The Wonkhe Show

This week on the final podcast of the season we review campus reopening guidance from across the UK. What happens when the balance between freedom and safety becomes universities’ problem? Plus the skills bill gets read for a second time in the Commons, there’s new UCAS figures to take a look at, and Michelle Donelan has been writing letters about non-disclosure agreements. With Smita Jamdar, Part...

This week on the podcast we consider the state of the sector’s finances. Did the dire predictions of a sector in financial crisis come close to happening? There’s also new research on students’ digital skills, some careers confidence stats, plus we catch up with SU evidence into the Student Futures Commission and our Black Lives Matter event.  With Diana Beech, Chief Exec at London Higher, and Ben...

This week on the podcast the results of this year’s HEPI/Advance HE Student Academic Experience Survey are out. Did students think that this year represented “value for money” and how can universities with their mental health? Plus there’s a new government science office, a report on postgraduate widening participation and that ongoing controversy over white working class children. With Marian Hil...

This week on the podcast we catch up with the Skills Bill and its second reading in the Lords - and sense big debates to come over fees, funding and creative subjects. We’re also finding out more about last year’s examnishambles and there's the delayed roadmap to freedom - what does that mean for HE?  With Mary Curnock Cook, Chair of the UPP Foundation Student Futures Commission, Mark Essex, Direc...

This week on the podcast we’ve got a clutch of highlights from Wonkfest. We consider how universities can build back higher, bridge the digital divide and inject care in the university community. We also think about the university of the high street and consider how we might create a stronger sense of belonging on campus. With Mark Leach, Editor in Chief at Wonkhe, Smita Jamdar, Partner and Head o...

This week on the podcast we discuss student loans - should the interest rate go up or come down, and where’s the balance between politics and progressivity? There’s also a new dataset from OfS to crunch, a spate of misconduct cases at Drama schools that may have sector-wide implications, lessons to learn from successfully containing Covid at Cambridge and the launch of a new Black women's professo...

This week on the podcast we try to make sense of ongoing speculation about fees and funding in England as we move towards an Autumn response to the Augar review. There’s also a new report out on academic credit that may be more important than first meets the eye, news from the UPP Foundation Student Futures Commission and polling on what students have missed out on this year, and UCAS has a new re...

This week on the podcast Gavin Williamson has been offering up his views on “dead-end courses” and OfS has published a measure that might tell us how to find one. There’s also a skills bill to digest, some data issues to dive into, a couple of free speech cases to learn from and September is coming - but what are universities saying will be delivered?  With Vivienne Stern, Director of Universities...

This week on the podcast the government has introduced a new Higher Education Bill into parliament - but do its proposals on academic freedom and freedom of speech stack up? There’s also a range of other measures in the Queen’s speech to consider, and as the deadline for the government’s admissions review looms, we take the temperature of responses from across the sector. With Claire Taylor, Deput...

This week on the podcast the Commons Education Committee raises antisemitism with Michelle Donelan and BBC3 airs a documentary on racism in the sector. Is real progress being made? Plus there’s new findings out on students and sex and drugs, and the long-awaited Jornal of Controversial Ideas has its first edition out - but is it as edgy as it thinks? With Eunice Simmons, VC at the University of Ch...

This week on the podcast we consider the implications of the government’s announcement on return to campus. There’s also a debate rumbling round on inclusive assessment, a reported rise in students engaging in sex work, and news of a new campaign on London weighting. With Nick Hillman, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, Sunday Blake, President at Exeter Students' Guild, and present...

Our usual podcast format is on its Easter break, so this week there’s an opportunity to enjoy highlights from the launch of a new book on the social purpose of higher education in the 21st century. In The New Power University , Jonathan Grant argues that to remake the social contract between universities and the public, universities must embrace “new power” values that focus on participation, netw...

This week on the podcast UCAS has some new findings out on supporting students to make good (higher education) choices. Wales has its own Erasmus replacement, Northern Ireland has a brain drain, Mary Curnock Cook appears to discuss the new Student Futures Commission from the UPP Foundation that she’s chairing, and a happiness course at Bristol brings a smile to the face. Plus Mike Ratcliffe tells...

