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Jan 22, 2025 | 
wonkhe.com | Michael Salmon |Mark Leach
Last June the Scottish government set out two proposals for changing up the funding bodies in post-compulsory education, following James Withers’ damning indictment of a “lack of cohesive approach, common purpose, or strategic narrative” in how Scotland’s skills system was organised.
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Aug 30, 2024 | 
wonkhe.com | Michael Salmon |Mark Leach
Labour’s appointment of Patrick Vallance as science minister was a bit of a surprise, though fit in with the “government of all the talents” optics that the new administration was keen to go for on taking office. There was the odd voice at the time which welcomed his deep scientific expertise but hinted that he might not possess the political chops for a ministerial role, especially as he kicked off his tenure by complaining about Brexit.
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Aug 22, 2024 | 
wonkhe.com | Michael Salmon |Mark Leach
In an interview with Channel 4 on A level results day, skills minister Jacqui Smith welcomed a “flat level of overseas students” at undergraduate level, with Labour’s change in tone set to hopefully be “heard across the world.”It was put to her that postgraduate recruitment was the area in clear decline from its 2022 and 2023 highs – she proposed a wait-and-see approach:I think we need to wait and see because the postgraduate numbers for international students come later on down the track.
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Jul 12, 2024 | 
wonkhe.com | Michael Salmon |Mark Leach
Labour wants to set up a new skills body for England. Labour wants to review the post-16 landscape. Labour wants to repurpose the apprenticeship levy to include other training opportunities. Given all this, should we really be expecting the Lifelong Learning Entitlement to continue in its current form under the new government?
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Jul 10, 2024 | 
wonkhe.com | Michael Salmon |Mark Leach
A college that describes itself as a “well-established, and award-winning, independent higher education provider” – and which is on the Office for Students’ register – was found by Ofsted inspectors to have too many trainee teachers who “complete their teaching in restaurants and other business organisations” rather than appropriate educational settings.
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Jun 16, 2024 | 
wonkhe.com | Michael Salmon |Mark Leach
The public largely blames the government for NHS waiting lists being so high. Indeed, the failure of Rishi Sunak’s administration to hit its targets here is a key attack line in the election campaign in England, and a likely large contributing factor to the Conservatives’ defeat.
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May 14, 2024 | 
wonkhe.com | David Kernohan |Mark Leach |Michael Salmon
The hurriedly commissioned and speedily delivered Rapid Review of the Graduate Route concludes there is no evidence of significant abuse of the Graduate route, that it broadly has achieved – and continues to achieve – the government’s own objectives, including those set out in the government’s international education strategy, and as such the core recommendation is that the visa route should remain in its current form.
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Mar 13, 2024 | 
wonkhe.com | David Kernohan |Mark Leach |Josh Freeman |Michael Salmon
The Office for Students frequently takes great pains to let you know that it is a regulator. It is less often you see OfS thinking about its parallel role as a funding council – but it hands out around £1.5bn each year. Unlike the continued excitement of responsive regulatoritude, the actual handing out of money hasn’t changed much since 2012-13.
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Feb 25, 2024 | 
wonkhe.com | Michael Salmon |Mark Leach |Jim Dickinson |James Coe
Take a look at some of the recent investigations the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has conducted: HS2, flooding preparedness, the procurement of PPE during the pandemic. Big, contested national projects with such volume of public investment that wrapping your head around what’s actually going on is quite an undertaking. And if that’s not true of England’s student finance system, then what is?
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Jan 18, 2024 | 
wonkhe.com | Josh Freeman |Mark Leach |David Kernohan |Michael Salmon
Foundation years are a contentious issue in current higher education debates. The sector is still reeling from the Sunday Times article which accused some Russell Group institutions of using international foundation years to bring in higher fee-paying international students at lower grades than home students have to achieve. Foundation year courses have grown explosively: eight times as many students took foundation year courses in 2021–22 as took them a decade earlier.
