The Higher Education Show
- Episodes
- 322
- Released
- weekly
- Latest episode
- Nov 13, 2026
About the podcast
Every week the Wonkhe team and guests from across higher education dissect the week's big policy developments, and we also feature views from around the sector.
License: 2025 Wonkhe.com
Episodes 322
AI and assessment, TEF
This week on the podcast we examine new Office for Students and Advance HE research on AI in higher education – which finds uneven institutional approaches and risks for valid assessment and AI literacy.The …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we examine new Office for Students and Advance HE research on AI in higher education – which finds uneven institutional approaches and risks for valid assessment and AI literacy.
The regulator sees “closed” assessment as the most effective way to validate learning – so can universities build students’ AI skills while protecting confidence in their degrees?
Plus we discuss the latest details and data on the revised Teaching Excellence Framework, where Bronze across the board would restrict growth, and our guests pick their stories of the week.
With Aaron Porter, Associate Director (Governance) at Advance HE, David Kernohan, Deputy Editor at Wonkhe, Mack Marshall, Editorial Coordinator at Wonkhe and presented by Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe.
OfS and Advance HE assess the state of the sector for AI in education
EU fees, UCAS admissions
This week on the podcast reports suggest EU nationals will pay home fees at UK universities as part of a deal with the EU, with UK students offered local rates across Europe in return.With the cost put at £450m …
Show notes
This week on the podcast reports suggest EU nationals will pay home fees at UK universities as part of a deal with the EU, with UK students offered local rates across Europe in return.
With the cost put at £450m a year and the wider reset reportedly hanging on a fees agreement, what does the government get in exchange?
Plus UCAS confirms no major changes to undergraduate admissions following its consultation, and our guests pick their stories of the week.
With Jess Lister, Director of Education at PF Global, Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe, Mack Marshall, Editorial Coordinator at Wonkhe and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
The Guardian: UK willing to spend £450m a year on EU students if it can join Made in Europe scheme
Bloomberg: EU and UK Set to Offer Each Other Local University Tuition
Budget 2026, AI procurement
This week on the podcast we examine what John Healey’s first Budget holds for higher education – from a longer Graduate route at highly compliant universities to an International Student Levy now costed £100m …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we examine what John Healey’s first Budget holds for higher education – from a longer Graduate route at highly compliant universities to an International Student Levy now costed £100m higher.
With mayors given a stake in keeping graduates but little cost of living help reaching students, who wins and who loses?
Plus we discuss Jisc’s new statement on buying generative AI tools, and our guests pick their stories of the week.
With Emma Maslin, Senior Policy and Research Officer at AMOSSHE, David Kernohan, Deputy Editor at Wonkhe, Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and presented by James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and Research Agenda.
Everything in the 2026 Budget for higher education and students
New International Student Levy assessment is £100m worse than originally shown
NEETs and skills, research missions
This week on the podcast the government has put NEETs and skills at the heart of its pre-Budget messaging – with new industrial strategy jobs plans, reported changes to apprenticeship funding for learners over …
Show notes
This week on the podcast the government has put NEETs and skills at the heart of its pre-Budget messaging – with new industrial strategy jobs plans, reported changes to apprenticeship funding for learners over 25 and a Policy Exchange call for a new wave of technical universities.
Can higher education make the case that it belongs in the youth employment debate?
Plus we discuss what UK Research and Innovation’s £500m Missions Accelerator Programme looks like in practice, and our guests pick the stories that have caught their eye this week.
With Dani Payne, Head of Education and Social Mobility at the Social Market Foundation, James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and Research Agenda, Sharanya Sivarajah, Community and Policy Officer at Wonkhe and presented by Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe.
Innovation nation, emerging leaders, graduate recruitment
This week on the podcast we discuss the ambition to make the UK the world’s leading innovation nation.With plans to devolve innovation funding, build globally significant clusters in every region and strengthen …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we discuss the ambition to make the UK the world’s leading innovation nation.
