The lifelong learning buffet needs nutritional oversight
2022-01-21
Reskilling may help workers feed their families – but a plateful of modules may not add up to a square educational meal
What’s really wrong with the NSS?
2021-04-19
Drawing on my piece for HEPI, I explain why the National Student Survey shouldn’t change and why – and how – it should.
Fairer grades
2021-04-13
Will emergency measures prove to have been the key to fairer admissions, based on potential more than performance?
University admissions: what’s the real problem?
2021-03-21
Data presented by UCAS’s Chief Executive Clare Marchant shows starkly the correlation between clearing and drop-out…
The long Covid of careers
2020-10-27
The long Covid of careers: What’s the equivalent of hand-washing and mask-wearing for young people’s careers
Oxbow lakes: What we learn when we learn
2020-10-01
Should uni be an aspiration – or a ‘failsafe’?
2019-10-16
I don’t think I agree with the idea of university as a ‘failsafe’, although I’m still not sure I understand what you intend by the word. So I’m going to use Matt Pinkett’s line: ‘Aim for whatever you want to do, and if you don’t get it, well, at least you can go to university.’ That assumes that whatever you want to do won’t be best achieved by going to uni. Obviously, university is not the best route for everything or for everyone, but for the vast majority of the best paid and most secure jobs, it is – if not a prerequisite – at least aRead More →
Is it worth going to uni if you’re from a poor family?
2019-10-15
There is plenty of research showing a significant earnings premium on average for graduates regardless of background. Probably the most comprehensive work is the paper by the IFS ‘How English domiciled graduate earnings vary with gender, institution attended, subject and socio-economic background’. The Sutton Trust has also done many excellent studies on different aspects of this question which is actually a lot more complex than it sounds.
Are eighteen-year olds adults?
2019-07-08
Brexit’s impact on research
2019-04-08
We don’t need a ‘no-deal’ Brexit for a disastrous for UK research with knock-on damage to industry, regions and ultimately for the national economy.
Rancour, rankings and the rankness of TEF
2019-04-08
Which is the best university? It’s a seductive question to ask, but that doesn’t mean there’s a sensible answer. League tables, aka rankings, is the nonsensical answer you’re likely to get.
On market forces in higher education
2018-12-03
The media coverage of my paper for HEPI Fairer Funding: the case for a graduate levy has been widespread and the reactions surprisingly favourable. While there haven’t been many people getting out the bunting and ticker tape, many people seem to agree that it is an interesting proposal and it is right and timely to address the question of employer contributions to the cost of higher education. The most common complaint, however, appears to be to deny that market forces have any place in higher education. One tweet read: You’ve made the fundamental mistake of assuming that market forces can be made to operate efficientlyRead More →