This week on the podcast the government’s integrated review of security, defence, development and foreign policy puts science and technology at the centre of international relations. But where do universities fit into that agenda? There’s also an interesting new HEPI report on admissions to get across, the threat of the silencing of student protest posed by the police, crime, sentencing and courts...

This week on the podcast we discuss a new report on the relationship between universities and China and ask if UK HE is too close to the superpower. There’s also ONS data on graduate employment and student wellbeing, and fresh findings from Jisc on the digital student experience. Mike Ratcliffe’s Hidden History travels to Bologna, and we take a quick look at new OfS Access and Participation data t...

This week on the podcast we get across Rishi Sunak’s budget and what it means (and doesn’t mean) for higher education. We also discuss the latest batch of Covid complaints summaries from the OIA, consider the implications of the USS pensions news and try to understand universities minister Michelle Donelan’s intervention on curriculum decolonisation. With Alex Favier, Director of Global and Politi...

This week on the podcast we consider the issues presented by the return to campus for students and their universities. There are new reports on digital learning and student activities and employability to get across, and we think through how teacher assessed A level results might impact admissions. With Smita Jamdar, Partner & Head of Education at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, Paul Greatrix, Reg...

This week on the podcast we discuss Gavin Williamson’s proposals on campus free speech and ask “why now” and whether they’ll work. We also review the latest applications data and look at an interesting new report on universities and the media.  With Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, Vice President Higher Education at NUS, Richard Brabner, Director of the UPP Foundation, Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor and pre...

This week on the podcast our guests dissect the latest letter from Gavin Williamson to the Office for Students, and ask if the regulator is becoming unduly politicised. There’s also developments on the student complaints front, essay mills action in Parliament and DK deep dives into HESA’s new widening participation data. With Mary Curnock Cook, higher education expert and serial non-exec director...

This week on the podcast there’s the ups and downs of student recruitment to discuss as the UCAS cycle reports. We’ve also launched new research on the student learning experience, and our guests discuss catch up, new money for student hardship and ongoing work on free speech on campus. With Alistair Jarvis, CEO at Universities UK, Natalie Day, Head of Strategy and Policy Insight at Sheffield Hall...

This week on the podcast there’s new figures on the impact of the pandemic on students to discuss. Did those studying away from home “stay away” as asked? There’s also the skills agenda, grade inflation, the hidden history of student accommodation and our “boarding school” model, a new report on care-experienced students, and DK digs into the University of St Andrews (Degrees in Medicine and Denti...

In a special podcast this week Team Wonkhe attempts to make sense of a big release of policy documents from the Department for Education. There's an interim response to the Augar review of HE fees and funding, news on the TEF, Gavin Williamson's long awaited skills white paper and a teaching funding settlement for 2021/22.  With Debbie McVitty, Wonkhe's Editor, David Kernohan and Jim Dickinson, Wo...

This week on the podcast we consider the fate of Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, and ask what ministers haver to do to get sacked these days. There's also a look at our new Skills to Thrive research, and a delve into the complexities of fair assessment during a pandemic. With Sue Rigby, Vice Chancellor at Bath Spa University; Jonathan Simons Director at Public First; Debbie McVitty, Wonkhe's...

To kick the term off Wonkhe's editorial team gathers to discuss the year ahead - taking in everything from the delayed and constrained "staggered" return, to quality and standards, student accommodation, calls for "no detriment" policies and the team's things to watch out out for in the year ahead. With Debbie McVitty, Wonkhe Editor; David Kernohan, Associate Editor; Jim Dickinson, Associate Edito...

It’s the end of term at Wonkhe towers but the policy train is still trundling along, and so on the podcast we’re discussing everything from Brexit, to a glut of paperwork from the Office for Students, UCAS figures and the dramatic return of the Free Speech University Rankings. Plus not one but two special musical interludes. With ​​Vivienne Stern, Director of Universities UK International, Jonatha...