With plans to devolve innovation funding, build globally significant clusters in every region and strengthen collaboration, what role will universities play in delivering the government’s vision?
Plus we discuss new research from Wonkhe and Advance HE revealing why emerging higher education leaders feel confident in their own abilities but frustrated by their institutions’ capacity to manage change.
And we consider the latest developments in graduate recruitment and international student visas.
With Charlotte Corrish, Head of Public Policy at the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and Research Agenda, and Mack Marshall, Editorial Coordinator at Wonkhe, and presented by Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe.
During times of transformation emerging leaders need to be inside the leadership tent
Academic integrity and AI, Conservative conference
This week on the podcast we examine how universities are rethinking academic integrity in the age of AI. As institutions move away from blanket bans and detection towards more nuanced approaches to assessment …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we examine how universities are rethinking academic integrity in the age of AI. As institutions move away from blanket bans and detection towards more nuanced approaches to assessment, a new Wonkhe and Studiosity white paper explores how to balance the opportunities of AI with the need to protect genuine learning.
Plus we discuss the Conservatives’ plans to restrict access to student finance for non-UK nationals, proposals to limit Universal Credit for under-25s, and what the party’s conference tells us about its emerging approach to higher education. And we take a look at what else has caught our guests’ attention in higher education policy this week.
With Mark Peace, Professor of Innovation in Education at King’s College London, Annie Bell, Associate Director for Higher Education at Public First, and John Blake, Director at The Post-18 Project, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
Kemi the Conqueror? Something of an embroidery…
Keeping the learning real in the AI age requires coordination and open communication
Hope (again), Mi5
This week on the podcast we examine what Labour Party conference told us about the government’s plans for higher education – or, perhaps more significantly, what it didn’t. We also consider what higher …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we examine what Labour Party conference told us about the government’s plans for higher education – or, perhaps more significantly, what it didn’t. We also consider what higher education should make of MI5’s warning about research collaboration with the China General Technology Research Institute, the suspension of Buckinghamshire New University’s student sponsor licence, new expectations for student accommodation, and the latest picture on antisemitism on campus.
With Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe, Gary Hughes, Chief Executive at Durham Students’ Union, Mack Marshall, Editorial Coordinator at Wonkhe, and presented by James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and Research Agenda.
All our coverage from Labour Conference 2026
Espionage alert sees MI5 take an interest in Chinese research collaboration
International recruitment, graduate social mobility
This week on the podcast Home Office figures show more than 20,000 fewer study visa applications in August than a year earlier – so is the fall in international recruitment catastrophic for university finances …
Show notes
This week on the podcast Home Office figures show more than 20,000 fewer study visa applications in August than a year earlier – so is the fall in international recruitment catastrophic for university finances, or merely extremely bad?
Universities UK International wants enrolments to return to growth, but new modelling from Public First suggests there is nowhere stable left to grow. Plus we discuss a new report from the Graduate Futures Institute finding that graduate opportunity remains deeply unequal, and our guests pick their stories of the week.
With Ben Vulliamy, Executive Director at the Association of Heads of University Administration, Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, Sharanya Sivarajah, Community and Policy Officer at Wonkhe and presented by Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe and Editor at Research Agenda.
Study visa applications see a big fall in the key month of August
UUKi: Higher Education Sector Action Plan
Why international recruitment keeps chasing the wrong markets
Loans, Free speech
This week on the podcast we examine the government’s response to criticism of the student loan system. With ministers still describing the system as unfair and in need of reform, what might meaningful change …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we examine the government’s response to criticism of the student loan system. With ministers still describing the system as unfair and in need of reform, what might meaningful change now look like?
Plus we discuss the Office for Students’ new freedom of speech conditions of registration, and we take a look at the other higher education policy and sector stories that have caught our guests’ attention this week.
