There are only a few spaces left! RSVP now to secure your place 👇👇👇

We are pleased to announce that the CDBU Code of Ethical University Governance will be officially launched by @profstevenjones.bsky.social on 4 December, at the House of Commons. Prof Jones will be joined by an excellent panel of speakers. There are limited spaces, so RSVP as soon as possible.

We need to begin to tell these stories about universities as well. So — what did university mean to you? Contact @cdbu.bsky.social at [email protected] with your story. You can read some previous submissions here: cdbu.org.uk/stories/

... but they are also places that foster the messier and less quantifiable aspects of understanding ourselves, each other and the world around us. They are places whose value we only really come to understand years after we have left them.

So often universities are spoken about in instrumental language: as institutions that confer skills and training, and as engines of economic growth. Universities are both these things of course...

Thinking of using #ChatGPT for 'help' with assessments? Think again. #university #AI www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

We are pleased to share this letter written by one of our members, Professor Leo McCann 👏https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/16/how-ai-is-undermining-learning-and-teaching-in-universities

My new paper is out: "Students as (More Than) Consumers? An Exploration of Undergraduates' Discourses and Practices in Marketised Higher Education." The full article can be found here: dx.doi.org/10.1111/hequ... 1/2

We are pleased to publish our Position on the Unsustainability of UK University Funding Models. Visit our website to read it in full:

✍🏻 WRITE FOR US! ✍🏻 We welcome pieces on anything related to higher education. Previous topics include governance, student experience, free speech, and academic freedom. We offer a fee for our writers – particularly the precariously employed and students. Please send pitches to [email protected]

Vacuous, generic and scattershot advice for incoming 1st years on the use of AI at university. Especially liking 'Chin recommends giving it class notes and asking it to generate practice exam questions.' Surely we can't be the only programme that supplies students with past & practice exams?

Between them, politicians and employers are destroying our great higher education sector. We won't sit back and let it happen. #WeAreTheUniversity

UCU Bangor pass a motion of no confidence in the VC and CFO of @bangoruniversity.bsky.social over sweeping cuts Members are now balloting for industrial action with staff at "breaking point" over 200 potential job losses www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

For those in UK #academia, please give @cdbu.bsky.social a follow and think about joining us. CDBU's work to influence UK university policy and governance on behalf of academic values is very much needed in the present polycrisis. For some reason we never got much attention on Twitter... cdbu.org.uk

4,000 university courses closed in last academic year, with nearly half of these at 'low-tariff' institutions. 47% of history/philosophy/religion courses at low tariff providers have closed in the last year alone www.timeshighereducation.com/news/almost-... via @patrickjack.bsky.social

I spoke to Jane Harrington, the current vice-chancellor of the University of Greenwich, who is set to lead the 'Kentwich' merger. She said: - Other universities could join the group at a later stage - She could not rule out job cuts www.timeshighereducation.com/news/more-un...

UK universities could be hit with nationwide strikes after the University and College Union announced it will ballot its members over pay, reports @julietterowsell.bsky.social #academicsky #strikeballot

Last week on Wonkhe: The University of Greenwich and the University of Kent are moving together into a single governance structure. Mark Leach and David Kernohan report on the sector's first "super university"

Your weekly UK HE equivalent of doomscrolling. A good sobering summary and assessment.

In AAUP v. Marco Rubio, the government tried hard to explain itself. chroni.cl/4mqwotm

“It is now abundantly evident that AI is disrupting the flow of scientific publishing in multiple ways. There are even reports of researchers hiding secret messages in their manuscripts, asking AI for positive reviews. The research community must strengthen its collective vigilance.”

✍🏻 WRITE FOR US! ✍🏻 We welcome pieces on anything related to higher education. Previous topics include governance, student experience, free speech, and academic freedom. We offer a fee for our writers – particularly the precariously employed and students. Please send pitches to [email protected]

Ministers aim to export London’s academic success to England’s struggling schools

“Advertising is a hidden cost of the market in higher education. We don’t know exactly how much universities are spending, but we do know it adds little to the quality of teaching or support that students receive.” @profstevenjones.bsky.social

"Got the t-shirt!"

