England’s qualifications regulator Ofqual has said it would ‘welcome any interest’ from an awarding organisation looking to gain recognition to provide GCSEs, after all four existing exam boards in the country ruled out developing courses for the proposed British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE.

We have responded to the OfS consultation on quality regulation. We welcome some proposals, including the expansion of TEF to all providers. Yet we are concerned about proposals to transform the TEF’s core aims and raise the stakes of TEF performance. Here are our key takeaways:

Lots at stake in the OfS' new proposals for quality regulation and the future of the TEF! Read the British Academy's view below. Yes we went through all 246 subproposals (and eight annexes) so you don't have to - merry christmas: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/60...

Hooray www.theguardian.com/education/20...

British Academy's pioneering 'cold spots' work now replicated by HESA. 'University "cold spots" are developing in some parts of the country, new data analysis suggests, with courses in some subjects no longer available to students in certain regions.' 1/2

All these questions prove is that very few people have the slightest clue what an apprenticeship actually looks like these days.

One of the reasons that emergence of ‘cold spots’ of subject provision matters: 52% of 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds (the most deprived quintile in the Indices of Multiple Deprivation) plan to live at home when they go the university www.thetimes.com/article/22cc...

'This was even higher among the most disadvantaged students, with more than half (52 per cent) stating that this was their intention – meaning they are three times as likely to be based at home as their wealthy peers.' How/why Cold Spots really and increasingly matter to equality/inequality. 3/3

'A record 90,000 undergraduates are living at home this year, according to new figures from the university admissions service.' 1/3

Can confirm this is an excellent role! You'll be joining a fantastic team at an exciting time and working on some really interesting stuff. Plenty of time to apply over the Christmas break!

‘No one seems to care’: scholars decry plight of British Library Historian Peter Mandler said it was “a sorry state when a major piece of public infrastructure like this is hit so badly and no one in authority even seems to notice, much less care”. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...

Really enjoyed this on the fading regional promise of higher education: ‘We’ve never really believed in geographical equity in higher education. We’ve played at it, thrown money at it during boom times, made speeches about it. But when times get hard… the cold spots are always first to lose out.’

If you are a historian with policy-facing interests who has recently submitted their PhD (or will do so imminently), this fantastic new London-based postdoc fellowship in Applied History could be for you. www.history.ac.uk/fellowships/...

What a wonderful story - and a beautiful illustration of the power of the arts. Great writing expands our imagination. It helps us to see the world in new ways. And that has consequences that can never be measured by "average starting salaries" or "contribution to GDP".

Not reposting in agreement with the 10 principles (I disagree strongly on several), but because it's the 1st open, comprehensive agenda responding to post-16 White Paper (and the obvious direction of travel in DSIT/UKRI) I've seen from a sitting VC. Principle 2, subject provision, merits more. 1/6

What's lost when we lose staff, departments, programmes and faculties in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and what's that got to do with organ donation? Amid the looming losses faced by Cardiff, Edinburgh, Lancaster, Leicester and Nottingham (among many others), here's a worked example. 1/8

Did you take part in a mock election at your UK school or college between 1983 and 2001? Share your memories for a research project on young people and democracy in modern Britain! Write to us about your experiences here: forms.office.com/e/FNAwjfFR7f

‘However, the removal of the EBacc measure, coupled with the Government’s proposed changes to Progress 8, puts the humanities in direct competition with each other and with the arts.’ Glad to see the HA aligning with @britishacademy.bsky.social on this: humanities AND arts, not either/or, surely?

'Music and modern foreign languages degrees are among courses being suspended at the University of Nottingham, with the institution saying it “cannot rely on additional income” from the coming tuition fee rises.' 1/3

Coverage in The Times of our concerns about how languages will fare under the proposed changes to the national curriculum www.thetimes.com/article/9b0f... @britishacademy.bsky.social @cforsdick.bsky.social

EBacc was never perfect - but it was an important guard-rail around languages take-up at GCSE and sent a strong signal about the vital place of languages in any truly broad and balanced curriculum. It's hard to see how abolishing EBacc won't ultimately hit GCSE MFL entries hard.

Dusting this one off today...

Long tails and important outcomes. Finally, it's live - the website for the report, "Conversion Therapy' and the University of Birmingham c.1966-1983'! There's material about the history, the project, its organisation, and there are resources there too. #HistPsych #HistSTEM #QueerHist #HistSex

'It’s almost as if research doesn’t bring in money that can cross-subsidise teaching, which will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever worked in higher education.' wonkhe.com/blogs/the-wh...

