University says former head of payments “betrayed the trust of his colleagues”

The University of Brighton has said an employee who was convicted of embezzling more than £2 million “abused his position” at the institution.

David Hall, 64, of Shepherds Way in Ringmer, was the former head of payments and income at the university and was convicted of fraud after embezzling £2.4m from the institution over a period of 30 years, Sussex Police said in a statement.

The police said on 24 February that Hall had stolen the money “through fraudulent entries in the university’s accounts” and that “a complex string of financial cover-ups” had been discovered “through forensic scrutiny”.

A University of Brighton spokesperson said Hall had “abused his position and betrayed the trust of his colleagues for his own personal gain”.

They added: “As soon as the university uncovered Hall’s deception, we acted swiftly and decisively to report this matter to the police. We have supported the police at every stage of their investigation, commissioning independent forensic investigations, which have enabled charges to be brought and the courts to secure a conviction.”

Hall pleaded guilty on 16 February to charges of fraud by abuse of position, theft by an employee and false accounting, said the police. He is expected to be sentenced on 16 March.

Sussex Police investigator Rose Horan said: “Year after year, the hole in the university’s finances became larger and more difficult for Hall to conceal. After an audit uncovered the scale of Hall’s embezzlement, the University of Brighton was quick to report the fraud to Sussex Police and their support throughout the investigation has been invaluable in bringing David Hall to justice.”

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Need for “new leadership” cited, as institution faces an expected budget deficit of £45 million

University of East Anglia vice-chancellor David Richardson has resigned amid growing concern over the university’s finances.

Richardson stepped down on 27 February, telling staff that the university needed “new leadership”.

“I have been conscious of the need for a new vision for UEA since we began to emerge from Covid in 2021 and have deliberated whether I am the person to lead that vision or whether a new vision needs a new leader,” he wrote.

“After 15 years on the executive team and nine years as vice-chancellor, I have concluded now that the time has come for me to step away so that UEA can develop a new long-term vision to take it forward beyond its 60th anniversary with new leadership.”

Richardson’s resignation comes after the university posted a deficit of about £13.9 million in 2022, having had a surplus of more than £4.6m in 2021.

The university did not mention finances in its public statement on the resignation, which praised Richardson for being “at the heart of UEA’s success and world-leading achievements for 32 years”.

Deficit set to grow

Last week, the university told staff in an update it provided to Research Professional News that it was expecting a deficit of £30m for 2023-24, rising to £45m in three years’ time. The university said this was “due in part to lower-than-expected student-application numbers following the Ucas student-application deadline at the end of January”.

Staff were warned that they could be facing compulsory redundancies to cope with the financial pressure, although the university has said this would be a “last resort after all other options have been considered”. It said it would know more about how many roles were at risk and in which areas by the end of April.

Earlier this month, the University and College Union’s UEA branch passed a motion of no confidence in its institution’s leadership.

Student shortfall

In its annual accounts, the university suggested that the ballooning deficit was due to a “shortfall” in student recruitment, which had an impact on other income from accommodation, and “uncertainty in the energy markets and rising inflation”, which had “significantly” increased costs.

But the BBC reported that Labour MP for Norwich Clive Lewis warned that the lower level of student applications “blows a hole in the idea [that] this is just external issues that have caused this”.

According to the BBC, he said on 24 February: “It’s quite clear that there are questions for management now about how they handled this and why we are in a situation where we are at UEA, when other comparable institutions are not facing the same crisis.” 

Deputy vice-chancellor Christine Bovis-Cnossen will take over the leadership of UEA while it searches for a replacement for Richardson.

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But unions are unhappy with employers’ decision to implement an early pay rise

Pay talks between UK higher education unions and employers will continue into next week, although the unions are “disappointed” that a pay uplift is going ahead before the talks are complete.

Discussions over pay and working conditions will continue between the five unions involved in the pay dispute—the University and College Union, Unite, Unison, GMB and the Educational Institute of Scotland—and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea), which represents employers, through mediator Acas next week.

Talks have already taken place over several weeks, as staff and employers seek agreement on workload, contracts and equality pay gaps. Strike action by the UCU was called off this week and next week to allow talks with employers to take place in a constructive fashion.

An “impasse” over the pay offer of between 5 and 8 per cent was reached in earlier talks. Nonetheless, universities will be giving staff part of the uplift in their March pay packets to help them through the cost of living crisis.

In a joint statement on 24 February, the unions said they were “disappointed that Ucea has moved to instruct its members to impose the first element of the 2023-24 pay proposal”.

“This is despite nothing yet having been agreed on pay. The unions will continue to make that clear in negotiations,” they said.

