It’s exactly this kind of dismal, prejudiced bollox from the Daily Mail that’s got us into the ruinous Brexit mess we’re in. What a moronic response to us rejoining Erasmus and all the benefits that brings. If they’re really worried about cost, they should push to cancel Brexit altogether.

Gemini (Nano Banana Pro): please generate an A-Z poster of cats/animals/eh try UK University buildings

UK universities are increasingly reserving PhD opportunities for ethnic minority students in a move seen as a way of widening the talent pipeline www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-univ... via @jgro-the.bsky.social

“Big five” academic publishers reach agreements with UK universities, with a trial that will remove fees on a per article basis from certain journals being hailed as a “global first” www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-publ... via @twilliamsthe.bsky.social

An academic's favourite Christmas present: new paper just out with Prof Sally Hanks - on leadership in dentistry. Check it out here!: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #UKHE

Spent the weekend painting holiday rental near Penzance, which we’re selling as my parents have just moved there. Set up for 6 people, currently run as holiday business. Get in touch if interested in buying.

As you may have noticed, I rarely leap to defend university management, but this allegation is outrageous. What other Government-regulated industry has had what it can charge consumers largely frozen for a decade, eroding its value by a third? (www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...)

Breaking: REF 2029 downgrades research culture weighting, reinstates five outputs per academic limit www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ref-202... via @jgro-the.bsky.social #REF2029

Also a vague mention of changing the formula for mainstream QR including how volume and quality influence distribution. #UKHE #REF

My quick summary: Reduced weighting for environment section and closer to REF 2021 approach; reduced burden elsewhere, and no twin-track REF. #UKHE

Anyone else in the #UUK conference session this morning? Updates on #REF2029 announced. #UKHE

Nothing says getting into the festive spirit like going online to shout at some biscuits

Good piece from Katie Normington at De Montfort University reminding us the post 92 universities have done excellent research for a long time and that this ought not be endangered by the White Paper call for specialisation wonkhe.com/blogs/labour...

I've been trying to use AI to support a narrative review. Has worked well in many aspects of the work. But it's screwed up royally in three ways: 1. Failed to suspect a study with 100% response rate and 100% agreement by >6000 participants to have a blood test. Saw this as a "quality feature".

My dad came to the UK with nothing. He needed financial assistance for years; he even had to ask a charity for money to buy a suit and train ticket for his university interviews. He became a world-leading migraine doctor and helped countless patients. He “took”, then he “gave”.

And here's what Labour's obesity tsar actually wrote, lest you are tempted to believe the Daily Mail headline:

Sure cool you can go right ahead and tax us less too because we unaccountably earn smaller wages for exactly the same jobs.

Yesterday, the UK PM gave a speech at the Lady Mayor's Banquet at the Guildhall, London, an annual event. And I say to him 'thank you' for what he said on Brexit. He said "how it was sold and delivered was wrong. Wild promises were made to the British people and not fulfilled." 1/5

Tests should be structured such that the time limit doesn't matter for anyone. If anyone is running out of time, give everyone more time. You aren't intending to test speed under pressure, so just don't test that.

No s**t Sherlock!

My husband’s college. Nice place, less hierarchical than most…

Politician 1: Your Party believes that ... Politician 2: Sorry - Your Party or my party? Politician 1: Not my party, Your Party. Continue ad inf ...

This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started

'We have historically high welfare spending.' No we don't. 'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't. 'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.

Just imagine having to find this every month. #FightForYourNHS

I so want to read this! 😆

Disgraceful! A patriotic flag shagger who dedicated his time to illegally putting up 64 flags is being charged £2,300 for the cost of taking them down. If it wasn't so funny I'd be furious.

Love Arcadia.. sad news

God I'm gutted to hear about Tom Stoppard. He was such an immense figure, a titan of ideas.

The Telegraph, ladies and gentlemen.

For more than a decade now the government’s answer to how to fund universities has been to make money from overseas students. The last lot then tried to discourage students from coming here. This lot just want the money back. But then how do we fund ourselves? Crazy.

“Trump & Brexit are not 2 different things. They‘re the same thing. Same companies. Same data. Same Facebook. Same Russians. Same Cambridge Analytica. Same Robert Mercer. Same Steve Bannon. Same Breitbart. Same Alexander Nix. Same Donald Trump. Same Farage” Carole Cadwalladr 👇

🚨#History #envhist Job Alert: My Department is hiring an Assistant Professor in Environmental History. 🗃️ Come work with us at Warwick. You'll get both excellent colleagues and great students! See details below... And do not hesitate to spread the word... 👇👇👇 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK289/a...

Coffee o’clock and watching one of my cats who is teaching me a lot about how to be idle… #Caterday

Another good read for Saturday morning : https://isrf.org/blog/labours-white-paper-fails-higher-education #UKHE

This is a brilliant piece of writing. A very good start to Saturday morning…

Here’s where it gets personal for me. When I was 9, I started experiencing suicidal ideation … disinterested in living, and at least some of the time contemplating death and how it might happen … It’s easy to imagine how I would have used programs like these chatbots.

“Our findings show that ChatGPT not only fails to recognise retracted articles but often evaluates them as high-quality research and claims that their discredited claims are true.”

So I've been reading the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper. There's some good things in there. But when it comes to universities there's very little to cheer. The situation is very tough and will get worse. The last chance to preserve what we've got has passed. Let me explain why. (1/?)

'Artificial intelligence (AI) models are 50% more sycophantic than humans, an analysis published this month has found.' Another reason why human tutors matter (and why 'Rate My Professor' type evaluations of them are problematic).

Because some damn fool asked, here's a thread about Baxter. This was taken on the day I brought home Baxter and threw away all hope of an easy life. Look at him. Absolutely irresistible. And that's how they get you, the utter bastards

Reform UK Councils Council Tax increases Durham: 4.9% Worcestershire: 5-10% Warwickshire: ~5% Leicestershire: 3% Kent: 5% Lincolnshire: 2%+ Staffordshire: ~5% West Northamptonshire: 5% Derbyshire: 4.9% North Northamptonshire: amount TBD Nottinghamshire: amount TBD Lancashire: amount TBD

Oh yes, I remember. Sometimes think I have been in #UKHE too long!

I think what Phillipson *meant* to say was "charging full fees is justified on the basis of *high quality teaching across UK universities, in the face of unprecedented under-funding*” “University tuition fees in England to rise with inflation every year from 2026” www.bbc.com/news/article...

It doesn't matter how many grant writing workshops you put on, or how much pressure you put on academics to apply - if the money isn't there, the money simply isn't there.

How does Bridget Phillipson expect us to deliver “the world-class education students expect if they are going to charge the maximum tuition fee” if we are not supported and funded to do the world-class research that backs up and advances that teaching, and which UK academics are also know for? #UKHE

I do not believe that it is a good thing for research and REF to "deliver government priorities". Ideally academic research should be decided on academic grounds, not political ones. Sigh.

I wrote about the stupid white paper. In summary, with these people in the driver's seat and apparently unbothered by consequences, we're so cooked.

New offers from big five academic publishers ‘still too costly’ for UK universities ‘Significant’ number of institutions predicted to drop deals with main scholarly imprints, leaving journal access much reduced www.timeshighereducation.com/news/new-off...