The Wonkhe Show

This week on the podcast we ask if we’re getting an HE white paper for Christmas , and look at polling on the politics of fees, funding and maintenance. Plus Wales has a new Bill, and there’s new data on PGRs and undergrads - both of which appear to signal an intractable mental health crisis across the sector. What can be done? With Osama Khan, PVC Education at the University of Surrey, Debbie Hol...

This week on the podcast we consider the spate of "student spiking" stories and the student-led campaigns to improve safety in venues. There’s also some new reports on research and development in the run up to the spending review, universities have been making climate commitments in the run up to COP 26 and OfS is consulting on funding for specialist providers. With Rachel Hewitt, Chief Executive...

This week on the podcast we’re tracking the progress of the Skills Bill and keeping an eye on efforts to redefine social mobility. There’s also a new report out on black graduates, OfS has been talking about how it will regulate in the future and we reflect on where you draw the line over free speech. With Smita Jamdar, Partner and Head of Education at Shakespeare Martineau, Johnny Rich, CEO at th...

This week on the podcast we’re reflecting on a few days at Conservative Party conference. Have we found out what levelling up means? Plus OfS launches a report on spelling, essay mills are to be banned in England and we consider whether online diversity training is more hassle than it’s worth. With Selena Bolingbroke, Consulting Fellow with the Halpin Partnership, Amatey Doku,  Consultant at the N...

This week on the podcast we’re looking ahead to the comprehensive spending review and proposals to lower the graduate repayment threshold. We also discuss party conference season, a new index on graduate outcomes and we discover the posters that were on everyone’s walls as a student. With Diana Beech, Chief Executive Officer at London Higher, Aashish Khadia, Director of Planning at the University...

This week on the podcast UCU are balloting for industrial action over pay and pensions - does it signal a bleak midwinter for the sector? Plus HEPI has a new report out on the humanities, there’s new data on LGBT+ applicants and the Free Speech bill completes its committee stage.  With Graham Virgo, Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Cambridge, Mary Curnock Cook, serial...

This week on the podcast we have a new Secretary of State and a promotion for the universities minister to discuss. Plus we’ve started a big debate about sector groupings, there’s new research on where graduates end up and Hidden History looks at the rules governing student conduct after the war.  With Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, VP Higher Education at NUS, Andrew Hargreaves, dataHE founder, David Kerno...

We're back for a new season as Gavin Williamson addresses Universities UK conference - did he give anything away about the upcoming spending review? Plus there's UCAS data in an odd year for Clearing, an interim report from the Student Futures Commission, two new reports on international students and Hidden History looks at old student conduct rules that might be just as applicable today. With Pau...

In association with Routledge, we've assembled some special guests from the field of higher education research, pedagogy and leadership to explore how we build student experience back in the year ahead. Hosted by Wonkhe's editor Debbie McVitty, and featuring Wonkhe associate editor Jim Dickinson, co-editor of A handbook for student engagement in higher education Tom Lowe, Internationalisation in H...

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...