However, they added that “some progress has been made towards establishing agreed terms of reference for negotiations on the review of the national HE pay spine”.

Ucea’s chief executive, Raj Jethwa, said that it had “respected” a request from the unions not to implement an uplift until the beginning of March, adding: “The trade unions have also agreed that an impasse had been reached in respect of the pay uplift.”

He continued: “While we very much regret this, the intention in bringing forward the 2023-24 pay round was to provide support at this time to staff facing cost of living pressures.”

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Experts say rise was to be expected as universities diversified their international student intake

Higher education experts have said that a rise in the number of dependants that international students have brought to the UK was “inevitable”, as universities sought to diversify their student populations.

Data published by the Home Office show that the number of dependants, such as family members, that international students bring to the UK increased from 16,047 in 2019 to 135,788 in 2022, rising from 6 per cent of all sponsored study-related visas to 22 per cent.

The rise comes as the government explores ways to curb the number of international students coming to the UK, which could include restrictions on students bringing dependants or reducing the two-year post-study work visa to six months.

Universities have repeatedly called on ministers to avoid restrictions, saying that limiting the number of international students would be “economic self-harm”. Universities rely on international students’ fees to top up funding for research and for teaching home students.

Iain Mansfield, formerly a special adviser in the Department for Education, said on Twitter that the rise “fundamentally changes the debate on student migration, for good or ill”.

Limits on dependants

According to the Times newspaper, ministers are considering imposing limits on which courses allow students to bring dependants to those that are considered “high value to the economy”, such as maths or science, or restricting the option to bring dependants to higher levels of study.

But Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank, stressed that “the rules are quite strict” already. Only postgraduate students can bring dependants, and “they have to prove they have very substantial financial resources to look after them”.

He pointed out that universities “have been told for years to diversify their international student intake away from China”, which makes up the largest proportion of international students coming to the UK, and that universities “have done what they were told to do very successfully, particularly when it comes to recruiting Indian and Nigerian students”.

“While the big jump in the number of dependants is notable and bound to set alarm bells ringing in some places, people need to drill below the surface,” Hillman said. “If we were serious about diversifying our international students, then the rise in dependants was inevitable because of the different circumstances of different people in different countries.”

He added that he would “advise against” any new restrictions on taught master’s courses because “if courses cease to be viable, home students won’t be able to do them either”.

Increase from India and Nigeria

Simon Marginson, director of the Centre for Global Higher Education, said that although the Home Office figures “are a shock”, they are likely down to a “spectacular increase in students from certain nationalities”, such as India and Nigeria.

He also highlighted the fact that international demand for UK higher education is supply driven, and controlled by the number of visas the Home Office grants and universities’ requests for visas.

Marginson said that “while it is possible that restrictions on dependants could diminish demand, and might affect the country pattern of demand…it is hardly going to drive demand below the level of the desired supply”.

But he warned that restricting the ability to bring dependants to so-called high-value courses “would be arbitrary and foolish”, as there are “no issues of costs to the public purse” with international students’ subject choices, unlike for home students, who take out public loans.

“This kind of action would just be an anti-university culture-war policy, ie, the sole purpose would be to build public political support for the government…by bringing on conflict with universities that could be portrayed as elite and focused on foreigners rather than citizens,” he said.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.

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Survey finds 91 per cent of students are worried about increasing prices

Almost a third of students in England have taken on more debt to cope with the high cost of living, a survey by the Office for National Statistics has found.

Figures released by the ONS today show that 30 per cent of students have taken on new debt because of the cost of living crisis, up from 25 per cent in November 2022. Of those reporting that they had taken on more debt, 71 per cent said that it was because their loan “was not enough to support their living costs”.

The survey revealed that a total of 78 per cent said they were concerned that high living costs would affect their studies, and 35 per cent said they were less likely to continue to further study as a result.

Nearly all students (91 per cent) said that they were worried about the rising cost of living. Although inflation has hit 11 per cent this academic year, the government is increasing the maintenance loan for students in England by just 2.8 per cent in 2023-24.

‘A never-ending battle’

The survey was commissioned by vice-chancellors’ body Universities UK, whose president, Steve West, said that efforts to reduce the impact of the cost of living crisis on students felt like “a never-ending battle”, and that the “stress of the current situation [is] impacting [on] their mental health”.

“While universities are going the extra mile to support those who need it, the reality is that the student maintenance package in England is at its lowest value in seven years and students are also eligible for much lower maintenance loans than when the system was designed,” he said.

“With inflation still in double digits, it’s imperative that the maintenance support package is looked at more closely—the recently announced uplift for next year will not recover the real-terms cut students are seeing.”

Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, agreed that “additional help was urgently needed from the government” for students and that the survey showed “the concerning impact that growing financial pressures are having on university students across the country”.