⏰ You have two more days to complete the consultation on ethical university governance! Don’t miss your chance to have your say. ➡️ qualtrics.manchester.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_bB…

Last chance to feedback on the draft Code of Ethical University Governance, which I drafted for the @cdbu.bsky.social earlier this year (survey closes 31 July). There's a link to the draft Code on the survey's landing page. Please share! www.qualtrics.manchester.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_...

Last week on Wonkhe: More UK 18 year olds are applying to higher education than ever before. David Kernohan breaks the numbers down

. @russellgroup.bsky.social says proposed 6% international fee levy would cost its universities £315m - more than half the sector total and more than they spend annually on outreach (£250m) www.timeshighereducation.com/news/real-te... via @jgro-the.bsky.social

Number of student-initiated PhD scholarships funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council set to fall by 60% when new doctoral training arrangements come into effect next year www.timeshighereducation.com/news/student... via @jgro-the.bsky.social

🎯 And government *also* doesn't listen to staff, they only talk to UCEA and UUK. So they have an extremely skewed view of what is going on in universities. Really appreciate this report by @cdbu.bsky.social on governance issues: wonkhe.com/blogs/cultur...

We are pleased to announce the details of our AGM, featuring a panel of excellent speakers! @williammerrin.bsky.social @gsoh31.bsky.social *Please note our previous post said ‘Monday 10 July’ in error. The event will take place on Thursday 10.

I'm speaking at this event, on infinite labour and the system of psychotic digital managerialism in HE. Based on a hopefully-forthcoming book!

University governing bodies should keep an eye on the collective needs of all institutions instead of just prioritising individual success if they want to improve the financial health of the sector, says @cdbu.bsky.social #AcademicSky #EduSky

University governing bodies should keep an eye on the collective needs of all institutions instead of just prioritising individual success, says @cdbu.bsky.social draft governance code www.timeshighereducation.com/news/governi... via @helenpacker.bsky.social

“… the aim of the Code is not to look backwards, let alone to apportion blame. It is to help give future generations of university governors the confidence and wherewithal to bring genuine, meaningful challenge.” wonkhe.com/blogs/a-code...

NEW on Wonkhe: Steven Jones makes the case for a new ethical code to empower university governors to stand up for students, staff and the public value of higher education buff.ly/hR1dEeI

'The Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU), a group of serving and former senior academics, has published a draft code of ethical university governance, which sets out standards for the bodies in charge of universities.' You can feed into it until 31 July via this link. 2/2

'University governing bodies should keep an eye on the collective needs of all institutions instead of just prioritising individual success if they want to improve the financial health of the sector, a campaign group has said.' Absolutely vital topic this. 1/2

We are very pleased to publish our Code of Ethical University Governance today, written on behalf of CDBU by Professor Steve Jones. cdbu.org.uk/cdbu-code-of...

Excellent piece by our friend and colleague Chris! www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/engl...

Breaking: Government plans levy on universities’ overseas fee income. Immigration white paper also proposes cut in duration of graduate visas to 18 months. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

As expected, there is some policy in this white paper which makes a difficult situation even worse for universities: 1) a potential levy on foreign student fees (I didn't have that on my radar) 2) the reduction of graduate visas to 18 months.

The Irish government has plans for a “transformative” research funding programme to take up the mantle of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI), a €1.2 billion scheme that ran from 1998 to 2015 and was widely considered a “step-change” in Irish research investment

Here's a summary of all the key changes in the UK's immigration White Paper affecting universities, courtesy of @julietterowsell.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-immi...

How do you define "identity politics"? What constitutes the Western canon? How does one "distort" a significant historical event? A sweeping Florida law provoked all of these thorny questions, and redefined colleges' gen ed curriculum in the process. chroni.cl/44u8c3x

This has been a good discovery this morning, and a very useful resource. The #UCU Branch at Queen Mary University of London has been collating a list of redundancies and cuts across the UK HE sector: qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...

Statement of support for US universities facing attacks over gender studies and EDI policies from the AGS (Association for German Studies in Great Britain and Ireland) - please share! ags.ac.uk/colleagues-i...

Killing off the university sector once and for all for a politcal battleground which Labour will never win… instead of reclassifying the immigration statistics as we always should have to reflect the fact the vast majority of foreign students leave the UK. Stupid. Unserious. Utterly self-defeating.

‘Religious doctrine cannot serve as the basis for scientific research or state policy. But that is what is happening in this executive order.’ Judith Butler on Trump’s anti-trans and anti-protest policies: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...