With David Kernohan, Deputy Editor at Wonkhe, Pam Macpherson Barrett, Director of Policy and Regulation at the University of Leeds, and Mack Marshall, Editorial Coordinator at Wonkhe, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
Students feel free to speak – unless they’re training to be doctors
The tone has changed on free speech, but the architecture hasn’t
Future jobs, uni closures
This week on the podcast we examine Universities UK’s plans to strengthen graduate employment, as its annual conference puts the future of universities and their contribution to jobs, innovation and communities …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we examine Universities UK’s plans to strengthen graduate employment, as its annual conference puts the future of universities and their contribution to jobs, innovation and communities in the spotlight.
Plus we discuss new research on what university closure actually feels like for students, and whether existing student protection arrangements are equipped to deal with the financial, academic and personal consequences. We also pick through some of the other higher education and research policy stories catching our attention this week.
With Mark Leach, Editor-in-Chief at Wonkhe, David Kernohan, Deputy Editor at Wonkhe, Smita Jamdar, Partner and Head of Education at Shakespeare Martineau, and presented by James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and Research Agenda.
Will a graduate jobs roadmap show us the right way?
Student protection needs to start with what closure actually feels like
Burnham, SUs, Year ahead
This week on the podcast we discuss what Andy Burnham’s new government could mean for higher education, following his first appearance before MPs and a statement setting out priorities on post-16 education …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we discuss what Andy Burnham’s new government could mean for higher education, following his first appearance before MPs and a statement setting out priorities on post-16 education, industrial strategy and the role of universities in economic growth.
With promises on devolution, a response to the Milburn review on young people not in education, employment or training, and even a commitment to “save Jodrell Bank”, what should the sector make of the direction of travel – and what might the autumn Budget and forthcoming ten-year plan bring?
Plus we discuss what students have been experiencing over the long summer break, drawing on lessons from students’ unions around the country, and look ahead to the big higher education policy questions of the year, including mergers and collaboration, developments in Scotland and Wales, and the future of quality.
With Hugh Jones, independent consultant and postcard wrangler, Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe.
Whose universities are they anyway?
Transformation in higher education cannot run on goodwill alone
There’s 104 days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end that
The end of the year show
This week on the podcast Team Wonkhe looks back on the year in higher education policy and politics – from the Post-16 Education and Skills white paper to the financial pressures pushing institutions towards …
Show notes
This week on the podcast Team Wonkhe looks back on the year in higher education policy and politics – from the Post-16 Education and Skills white paper to the financial pressures pushing institutions towards closures, mergers and deeper collaboration.
Plus the team discusses the fallout from the Office for Students' High Court case against the University of Sussex, the shifting narrative around who goes to university and why, and the growing gap between students' financial pressures and what the system assumes about their time and money.
With Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe, John Blake, Director of the Post-18 Project and David Kernohan, Deputy Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
Funding, student loans, NSSmass
This week on the podcast the government's Strategic Priorities Grant allocation lands with a cash cut of just over £50m – and a much wider list of subjects losing high-cost teaching support, including the …
Show notes
This week on the podcast the government's Strategic Priorities Grant allocation lands with a cash cut of just over £50m – and a much wider list of subjects losing high-cost teaching support, including the creative arts, computing and nursing.
Plus two competing views on student loans this week – the House of Commons Treasury Committee concludes the government has, in effect, mis-sold student loans, while the Post-18 Project's John Blake argues the loan book itself is an accounting fiction obstructing reform of university funding in England. And DK has your NSS headlines.
With Sarah Cowan, Head of Policy (Higher Education and Research) at the British Academy, Chris Shelley, Director of Student Experience at Queen Mary University of London and James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, presented by Mark Leach, Editor in Chief at Wonkhe.
I’ve stopped believing in Father NSSmas. Here’s why
Student loans can no longer be patched up. The system is rotten
The NSS shows us that students still seem to like higher education
The Silence of the Loans: How student loan book fictions prevent higher education reform
The Treasury committee proposes tinkering with student loans
PhD students, Burnham
This week on the podcast we ask why UKRI is spending more on PhD studentships while the number of funded starts falls. New analysis shows doctoral stipends have taken priority over the volume of studentships …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we ask why UKRI is spending more on PhD studentships while the number of funded starts falls. New analysis shows doctoral stipends have taken priority over the volume of studentships, with UKRI-funded starts 22 per cent lower than a decade ago – so do we have the right number of PhDs, and what does this mean for institutions, disciplines, UK science and academic careers?
