…we should be championing higher participation rates, not lower. Headline recommendations for fee cuts and the reinstitution of maintenance grants may now be common knowledge but there is fresh ambiguity as to their impact, whether they will be adopted and by whom, as the Conservatives search for their new leader. Having said this, with uncertainty also comes opportunity; HE is high on the political agenda. We hoped to grasp this opportunity with b…
…case for and against the motion ‘this house believes that air pollution’s effect on health and wellbeing is insignificant’. After 20 minutes to discuss everyone’s views in breakout rooms, Rjaa (along with Udit Tiwari from UCLan) had the formidable task of summarising them in the main room ahead of a final vote. It was a narrow margin, but the ‘for’ team successfully made their case! The sessions dedicated to researchers’ presentations provided th…
…-spinouts-at-coventry-university/ https://www.unialliance.ac.uk/2021/03/30/community-legal-clinic-at-anglia-ruskin-university/ https://www.unialliance.ac.uk/2021/03/30/accounting-for-community-engaging-students-aces-scheme-at-oxford-brookes/ https://www.unialliance.ac.uk/2021/03/29/university-of-greenwich-support-local-mutual-aid-group-during-covid-19/ https://www.unialliance.ac.uk/2021/08/24/supporting-refugees-in-south-wales/ https://www.unialli…
…rtunity to address some of these long-standing challenges and we should welcome the commitment to making the most of R&D strengths across the UK. However, structural funding must urgently be brought forward, or we risk much of the regional investment being undone. The combination of EU Structural Funds with research and innovation funding has played a vital role in regional economic development. Universities have been able to leverage these funds,…
…ed colleagues and form a team to launch a new electric car charger service company, later dubbed as the “airbnb” of electric vehicle charging by the Spark! committee. I provided suggestions and edited the funding application incorporating some of the outcomes of the research funding projects I led over the past years. In the end the application came out as a runner up for the whole nationwide competition and won the Spirit of Spark! award.” Matthi…
…here, so students come from the local area, and then serve back into that community or communities nearby. But there are challenges: we need to be open and honest about the fact that if you are studying to become a healthcare professional, it’s not an easy course. It’s not easy to go into an environment where at times there are significant challenges, not least responding to a global pandemic. But it’s important to highlight how rewarding it can…
…d so we will continue to improve in line with our students’ needs, however complex they become. Implementation: the route to the finish line As a forward-thinking, digitally enabled University, with access and participation part of our mission, we are already driving lifelong learning across our student and staff body, our partners and communities. We welcome the current spotlight on this key policy area, but like many others, fear the complexity…
…n their white contemporaries and are particularly vulnerable to racialised comments and abuse. This is reflected even within academia. Academics of colour are less well evaluated and rated by students, and a contribution made by a black academic on a panel may be very similar to that made by their white colleague, but it’s far more likely that the black academic will attract derision and abuse as a result. Hence, if universities and sector-represe…
…hos that spans multiple localities. University-sponsored MATs are a resourceful, innovative and effective means for delivering the rapid and sustainable growth of MATs needed to meet the Government’s ambitions. Realising the potential of these partnerships, however, requires a re-examination of the governance, policy, and practice of delivering MATs. This was the subject of a recent roundtable which brought together representatives from MATs and u…
…leadership teams. Universities are equally being held to account. In April 2021 Nicola Dandridge, Chief executive of the Office for Students (OfS), published a blog post where she outlined 7 statement of expectations for HEIs to action by September 2021. Whilst universities have been addressing harassment and sexual misconduct in a way that, until very recently schools have not, it is clear that purposeful action is needed to provide safe campuse…
