I welcome any reminder that mental illness and mental health lie on a different axis from high and low levels of wellbeing. And I recognise the value of working to ensure higher levels of wellbeing across groups of people who aren’t ill, as well as those who are. More...
Last week’s Augar report divided opinion. At HEPI, we were at the more positive end of the spectrum, not least because the report addressed, in a serious way, pretty much all the points we had said it should.
We were, and remain, determined not to fall down the biggest rabbit hole that has to be avoided when commenting sensibly on public policy: being unceasingly negative and refusing to recognise serious attempts to address genuine problems. More...
What are the implications of the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding (the Augar report) for equal access in UK higher education and further education? Will its firm advocacy of further education and changes to levels 2-5 below university degrees, lead to more equal opportunity between students from different backgrounds? What does the report say about widening participation in higher education. More...
Today is the launch of the much awaited review into post-18 education and funding – or the Augar review. It’s a 216 page report with a lot in it. You’ll have read about the proposed cut to student fees already, so I will leave that to other commentators. There is also a big unknown as to how far implementation of the fee cut would squeeze widening participation budgets – but that would rely on how far the treasury would actually follow through on the proposal to fully fund the lost income from lower fees. More...
How should we judge today’s report on the review of post-18 education and funding? Just over a year ago, HEPI published ten points-of-note that the post-18 review would have to get to grips with to fix the broken parts of our education and training system. Here’s how the review stacks up against them. More...
When we start planning each year’s HEPI Annual Conference – which this year is taking place on 13 June at a prestigious central London venue – our first act is always to check our informal ‘HE clash calendar’. More...
Theresa May has announced the date for her departure and another Tory leadership contest is upon us. While the new Prime Minister’s first focus may not be higher education, the imminent announcement of the post-18 education review means tuition fees are a topic they will likely have to take a stance on, sooner rather than later. More...
The Russell Group have just changed their official guidance for school students. They have moved away from a list of traditional ‘facilitating’ subjects. Instead, they are offering an online tool that gives course-specific guidance on what subjects are essential or useful to get onto different university disciplines. The new Informed Choices website is designed to be less open to misinterpretation than the old list was. More...
The degree of overwork is confirmed by a work-life balance survey published by Times Higher Education, as is the extent to which this damages mental health.
Students also recognize that being taught by exhausted and depressed staff impairs their experience of university courses. More...
Access and participation amongst state schooled students in UK conservatoires throughout the past years have remained at an all-time low despite major efforts to increase participation. Recent data issued by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) highlights that only 12% of the most deprived state schools have an orchestra, compared to 85% in private schools. Likewise, there has also been a 21% decrease in music provision amongst state schools in the past 5 years whilst the private sector has witnessed a 7% increase. More...
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