• Johnny Rich is an education specialist,
    chief executive, consultant, novelist,
    policy wonk, social entrepreneur, writer, communications professional, keynote speaker and conscientious objector to being defined briefly.

  • Work

    Learn about my work and achievements.
    Explore my biography and CV and try the quiz.

  • Expertise

    News and views from a specialist
    on higher education, student choice, social mobility and employability.

  • Creativity

    A few writing samples and links to Johnny's books.


Blog categories

  • What should party manifestos say about higher education funding?
    Forget about canaries, the signs of impending doom are more like the sound of cracking rock thundering through the coal mine and debris collapsing around us. Here are just two recent signs. Sign 1 New research recently revealed that now more than half of supposedly full-time undergraduates are doing paid work for more than 15 hours a week and nearly a quarter have full-time jobs alongside their studies to make ends meet. The idea that students whinge about not having enough money is nothing new. (There are even a jokes about it in Chaucer’s Reeve’s Tale from the fourteenth century.) But we have reach a differentRead More →
  • My imaginary university
    I felt (quite literally) honoured recently to receive an invitation from the man who puts the ‘great’ into Paul Greatrix – none other than the Registrar of the University of Nottingham, the blogger, the podcaster and the chronicler of all things higher education.  He asked me to appear on his podcast My Imaginary University. If you’re not familiar with it (where have you been?), this is the closest thing the HE sector has to Desert Island Discs. It’s a ingeniously simple format in which Paul interviews someone, invites them to make some seemingly fantastical choices and, in the process, of course, they reveal as much about themselvesRead More →
  • T Levels: what’s the win for employers?
    Last week, the DfE announced that it was setting up a £12 million fund to encourage employers to offer work experience for T levels. Good news, right? Well, partly. If T Levels are ever going to be a mainstream success as a vocational qualification, they are going to need a lot more employer engagement. I mean a lot. When you have a bold and ambitious policy, you don’t get it to fly by giving it half a feather instead of a full set of wings
  • Signs and wonders: Better CEIAG
    What is CEIAG and how does know what it is help us improve it?
  • The lifelong learning buffet needs nutritional oversight
    Reskilling may help workers feed their families – but a plateful of modules may not add up to a square educational meal