The team also digs into a new Martingale Foundation report on the experiences of doctoral students from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds, and the culture around "not belonging". Plus the Post-18 Project has launched a paper calling for a new Department for Skills, Research, and Prosperity, uniting higher education teaching and research, further education, apprenticeships and the industrial strategy around a presumption in favour of local decision-making.
With Eunice Simmons, Vice Chancellor at the University of Chester, John Blake, Director at The Post-18 Project, Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
A Ministry for Manchesterism: Rewiring Whitehall for locally-driven prosperity and change
Devolution is a means not an end for research
The doctoral experience remains shaped by socioeconomic status
Burnham, IFS on value of HE
This week on the podcast we examine the implications of a change at the top of government, as Keir Starmer prepares to depart and Andy Burnham appears set for a swift coronation as Labour leader and Prime …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we examine the implications of a change at the top of government, as Keir Starmer prepares to depart and Andy Burnham appears set for a swift coronation as Labour leader and Prime Minister. With new policy priorities, new ministers, and a new political centre of gravity potentially taking shape, what might “Manchesterism” mean for higher education?
We discuss what new evidence on graduate earnings tells us about the value of higher education, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies reports on returns to study and government edges closer to using outcomes data to shape student loan access and course provision, and we discuss the higher education stories catching attention this week, from science funding and postgraduate research student experience to English language standards, applicant trends, health and wellbeing, and the future of apprenticeship funding.
With Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive at Universities UK, Paul Greatrix, Director of Higher Education Consultancy at Shakespeare Martineau, Livia Scott, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Mark Leach, Editor-in-Chief at Wonkhe.
The Starmer era in English higher education
Higher education study still makes financial sense for most
What can GCSE performance tell us about salaries aged 27?
Minimum entry, Governance, Working class boys and girls
This week on the podcast reports suggest the Department for Education is considering restricting access to the student loan book to those who hold a pass in GCSE English – a move that could prove financially …
Show notes
This week on the podcast reports suggest the Department for Education is considering restricting access to the student loan book to those who hold a pass in GCSE English – a move that could prove financially devastating for institutions with large numbers of students who lack that qualification, many of them linked to franchised provision.
Plus, the Committee of University Chairs has published a revised Code of Higher Education Governance, and we discuss the Sutton Trust's latest research on opportunity which complicates the narrative around white working-class boys.
With Mike Ratcliffe, Interim Academic Registrar at Canterbury Christ Church University, Annie Bell, Associate Director Higher Education at Public First, and David Kernohan, Deputy Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
Opportunity is shaped by where you live, who you are, and how much money your family had
The Code of Higher Education Governance has had a complete rewrite
Is the government really re-immersing itself in the MERs debate?
TEF, student experience, demographics
This week on the podcast we examine the next phase of the Teaching Excellence Framework, as the Office for Students confirms its first decisions on a revised approach to assessing education quality. With all …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we examine the next phase of the Teaching Excellence Framework, as the Office for Students confirms its first decisions on a revised approach to assessing education quality. With all providers in scope, apprenticeships included, and ratings linked to future incentives, interventions, growth limits, and potentially funding, the stakes around TEF are set to rise.
Plus we discuss new findings from the Student Academic Experience Survey, with students reporting the highest levels of perceived value for money in a decade despite ongoing pressures from paid work, costs, and expectations. And we consider what long-term demographic change means for higher education, as projections point to a shrinking pool of 18-year-olds and a growing need to rethink participation, access, and financial sustainability.
