Jim Dickinson

6 days ago | wonkhe.com | Jim Dickinson |Mark Leach

Academic year 2013-14 was an interesting one. I’d started work at UEA’s students’ union – and in the slipstream of national work on harassment and sexual misconduct and “lad culture”, I’d attracted considerable opprobrium from some working in the campus venue because I’d resolved that we wouldn’t be playing Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines”.

1 week ago | wonkhe.com | Anna Bull |David Morris |Jim Dickinson |Mark Leach

The experiences of postgraduate researchers (PGRs) have not received the same level of attention as undergraduate students in relation to tackling harassment and sexual misconduct. PGRs have very different conditions of study than undergraduate or taught postgraduate students, and they may be at a different stage in life with significant professional experience.

1 week ago | wonkhe.com | Jim Dickinson |Mark Leach

Just 44 days before duties on it go live, but some 389 days since it closed a consultation on it, the Office for Students (OfS) has finally published Regulatory advice 24 – its guidance to universities and colleges in England on freedom of speech that flows from the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act (HEFoSA).

1 week ago | wonkhe.com | Livia Scott |Jim Dickinson |Mark Leach |Debbie McVitty

Institutions spend a lot of time surveying students for their feedback on their learning experience, but once you have crunched the numbers the hard bit is working out the “why.”The qualitative information institutions collect is a goldmine of insight about the sentiments and specific experiences that are driving the headline feedback numbers. When students are especially positive, it helps to know why, to spread that good practice and apply it in different learning contexts.

4 weeks ago | wonkhe.com | Jim Dickinson |Mark Leach

One of the most alarming things about the Department for Education (DfE) commissioned National review of higher education student suicide deaths is the apparant role of academic pressure. Well over a third of the serious incidents reviewed made explicit reference to academic problems or pressures – often tied to exams or exam results. Other pressures included anxiety about falling behind, upcoming deadlines, perceived pressure to perform, and involvement in “support to study” procedures.