Mobility Really Matters

The Imperfect University: Staff getting on their bikes (an updated version of a post from a while back) One of the things professional services colleagues sometimes complain about is that whereas  academic staff can be promoted in post - and indeed can progress all the way from lecturer to professor in the same academic department …

Knowing Your History

Know your history. Given the current running of The Changing University: Inside Nottingham NOOC I thought I would reflect on university histories. Given their nature it's often struck me as rather surprising that universities and their staff tend not to have a well developed sense of institutional history. Research matters to universities but they tend …

The Imperfect University: Students and their Unions – Part II

Changed days indeed (As with the previous offering I suspect I'm going to be challenged on much of what follows.) Part I of these two pieces looked at the changes in the National Union of Students as it almost completely changed its campaign foci to concentrate much more directly on supporting students on local issues …

The Imperfect University: Students and their Unions

Part I: How much power in the union? (I suspect I'm going to be challenged on just about every aspect of what follows.) Students’ unions and the National Union of Students, which recently celebrated its 90th birthday, have a long and distinctive history in UK higher and further education. There have been major shifts in …

The Imperfect University: 2013 collection

Because universities are still difficult, but still worth it With the latest post, on Robbins, we are now up to a total of 18 pieces to date in the Imperfect University series. Covering a wide range of occasionally relevant issues I do hope there is something for everyone in here. And there is a question …

The Imperfect University: Sectoral change since Robbins and into the future

All change please! Sectoral change since Robbins and into the future Rewriting Robbins? The very thought I recently agreed to give a presentation on this theme at an event entitled “Rewriting Robbins” by those lovely people at SGP Martineau. You can find the full details of the event here  and my rather fetching but nevertheless …

The Imperfect University: rational admissions – it’s time for PQA

A brighter future for university admissions? It will be some time before all of the results are in but it does look at this stage as if this year's admissions round has been a little less turbulent than last year's. The mood across many universities seems to be one of some relief after a period …

The Imperfect University: Know Your History

Know your history. For my 700th blog post here I thought I would reflect on university histories. Given their nature it's often struck me as rather surprising that universities and their staff tend not to have a well developed sense of institutional history. Research matters to universities but they tend not to prioritise maintaining their …

The Imperfect University: The End of Internationalisation?

Is it the end for internationalization? No. It’s not a bubble. It’s not bursting. A recent Chronicle blog suggested that, in common with some other higher education activities, internationalization was a bubble and about to burst. It isn’t. International student recruitment patterns continue to evolve, some branch campuses are less successful than others and the …

The Imperfect University: Free Information?

Freedom of Information costs. But does anyone really benefit? "You idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop. There is really no description of stupidity, no matter how vivid, that is adequate. I quake at the imbecility of it." These are the words Tony Blair addresses to himself in his memoirs while reflecting on his government's introduction …

Good discipline?

Universities' disciplinary records under scrutiny. Some entertaining reactions to a piece in the Guardian which reported that university students had paid over £0.5m in fines in a year: Universities across the UK issued disciplinary and administrative fines totalling more than £550,000 to students last year. Freedom of information requests from the Guardian have shown students …

The Imperfect University: what do we know about HE leadership?

What do we know about leadership in higher education?   Not a lot, seems to be the answer. I’ve written a bit before in the Imperfect University series about leadership in universities. There is a new report out which seeks to sum up what we know about leadership in HE. This report, written by Professor …

The Imperfect University: Truly Transnational

There is something close to a genuinely international university Last year Andrew Stewart Coats, commenting on his appointment and the interesting plans for the new partnership between Warwick and Monash Universities, asserted that in higher education: there has been little or no globalization in how we organize ourselves; no global entity runs viable universities in …

The Imperfect University: the first chapter

Because universities are difficult, but worth it This year there have been a dozen posts in the Imperfect University series. Covering leadership, staff mobility, regulation, governance in Scotland and Virginia, not so revolutionary online provision, the CDBU and more regulation, there was I hope something of interest for many in here somewhere. The Imperfect University …

The Imperfect University: How not to defend higher education

Simple: ignore administrators (or worse) The recent launch of the “Council for the Defence of British Universities” (or CDBU) offered some fascinating insights into a particular corner of British society. Like a strongly worded round robin letter to the Times made flesh it attracted some big names  from Sir David Attenborough to Baroness Deech. A …