With Paul Ashwin, Professor of Higher Education at Lancaster University, Rachel Macsween, Director of Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement for UK and Europe at IDP, Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
First round of consultation on future TEF sees movement on the implications of a Bronze award
Students are coping better because the system is demanding less
The Big Shortfall: Demographic downturn and the post-18 education system
Public opinion, Missing middle
This week on the podcast a third of the public now thinks a university education just isn't worth the time and money it usually takes, according to the latest British Social Attitudes survey – a share that has …
Show notes
This week on the podcast a third of the public now thinks a university education just isn't worth the time and money it usually takes, according to the latest British Social Attitudes survey – a share that has climbed steeply from 14 per cent in 2005.
We dig into what is driving the erosion of public confidence in higher education, how attitudes are pulling apart along political lines, and what it all means as the House of Commons Treasury Committee opens its inquiry into student loans. Plus a new report from the Lifelong Education Institute asks whether England will finally get serious about the "missing middle" at levels 4 and 5.
With Andy Westwood, Professor of Public Policy, Government and Business at the University of Manchester, Eve Alcock, Executive Director for External Affairs at the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Mark Leach, Editor-in-Chief at Wonkhe.
Cuts, International, Friends
This week on the podcast we discuss the scale and shape of cuts across UK higher education, as new survey findings from Universities UK suggest institutions are considering mergers, groups, hiring freezes …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we discuss the scale and shape of cuts across UK higher education, as new survey findings from Universities UK suggest institutions are considering mergers, groups, hiring freezes, redundancies, campus closures, and reductions in student support as financial pressures deepen.
Plus we discuss the latest international recruitment data, and we consider new Wonkhe research on belonging, friendship and student experience, asking whether universities are designing the structural conditions students need to form meaningful academic and social connections.
With Emma Maslin, Senior Policy and Research Officer at AMOSSHE, Neil Mackenzie, Chief Executive at Leeds Beckett SU, James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
The international student boom is over – and the bust is being delivered by stealth
Friends, it turns out, have benefits
Are universities supporting students too much?
Managing immigration compliance risk through large deposits is immoral and probably unlawful
LLE, Milburn review
This week on the podcast the final pieces of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement puzzle are falling into place, so what do the new regulations, the long-awaited transcript guidance and the list of 130 approved …
Show notes
This week on the podcast the final pieces of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement puzzle are falling into place, so what do the new regulations, the long-awaited transcript guidance and the list of 130 approved providers tell us about how flexible the future of student finance will really be?
Plus former health secretary Alan Milburn's review argues that too many young people are being pushed towards university rather than technical education as youth unemployment climbs to its highest level in over a decade, and our guests each pick a higher education story that has caught their eye.
With Anne-Marie Canning, Opportunity Mission Challenge Director at UK Research and Innovation, Johnny Rich, Chief Executive at the Engineering Professors' Council and Push, Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Mark Leach, Editor-in-Chief at Wonkhe.
The Times: Thousands of young unemployed are university-educated
Starmergeddon, Insolvency, Europe
This week on the podcast we talk a turbulent week in Westminster, as Labour’s poor performance in the national and regional elections intensifies pressure on Keir Starmer, and the King’s Speech leaves higher …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we talk a turbulent week in Westminster, as Labour’s poor performance in the national and regional elections intensifies pressure on Keir Starmer, and the King’s Speech leaves higher education waiting for a legislative vehicle for promised reform.
Plus we discuss the Education Committee’s call for a bespoke insolvency regime for English higher education providers, what should happen if a university goes bust, and new comparative research on the pressures facing higher education across Europe.
With Brooke Storer-Church, Chief Executive at GuildHE, Jonathan Simons, Partner and Head of the Education Practice at Public First, David Kernohan, Deputy Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
What the Education Committee said about higher education funding
Euro visions: Key changes and wind machines won’t save the sector
Antisemitism, AI and graduate jobs, universities and working class voters
This week on the podcast the government turns up the heat on universities over antisemitism – but with enforcement details still to come, what does Keir Starmer's zero-tolerance pledge actually mean in …
Show notes
This week on the podcast the government turns up the heat on universities over antisemitism – but with enforcement details still to come, what does Keir Starmer's zero-tolerance pledge actually mean in practice?