Wonderful to spend yesterday afternoon celebrating ten years of Our Migration Story, an unrivalled online resource for teachers and students to learn about migration’s centrality to the making of modern Britain. Congrats to all who made OMS possible — felt urgent and energising

Govt should withdraw its guidance which prevents civil servants from speaking at public or stakeholder events as this will reduce the quality of policymaking. I’m a co-signatory of this letter in The Times coordinated by @instituteforgovernment.org.uk a asking for this guidance to be reconsidered

"The BBC has clanged their doors shut on those histories, those stories, those lives and ways of working that are revealed through the joint industry of the historian and the archivist." @helenwheatley.bsky.social on the devastating decision to limit access to BBC archives. tinyurl.com/y4tnyw9a

Regret to inform you this story is absolutely immaculate. And I’m not just talking about the shell company puns

It was brilliant to welcome the In Our Time team to the British Academy to celebrate this splendid news. Their phenomenal success shows just how much public interest there is in the very best of the humanities and social sciences.

We’ve met with Greta Thunberg and others in the flotilla. They describe hours-long scenes of torture and sexual harassment in Israeli captivity. Experts conclude that they have been subjected to serious crimes – Sweden’s foreign minister believes they have themselves to blame. tinyurl.se/crR

Outstanding from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com - the best way to get a job is to get a degree. You will almost almost always earn more as well.

In case you missed it — our cold spots research was covered in a panel discussion on Radio 4’s Front Row programme yesterday! Listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

*NEW PSA BLOG* A hard-hitting report by @britishacademy.bsky.social illuminates UK cold spots for #HE degrees in #SocialSciences & #humanities. PSA CEO Michelle Doyle Wildman @seasonedcomms.bsky.social highlights the issues and impact.

In case you missed it: our latest report explores a growing crisis in universities. In many regions, students risk losing access to vital humanities, social science and arts subjects. Swipe to see our key findings and recommendations.

REALLY appreciating Lucy Noakes's clear connecting of the dots between the announcement of maintenance grants for 'priority courses' and the Cold Spots mapping by the @britishacademy.bsky.social. You can't ensure access in a system that ties disciplinary coverage to competition.

No, it never existed, and then the imaginary target was scrapped by the Conservatives years ago anyway. The rise in numbers going to uni was entirely down to higher demand from students.

There's a WEEK left to sign up to mentor for @artsemergency.bsky.social - potentially get paired with a young person (16-18) who wants to work in the arts/creative industries, but who might not have the contacts or context to help them understand how to do that www.arts-emergency.org/get-involved...

Modern language education is probably the best educational crisis in Britain but gets very little coverage because we assume the rest of the world just speaks English as a second language

The government managed to recruit only 43 per cent of its target number of modern foreign language teachers for initial teacher training in 2024-25. www.thetimes.com/article/df90...

After making a dumb joke on here about the creative side of academic writing as "unfunded hobbit research", I then wrote a serious post about it

Eye-watering shifts in access to core subjects - disciplines vital for the fabric and future of human life. Losing capacity/capability in the humanities, arts and social is not just a shame; it’s a risk…

We welcome @britishacademy.bsky.social's new report on "cold spots" in the humanities, social sciences and the arts (SHAPE subjects). It’s an important reminder that access and opportunities in HE aren’t spread evenly across the UK. Our own research has found similar “cold spots” in chemistry [1/2]

Wonderful to see ITV Wales covering growing cold spots for humanities, social science and arts courses in Wales in their morning roundup - and welcome news that a Welsh gov report on subject provision is in the works: www.itv.com/watch/news/y...

BA report shows that worst cold spots in SHAPE are in Modern Foreign Languages: French & German single honours degrees are declining sharply, with cold spots in all 4 UK nations. Progress in expanding provision of non-European languages is being reversed. www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...

Can't resist the temptation to offer some historical context on this, also! (Rutherford, Teaching Gender, p. 84)

As we await the post-16 White Paper, the Academy is calling for: ✅ An urgent review of HE funding ✅ Regulators to monitor provision with an ‘at-risk’ regional register + subject premium ✅ Government to help universities collaborate effectively with clearer guidance about competition law

We still think of going to university as moving out, loading up the car and trekking halfway across the country. But more than half of UK students <21 stay within 90km. Almost a third stay within 30km. (For context - that’s less than the distance between Leeds and Sheffield!)

We've got a chunky @britishacademy.bsky.social report out looking at the emergence of 'cold spots' where you can't study arts, humanities or social science subjects close to home. We call for an urgent review of HE funding & monitoring of at risk subjects www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/univers...

Humanities, arts and social sciences degrees are disappearing in many UK regions. With more young people than ever studying close to home, course cuts are narrowing their choices at university. @timeshighered.bsky.social covers our 'Cold Spots' report today. Read more at https://bit.ly/46e3wOy

Proud to see this report out in the world today. After 10+ years of market experiments in UK HE, the data is clear: leaving what is taught in our universities solely up to the market has left students with less choice, fewer opportunities and more regional inequality. Read the deep dive below 👇