A guest blog kindly contributed by Tim Blackman, Vice-Chancellor, Middlesex University Degree classification and inequalities in higher education are the focus of two recent Office for Students reports and regulations. Both these issues are informed by statistical analyses by the OfS that make much of ‘unexplained variation’. However, very different…
This guest blog from Dennis Sherwood marks the third in a series about grade reliability. “Have you read that blog about one grade in every four being wrong?” “Yes. I have. I had no idea that the results of school exams were so unreliable. And so variable by subject too…
This guest blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Andy Nicol, Managing Director at QS Enrolment Solutions The Augar review into post-18 education is set to have a profound impact on the funding of higher education in the UK. With knock-on effects on how students and prospective students make decisions about the value for money and return…
This guest blog has been kindly contributed by Dennis Sherwood, an independent consultant. In my HEPI blog of 15 January, I presented evidence to show about one school exam grade in every four, as awarded each August, is wrong. That matters. Life-changing judgements – university admissions (or not), apprenticeship places (or not), the need for a re-sit (or not) – are being…
This guest blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Tom McEwan, Senior Researcher at Policy Conect and author of a new report on degree apprenticeships. In my speech at the launch of Degree Apprenticeships: Up to Standard?, I pivoted on a phrase which I heard throughout our inquiry: ‘degree apprenticeships are a great idea, but … ’. The remark drew a telling chuckle from the audience. Upon the launch of the model in 2015,…
This guest blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Professor Brian Murphy, Director of Access, Digital and Distributed Learning at Ulster University. Ulster University has four campuses across Northern Ireland and 27,000 students. It is the largest provider of undergraduate higher education in Northern Ireland and the second largest on…
A Guest blog kindly contributed by Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education in the University of Oxford’s Department of Education and Director of the ESRC/OFSRE Centre for Global Higher Education. This blog has been taken from his response to the speaker (Chris Millward of the Office for Students) at a…
HEPI’s report The Invisible Problem? Improving Students Mental Health, by Poppy Brown, highlighted that despite students having access to strong social networks and better employment prospects, survey data repeatedly shows that student are on average less happy and more anxious than the general population, including other young people. As such…
A guest blog by Dr Scott Kelly, who lecturers at New York University London. He is the author of ‘The Myth of Mr Butskell: The Politics of British Economic Policy 1950 – 55’ and of two HEPI reports, Reforming BTECs; Applied general qualifications as a route to Higher Education and Raising productivity…
This guest blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Gervas Huxley of Bristol University and Mike Peacey of the New College of the Humanities. Parents of undergraduates frequently express surprise at how little time their children spend in lectures and classes. On open days it is common for both pupils and their parents to ask for information on contact hours. It was concerns of this kind that led us to use the Freedom…