The impact of universities on the UK & East Midlands economies

A big impact indeed This Universities UK report from earlier in the year on the impact of universities on the UK economy really is a very interesting piece of work which covers the sector's increasing impact in terms of output, contribution to GDP, job creation, and overseas investment. It also looks at the knock-on effects …

The impact of universities on the UK economy

A big impact indeed This new Universities UK report on the impact of universities on the UK economy really is a very interesting piece of work which covers the sector's increasing impact in terms of output, contribution to GDP, job creation, and overseas investment. It also looks at the knock-on effects of expenditure by universities, …

Money, Money, Money

HE Income and Expenditure 2012/13 Perhaps not the most exciting publication of the year to date but nevertheless some interesting information in the new Higher Education Statistics Agency report on Income and Expenditure of HE institutions. HE Finance Plus 2012/13 shows that the total income of higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2012/13 was £29.1 billion. …

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 …

Show and Tell: The Office of Fair Trading is Looking at Universities (again)

And they are looking for a lot of information. Back in October 2013 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) issued a call for information on the undergraduate part of the higher education sector in England. This follows the earlier look (outcome awaited) at terms and conditions in relation to student debts and universities' practices in …

Betting the farm. On a stadium.

How one university is going for broke with a new stadium. Inside Higher Ed has an interesting story about Colorado State University's plan to solve all of its problems with a new stadium. The University is, in common with many other public institutions in the US, in a difficult financial position. But the response at …

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 …

The Imperfect University: First for the chop

The Imperfect University: Some people really don't think much of administrators Last year I wrote a piece for Times Higher Education on the problem with the term “back office” and the often casual, unthinking use of it in order to identify a large group of staff who play a key role in the effective running …

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: The Cult of Efficiency

The cult of efficiency I’ve recently been reminded about a great book recommended to me by my former supervisor, Nigel Norris. Half a century since its publication it remains a fascinating read and sits midpoint between two eras of educational change which, perhaps surprisingly, seem to have a lot in common. (Note that a large …

Making money from MOOCs

There aren't any MOOC business models which stack up. Yet An earlier Imperfect University post on MOOCs questioned their ultimate impact on traditional university provision. Inside Higher Ed carries an interesting piece on possible business models for MOOC providers which notes that with over 1.5 million people having registered for MOOCs through Coursera, Udacity and …

Killing the myths in higher education

Misunderstandings and myths An interesting new pamphlet has just been published by HEPI. Misunderstanding Modern Higher Education: Eight "category mistakes" is a brief and snappy read and is available from the HEPI website: In this HEPI occasional report, Professor Sir David Watson discusses eight myths - category mistakes - concerning higher education that are widely …

The Shape of Things to Come – Going Global 2012

The shape of things to come: global trends and emerging opportunities to 2022 I was privileged to chair this session at the British Council's Going Global event on 15 March: Over the next five to ten years, which will be the countries with fastest growing higher education systems? Which countries will have environments rich in …

Tilburg University Economics Ranking

Another University Ranking You Didn't Know You Needed Bit of a one for the anoraks this, and certainly one of which I was, until very recently, unaware. It is, as the title suggests, a ranking of Economics departments, namely the Tilburg University Economics Ranking. It's a pretty straightforward methodology too - they have identified a …

“For-Profits Eye the British Market”

New opportunities for private providers The Chronicle of Higher Education has a good piece on the interest for-profit providers are taking in the UK market. Robert Lytle of the Parthenon Group, management consultants with an interest in education, seems a bit sceptical: "It's a very expensive market to operate in, and the profitability is not …