
As the dust begins to settle after a historic reshuffle, we take a look at the new Cabinet and their higher education backgrounds. Our initial analysis reveals:
Education and labour policy makers, tech-believers and business followers should realise that for a graduate ‘entering the job market’ is not about one’s first job. On the contrary, it is preparing to manage a very extensive career, holding several occupations and even different professions (with diverse contract typologies and affiliations) throughout one’s life – a much longer life than for previous generations. More...
The UK’s Augar Review of Post-18 Education and Funding (2019) has reported on a shameful and costly neglect to those who do not participate in higher education. In its Foreword, the report emphasises that older workers too are worthy of attention where upskilling and reskilling are crucial in a changing labour market. Some of these older adults, including highly-skilled ones, form part of the higher education workforce and they will increasingly form part of an ageing workforce too. This reflects the ageing population and that the State Pension Age is rising. By 2020 it will be 66 for men and women, rising to 67 by 2028. More...
The Office for Students is over a year old now, and today gain its full regulatory powers. Even during their initial year, they have made significant interventions in higher education on widening participation, safeguarding students and contextual offers, as well as focusing on getting providers onto the register. More...
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