Chris Parr

London

Freelance Journalist at Freelance

Assistant Editor and 8am Playbook Writer at Research Professional News

Award-winning journalist (@resprofnews @resfortnight @tes). Tips: [email protected] Non-award-winning musician: https://t.co/LGbYo3f9xn

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Articles

UUK efficiency report urges ‘new era of collaboration’

5 days ago | researchprofessionalnews.com | Harriet Swain |Chris Parr

Report criticises previous push for competition in higher education and calls for collegialityUniversities UK Transformation and Efficiency Taskforce report has been published today.
Beech life - Research Professional News

1 week ago | researchprofessionalnews.com | Chris Parr

Playbook chats with a former government adviser, now head of the Finsbury InstituteFew people have graced the pages of Playbook as frequently as Diana Beech, whose career in higher education and research policy has meant we have quoted her on topics ranging from R&D funding to student maintenance payments. There have been countless times when, as we scrambled to bring you late-breaking stories, we frantically picked up the phone to Beech to get her hot take.
What can universities expect from the spending review?

1 week ago | researchprofessionalnews.com | Chris Parr

Image: Grace Gay for Research Professional News Higher education experts see little cause for optimism ahead of multi-year review next monthBy the time chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers her spending review on 11 June, summer balls will be taking place on campuses across the UK as students celebrate the end of another academic year. But university staff are unlikely to be in the mood for a party.
Subpar subcontracts

2 weeks ago | researchprofessionalnews.com | Chris Parr

The OfS has fined Leeds Trinity University for regulatory breaches related to franchised provisionYesterday was what people in political circles might call a ‘washing up’ day or a ‘take out the trash’ day. As is so often the case on the eve of parliament going into recess, there was a deluge of information from government, on everything from mandatory chemical castration for criminals to the future of the Chagos Islands.
Leeds Trinity University fined £115,000 after franchising probe

2 weeks ago | researchprofessionalnews.com | Chris Parr

Image: Grace Gay for Research Professional NewsOffice for Students rules institution breached regulatory requirements on subcontracted coursesThe Office for Students has fined Leeds Trinity University £115,000 after an investigation found it had poor arrangements in place to handle the rapid growth of franchised provision at the institution.
Helen Hayes: policy clash could push universities ‘to the precipice’

2 weeks ago | researchprofessionalnews.com | Chris Parr

Education department and Home Office must work together more effectively, committee chair tells RPNThe chair of the House of Commons education committee has urged the Department for Education and the Home Office to work more closely together on their policy objectives or risk pushing some universities to the “precipice of economic viability”.
Hayesy days - Research Professional News

2 weeks ago | researchprofessionalnews.com | Chris Parr

Playbook talks to education committee chair Helen HayesWhen the House of Commons education committee confirmed to us in November that it had no immediate plans to look into issues relating to higher education finances, this didn’t go down particularly well in university circles.
University staff offered 1.4 per cent pay increase

2 weeks ago | researchprofessionalnews.com | Chris Parr

Lower paid workers would see higher increase, but unions move to reject “real-terms pay cut” The Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association has made what it describes as a “full and final” pay increase offer of 1.4 per cent for university workers in the 2025-26 pay round.
Ministers cut university teaching grant by £108m this year

2 weeks ago | researchprofessionalnews.com | Martin McQuillan |Chris Parr

Higher education groups decry drop in funding as “making an already difficult situation worse”The amount of funding that universities in England receive from the strategic priorities grant, which funds teaching and learning, has been cut by more than £100 million. This article on Research Professional News is onlyavailable to Pivot-RP, Research Professional and Research Professional News only users.
Using AI in REF would be ‘fraught with danger’

2 weeks ago | researchprofessionalnews.com | Chris Parr

Image: gilaxia, via Getty Images Academics alarmed by Bristol researcher’s survey on using generative AI for REF submissions and assessmentsUsing generative artificial intelligence tools in the 2029 Research Excellence Framework would be “fraught with danger”, researchers have warned, following the launch of a survey to gather views on whether such technology should be used in the exercise.