Plus, a new Institute of Student Employers survey finds that employers expect AI to reshape rather than replace graduate entry-level roles, and a UCL Policy Lab report argues that higher education's chronic failure to connect with working-class voters is one of the key reasons political leaders keep their distance.
With Joe Cooper, Chief People Officer at University of East London, Aaron Porter, Chair at BPP University, and Livia Scott, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Mark Leach, Editor-in-Chief at Wonkhe.
Students should feel safe on campus. So what’s the plan?
Why OfS got the meaning of free speech within the law absolutely wrong
AI isn’t taking graduate’s jobs, but it will reshape entry-level roles
Three reasons why the higher education sector struggles to land its political arguments
Holyrood and Senedd elections, OfS v Sussex
This week on the podcast as voters in Scotland and Wales head to the polls on 7 May, what do the manifestos mean for higher education? North of the border all parties bar Reform have committed to protect free …
Show notes
This week on the podcast as voters in Scotland and Wales head to the polls on 7 May, what do the manifestos mean for higher education? North of the border all parties bar Reform have committed to protect free undergraduate tuition, and much of the bigger thinking sits with the joint Scottish government and Universities Scotland "Future Framework" review.
Meanwhile a generation of Welsh Labour dominance is set to end under an expanded Senedd and a new electoral system, with Plaid Cymru and Reform UK emerging as the two largest parties – and Plaid pledging a wide-ranging HE review within the first 100 days. Plus David Kernohan has read the judgement in OfS v University of Sussex so you don’t have to.
With Justine Pédussel, President at Stirling University Students' Union, Richard Wyn Jones, Director of the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, David Duncan, University Secretary and Deputy Vice Chancellor at University of Glasgow, Nanw Maelor, Welsh Culture Officer and UMCA President at Aberystwyth Students' Union, Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
In Wales and Scotland, students were promised a maintenance floor. The promise is broken.
System issues, research bidding, governance
This week on the podcast John Blake, Director at the Post-18 Project has published his first paper arguing that English higher education's crisis stems from thirty years of policy failure – and that the only …
Show notes
This week on the podcast John Blake, Director at the Post-18 Project has published his first paper arguing that English higher education's crisis stems from thirty years of policy failure – and that the only real fix is a major, multi-year review to establish a new concordat between the state, the sector and students about who is responsible for what, and how disputes get resolved.
Plus, new research from King's College London finds that the cost of applying for research grants amounts to thirteen per cent of the value of awards, and the Committee of University Chairs puts a near-final draft of its new governance code out for comment, with more explicit requirements for what boards must and should do.
With Sam Roseveare, Director of Regional and National Policy at the University of Warwick, James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, Jen Summerton, Operations Director at Wonkhe and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
Expensive, time consuming, and unpopular – why is it so hard to end grant funding peer review?
Fair treatment, weekend delivery, Iceland
This week on the podcast we're in Reykjavik as the Office for Students (OfS) opens a consultation on a whole new approach to student protection – but with students already struggling to understand or use their …
Show notes
This week on the podcast we're in Reykjavik as the Office for Students (OfS) opens a consultation on a whole new approach to student protection – but with students already struggling to understand or use their rights, will a new regulatory condition actually change anything on the ground?
Plus more than twenty thousand weekend students have been told to pay back maintenance loans they were given in error, and what can UK higher education learn from a week in Iceland?
With Lisa Margaret Gunnarsdóttir, President of the National Union of Icelandic Students, Gary Hughes, Chief Executive at Durham Students' Union, Mack Marshall, Community and Policy Officer at Wonkhe and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
Groupwork, management apprenticeships, immigration
This week on the podcast an Australian politician has called on universities to scrap group assignments entirely, arguing they're unfair and cheapen degrees – but is the real problem the concept itself, or is …
Show notes
This week on the podcast an Australian politician has called on universities to scrap group assignments entirely, arguing they're unfair and cheapen degrees – but is the real problem the concept itself, or is it poorly designed groupwork that's giving collaboration a bad name?
