The 2014 Grant letter: another epistolary triumph

And the wait was finally over The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has written to HEFCE with the Department's annual message on funding and helpful bag of instructions. As excitement in the sector reached near fever pitch, the contents were being live-tweeted by @TimesHigherEd while everyone else waited to get hold of …

Higher education funding letters: another bundle of joy

On government HE funding letters The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has written to HEFCE with the Department's annual message on funding and helpful bag of instructions. The letter sets out Government funding and priorities for HEFCE and for higher education for the second year of the new financial arrangements for higher …

Austerity in the USA

Savings needed at US Universities University World News. carries a piece by William Patrick Leonard, vice dean of SolBridge International School of Business in Daejeon, Republic of Korea, suggesting that US Higher education institutions need to rein in their costs. The traditional approaches to meeting financial shortfalls, raising tuition fees or increasing student numbers, are, …

The Imperfect University: More and more regulation

More Regulatory Woes A recent speech by the Universities Minister focused on his apparent desire to reduce regulation for institutions: “We are in a government that understands the value of autonomy,” Mr Willetts said. Mr Willetts talked about the possibility of reducing data collection requirements as well as the likelihood of universities escaping some EU …

Firsts and fees, plagiarism and pay hikes (and the rest)

No dumbing down here - is this the most comprehensive HE piece ever? Daily Mail online has a terrific piece which manages to conflate a host of different higher education issues within a single kick ass column. On the back of recent HESA data which shows an increase in the number of students achieving first …

Regulation, Regulation, Regulation

More Regulatory Woes In University Governance: Questions for a New Era, Professor Malcolm Gillies looks at a whole set of issues around university governance. A previous post noted his suggestion about a greater involvement of alumni but he suggests that they will become more important than the state, at least in governance terms, because of …

Should more alumni take governance roles?

A new report on governance: "University governance - questions for a new era" This is an interesting pamphlet from HEPI written by Professor Malcolm Gillies who has clearly been on the receiving end of a fair bit of governance. One of his core suggestions which is picked up by Times Higher Education is that alumni …

Art for Art’s sake?

"In an Era of Campus Cutbacks, Performing-Arts Centers Keep Going Up" A hugely encouraging story in The Chronicle of Higher Education about the fact that institutions are still building arts centres, depsite the financial climate: It's an irony Shakespeare could write a play around: Officials of California State University at Northridge spent 10 years planning …

World Education: The New Powerhouse – Going Global 2011 §1

Some comments on Going Global 2011 - World Education: The New Powerhouse? I was fortunate to be present at the British Council’s Going Global Conference in Hong Kong earlier in March. There were about 1,000 delegates there and as might be expected for this kind of event many of the presentations were high level and …

WikiLeaks for Higher Education

Because you can never have too many distractions... The Chronicle of Higher Education has a report on the launch of "UniLeaks": WikiLeaks, scourge of governments worldwide, now has a copycat for academe. And the new group is itching to publish your university’s deepest secrets. Its Web site, UniLeaks, debuted this month with a pair of …

Universities forging ‘strategic alliance’

More significant university collaborations Following the recent announcement about the collaboration between the University of Nottingham and the University of Birmingham there have been some interesting developments in Wales. WalesOnline carries a piece about a new 'strategic alliance' between Bangor and Aberystwyth: Bangor vice-chancellor Professor John Hughes said the university would continue to develop its …

Tuition fees: Minister warns universities

More than just sabre-rattling? The BBC reports on a warning from the Universities Minister concerning fee setting plans. Speaking at the Dearing Conference at the University of Nottingham on 17 February he warned that, because the government had assumed that the average fee would be £7,500, if most universities charged higher than this the additional …

HEFCE “fears government’s controlling hand”

Government control issues for HEFCE According to a recent report in Times Higher Education HEFCE still fears government's controlling hand over its budget despite its status as an "arm's-length" public body: Newly published Hefce board papers reveal internal fears about its ability to "maintain the standard of its work" and its relative independence given the …

Universities ‘scared of private sector’

Oh no we're not Some festive cheer from politics.co.uk. The analysis here is somewhat overstating the case though: Massive efficiency savings which could drive down costs in higher education are only possible if university managers get over their suspicion of the private sector, Policy Exchange has claimed. A report by the centre-right thinktank's Alex Massey …

Higher education funding letters: 14 years of joy

On government HE funding letters (Arguably the dullest post ever to appear on this blog. And that's saying something. I've been wanting to do this for ages but apologies in advance for any distress caused.) The most recent funding letter of June 24 2010 from Vince Cable and David Willetts to the Chairman of HEFCE …