…iders will create new and innovative forms of education. Some will offer no-frills degrees that are considerably cheaper, others will make creative use of new technology and yet others will come up with as yet un-thought of alternatives to the traditional 3 or 4 year residential degree. This new competition will also (it is hoped) challenge existing higher education providers to up their game. The same policy makers believe this will only work if…
…to work –https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/higher-education-fulfilling-our-potential Widening Participation, published by the Social Market Foundation in partnership with University Alliance and the Open University on 23 March, is online here: http://www.smf.co.uk/publications/widening-participation For press enquiries please contact Gabriel Huntley, Head of Communications and External Relations on 07890 626099 or email gabriel@www.uniallia…
…ook ahead, with confidence, through the use of ‘scores’ on the doors of top-rated places and venues. For those businesses with low scores, Bee-Able will also offer bespoke architectural, planning and project management apps to address any accessibility issues highlighted by app users. University of Portsmouth Key Rider – Waterproof Solutions: Oliver Hughes On a surfing trip at a remote location Oliver, like many people, hid his car keys and went o…
…ain of truth. The best of the new providers will no doubt deliver classroom-based subjects like business and law cheaply and well. They may offer welcome flexibilities to mature and part-time students. But it’s much harder to see how they will do the same for medicine and engineering. This can’t be done for £9,000 per student even with the additional grant for high cost subjects at current levels. This is likely to raise questions about the relati…
…p with a local engineering design company to produce a manufacturable point-of-care LAMP device from an earlier prototype. This device has been manufactured in small numbers and demonstrated in the field as an effective test for the Covid-19 virus. Its advantage are its ease of use, speed and effectiveness and its ability to work without the need for laboratory processing. In partnership with the university the team have created a spin-out company…
…nalyse assessment outcomes for specific cohorts of students during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years (pandemic years 2 and 3) to understand the specific retention and success challenges and opportunities in each discipline. To examine the extent to which the inclusive assessments attributes are sustained across assessment arrangements during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years. To identify evidence-informed interventions and principles of…
…ulum for over 35 undergraduate and postgraduate creative courses across to online provision within five days of national lockdown.” Mark Jackson, Director of Design & Digital, University of South Wales. The move to online learning presented challenges in ensuring access to IT equipment and the need to overcome digital disadvantage for learners, and in response Alliance universities delivered huge investments in digital infrastructure and support f…
…ts of autonomy and decision-making units) means that it can be hard to get buy-in when proposing to spend more money on system upgrades, better security, and more integrated technology. But the reality is that a lack of investment in tech infrastructure upgrades now will cost more in the long term when universities are inevitably hit with a cyber attack – not to mention the cumulative cost of inadequate systems on students. For universities, it ma…
…at Anglia Ruskin University The UK forecourt fuel ‘shortage’ and the panic-buying during the first national lockdown are striking and powerful reminders to supermarkets and general stores of the rapidly changeable nature of consumers. The nation (and the world at large) is, of course, also now facing probably the greatest-ever need for behaviour change among consumers – the need to act more responsibly to preserve the future of the planet and pre…
…oan book with higher rates of return. On the flip-side such a policy would penalise those universities that take students from non-traditional backgrounds who are more likely to stay within the region they study (usually closer to home to start with) and go into lower-salaried graduate work. While Alliance universities as a collective have above-employability rates, their graduates are also more likely to stay within the region where graduate sala…