Plus the government axes popular management apprenticeships, and UKVI's draft proposals for rating international student sponsors go further than many expected.
With Mark Peace, Professor of Innovation in Education at King's College London, Hugh Jones, independent consultant, and Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Mark Leach, Editor-in-Chief at Wonkhe.
Group essays? Pull the other one
Amber isn’t a buffer zone in the new international RAG system – it’s a ledge
Secret life of students/AI special
This week on the podcast recorded live at The Secret Life of Students, new Wonkhe research has found that nearly half of students worry their grades don't reflect what they actually know – so what does that …
Show notes
This week on the podcast recorded live at The Secret Life of Students, new Wonkhe research has found that nearly half of students worry their grades don't reflect what they actually know – so what does that tell us about how students are making decisions around AI use, and what does it mean for assessment in higher education?
Plus highlights from sessions across the conference, and a tuition fees row that threatens to derail the government's Brexit reset – with the EU pushing for home fee rates for students arriving under a new youth mobility deal.
With Helen King, Director of Learning Innovation, Development and Skills at Bath Spa University, Rosie Birch, Communities Officer at Brighton Students' Union and John Blake, Director at The Post-18 Project, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
Immigration brake, social cohesion, research capital
This week on the podcast the Home Office has announced an "emergency brake" on student visas from four countries, suspending all grants to applicants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan. What does it …
Show notes
This week on the podcast the Home Office has announced an "emergency brake" on student visas from four countries, suspending all grants to applicants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan. What does it mean for affected students, and what happens to Chevening scholars caught in the middle?
Plus the government's new social cohesion strategy and what it means for universities, and Research England's plans for research capital investment funding.
With Lisa Roberts, President and Vice Chancellor at the University of Exeter, Jess Lister, Director of Education at Public First, Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Mark Leach, Editor in Chief at Wonkhe.
What the government’s Social Cohesion Action Plan means for universities and students
Renting, TNE, disability
This week on the podcast students are still struggling with the cost and quality of renting – so will the new Renters' Rights Act actually make things better, or could it leave fewer properties available? Plus …
Show notes
This week on the podcast students are still struggling with the cost and quality of renting – so will the new Renters' Rights Act actually make things better, or could it leave fewer properties available?
Plus, is transnational education a genuine strategic opportunity or just a quick fix? And the Office for Students announces a new statement of expectations on disability support.
With Chris Husbands, Director at Higher Futures, Helena Vine, Lead Policy Officer for England at the Quality Assurance Agency, Livia Scott, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.
Students are worried about finding somewhere to live
TNE can be successful when it’s taken on as a strategic agenda, not a quick fix
TNE presents a quality challenge. Here’s how we solve it
International recruitment and TNE are not a straight swap
When TNE goes wrong, it’s students that suffer
Preparing for disability regulation shouldn’t mean waiting for disability regulation
Building public connection with research is about more than good communication
OfS announces a set of expectations on disability adjustments and support
Student finance, graduate premium, mental health
This week on the podcast the government has struggled to defend its position on Plan 2 student loans in a Westminster Hall debate as opposition parties offer competing sticking plasters – but can any of the …
Show notes
This week on the podcast the government has struggled to defend its position on Plan 2 student loans in a Westminster Hall debate as opposition parties offer competing sticking plasters – but can any of the proposals survive contact with the maths, and is a proper funding review now inevitable?
Plus there’s cross-national evidence that suggests Britain's shrinking graduate premium is a demand-side problem that cutting courses won't fix, and a new study that finds student mental health services are bigger than ever but the students who need them most can't afford to reach them.
With Mary Curnock Cook CBE, independent educationalist and former Chief Executive of UCAS, Martin Priestley, Head of Education at Mills and Reeve, David Kernohan, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Mark Leach, Editor in Chief at Wonkhe.
If the graduate premium is falling, supply-side tinkering won’t bring it back.
Student loan reform is coming. But not without a proper review.
These are the latest 40 of 322 episodes. You’ll find older episodes in the podcast’s feed.
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