NEW on Wonkhe: A new consultation from UCAS offers the chance to comment on application limits, insurance acceptances, and the use of deadlines. David Kernohan is ready to fill the form in. buff.ly/2HUKZb4

Timely on a day where universities are asked to sign up to an MOD-backed organisation that doesn't appear to officially exist in order to access additional OfS funding...

Apropos of nothing I thought I would look up what the Oxon University Reform Society had scheduled this term. A Reform councillor, a Reform mayoral candidate, an anti-immigration campaigner, and a "critical friend" of Reform. You can almost taste the diverse opinions. issuu.com/oxunireform....

Nothing is new about the free speech stuff wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

Reform seems to reckon that some bits of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act that haven't been commenced apply to a university in Wales. And then threaten to put themselves in breach of Welsh statutes on institutional autonomy and academic freedom. wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

A piece that I respectfully submit will make you drop your toast at least three times.

NEW on Wonkhe: David Kernohan pulls out the key points from the Office for Students response to the judicial review of the processes that led to the decision to fine the University of Sussex buff.ly/CftQpvL

NEW on Wonkhe: Just visiting? bit.ly/4q8OKjP

A bunch of (audited, published) data points on provider finance as it was at the end of last August. Fresh out today - but do seek out actual financial statements/annual reports as well.

I wrote about this 3 years ago when Biden was writing off loans - the political power of the younger adult cohort regardless of the theoretical policy merits of the case (and it’s not like other groups haven’t used their political power for some boondoggles before now) wonkhe.com/blogs/the-po...

NEW on Wonkhe: Jim Dickinson compares fifteen countries' approaches to international education and finds the UK lacks the frameworks, data, and infrastructure that competitors have developed buff.ly/9OeG1Z0

NEW on Wonkhe: The CMA publishes guidance on higher education collaborations buff.ly/RMZFMll

Some more data.

Some data.

NEW on Wonkhe: Three years on, TPS pensions are still very expensive for higher education bit.ly/4pLA5uU

It is my happy duty to tell you that "Shooting the Past", possibly the greatest ever drama about an independent business school being set up in London, is currently on iPlayer.

Quick thread on the impact of the National Student Survey (NSS) on grade inflation. Students usually complete the NSS in their final year of study (between 7 Jan and 30 April this year). Students get their degree classification at the end of the summer term (May/June).

This piece is predictably excellent, but still leaves one wondering why the OfSt is devoting considerable resources to this, especially when they know full well how it will be reported, and what damage that can do to the sector’s reputation. 4/4 wonkhe.com/blogs/the-gr...

NEW on Wonkhe: Grade inflation is falling, but OfS still thinks too many are getting good degrees. David Kernohan asks what it would take to know what is really going on buff.ly/TaEnE8y

NEW on Wonkhe: Debbie McVitty thinks through the various options for responding to lines of questioning that question the legitimacy of particular HE courses buff.ly/armyJT0

NEW on Wonkhe: Critiques of the value, validity, and political foundation of degree courses have been with us for generations. David Kernohan searches for the meanings behind "mickey mouse" buff.ly/YvaqTvE

NEW on Wonkhe: Is Trinity Hall Cambridge really reversing access and participation efforts? David Kernohan looks in to the detail buff.ly/LmgDpjz

That Trinity Hall access story. Here's what is going on: wonkhe.com/blogs/what-i...

NEW on Wonkhe: What do the outcomes from COP30 mean for higher education? And what role do universities play in addressing and understanding the climate crisis? Simon Meacher finds hope in the work the sector is doing buff.ly/tSLFRrr

A very good read, unsurprisingly.

The first of what will be a huge number of great reads from the WonkheSUs tour of Europe over the next week or so.

Worth getting on board with this one.

NEW on Wonkhe: Which groups of students are struggling? It's all in the data, and DK has the TEF charts you need buff.ly/Tm66idM

Very good to see some honesty about methodology in this league table: www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

The end-of-year podcast is excellent (right to the very end). But again, we come back to the failings of franchising universities to protect the controlled reputational range of the sector in their deals with for-profit providers. Let it stop in 2026.

So, that Centre for Social Justice thing that suggests that many graduates would be better off having done a higher apprenticeship. Turns out we are comparing a population of hundreds of thousands of graduates to a population of 1,810 L4 apprenticeships. wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

NEW on Wonkhe: Posh? Exceeded your A level expectations? You are less likely to go to university bit.ly/3MtZRWC

Pretty much what the article title says.

NEW on Wonkhe: Steven Hill sets out what Research England has been up to during the REF 2029 pause buff.ly/11zncPw

NEW on Wonkhe: There is another quality assurance system in England: it has little to do with outcomes metrics, and a lot to do with meeting immediate needs. David Kernohan lifts the lid. buff.ly/isIq0kU

NEW on Wonkhe: Ticking boxes misses the point bit.ly/3Mp9upo

NEW on Wonkhe: The external examiner system is respected, popular, and widespread. Vicki Stott asks how we can build on these strengths to improve the quality of provision further - across the UK and beyond buff.ly/MiPMIeZ

This week on Wonkhe: Seventeen years after its hopeful launch, Southend’s university campus is closing. Jim Dickinson examines what this tells us about the failure of place-based planning in UK higher education

Big question for me on this is why has it taken OfS so long to open a formal investigation?@manchestermill.bsky.social made the allegations in March, and the police started their investigation in May and intensified it in July? www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-an...

Charts, innit? wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

Love this on part time work and creative graduates.

Hearing that EIS-ULA also failed to meet the statutory 50 per cent threshold. Writing up the results here: wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

UCU ballot on industrial action over pay and pay-related: turnout 39%, meaning there will be no national industrial action on these issues by UCU. Still waiting for Unison and EIS-ULA results.

NEW on Wonkhe: The UK Standard Skills Classification is a new way to think about the connections between courses and jobs. David Kernohan loves a new coding framework buff.ly/nVlSlHr

NEW on Wonkhe: How can you get a maintenance loan and not a fee loan? buff.ly/p5uwLAb

Here we go: wonkhe.com/blogs/budget...

NEW on Wonkhe: Ahead of an evidence paper and call for submissions, Minister for Further and Higher Education Vikki Howells sets out her understanding of the key challenges faced by higher education in Wales buff.ly/gbquzUM

wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/... :eyes:

Commons Education Committee seems to think that there is a provider at risk of collapse before the end of 2025. DfE and OfS disagree. wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...