The ONS survey included responses from 1,964 UK students between 30 January to 13 February.

Impact on wellbeing

A separate survey carried out by polling firm Alterline and published by mental health charity Student Minds on 23 February found that 83 per cent of students are very or quite concerned about the increasing cost of living.

A total of 60 per cent of students said that the crisis had affected their wellbeing, while 39 per cent said they were very concerned about paying their energy bills and 76 per cent had either taken on part-time employment or were expecting to as a result of rising prices.

Overall, the survey of 1,037 students found that around a quarter of students say they have a diagnosed mental health issue, and 59 per cent say that managing their money is a cause of stress at university—up from 46 per cent in the past two years.

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.

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Use of funding mode will be trialled with European Research Council Advanced Grants

The European Research Council has decided to move ahead with piloting broader use of the lump-sum funding mode, Research Professional News can exclusively reveal.

Last week the ERC’s governing Scientific Council agreed to pilot use of the funding mode for Advanced Grants for senior researchers in 2024, the funder has confirmed.

With lump-sum funding, researchers are asked to provide more details in advance of their plans, but are not required to provide extensive receipts of expenditures.

The EU research and innovation programme, which the ERC is part of, has so far mainly used lump-sum funding for smaller projects. The European Commission wants to use the mode more broadly because it reduces the administrative burden of financial audits and leads to fewer mistakes in financial reporting.

But some in the research sector fear the move could lead researchers to be less ambitious with the aims of proposed projects, and worry that collaborative projects may be more conservative with their choice of partners to increase the prospects of meeting their milestones.

At present, the ERC uses the lump-sum funding mode only for its small Proof of Concept grants, worth €150,000 each. Advanced Grants are worth up to €3.5 million over five years.

The move by the Scientific Council follows a tentative decision it took in June to go ahead with the trial.

Back then, the funder said such a move would be “subject to a number of preconditions, including: safeguarding the autonomy of the principal investigator; and not requiring the provision of any milestones or deliverables”.

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OfS outlines proposals that would require personal relationships between staff and students to be disclosed

Universities and colleges in England would be required to keep a register of personal relationships between students and staff under proposals announced by the Office for Students.

An OfS consultation on the introduction of a condition of registration relating to harassment and sexual misconduct, launched on 23 February, includes plans that would mean any student relationship with a staff member with whom they also have an educational relationship would need to be declared. Any employee failing to do so would be liable for dismissal. 

An alternative proposal, also outlined in the consultation document, would introduce a ban on all staff-student relationships, but the OfS says that its preferred option is the introduction of a register. 

Power imbalance

Susan Lapworth, chief executive of the OfS, said she was “particularly interested” to hear what views about relationships between staff and students the consultation unearths.

“The majority of those working in higher education behave appropriately towards their students,” she said. “But we recognise that there can be a power imbalance in personal relationships that could be exploited by unscrupulous staff to subject students to harassment or sexual misconduct.

“That’s why we’re proposing that certain types of personal relationships should be disclosed, with staff dismissed if they fail to do so. Some universities already go further and have policies that ban all relationships between staff and students. We will continue to consider this option and welcome views on whether it is an approach we should require of all institutions.”

​​Nehaal Bajwa, vice-president for liberation and equality at the National Union of Students, said that students who experience misconduct from staff members “may be reluctant to report for fear of retribution that could impact their grades”.

“To address this, a cultural shift is needed that prioritises survivor wellbeing,” they said. “Supporting survivors, especially those who are people of colour, LGBT+, trans and disabled, is critical, and tailored support must be provided.”

Patchy progress

Other recommendations in the proposals include introducing mandatory training relating to sexual misconduct for students and staff—including “bystander training” for potential witnesses.

Institutions would also have to publish a single document that sets out how they will make a “significant and credible difference” in tackling harassment and sexual misconduct—including information about how to report cases and an explanation of how students will be supported through the process.

There would also be an outright ban on the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of harassment and sexual misconduct, while any existing NDAs would be deemed unenforceable, meaning those who have been silenced previously will be free to tell their stories.

“These are important proposals which would allow the OfS—for the first time—to directly regulate concerns about harassment and sexual misconduct,” Lapworth said. “Some universities are already doing excellent work in this area, but we know that progress across the sector has been too slow and too patchy. Our independent evaluation found that self-regulation had not delivered the changes we think students are entitled to see.”

The consultation runs until 4 May.

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MillionPlus calls for reassessment of student nurse placements as system is “creaking at the seams”

Urgent reform of clinical training placements is required in order to tackle a nursing recruitment crisis in the NHS, a group of universities has said.

According to MillionPlus, which represents modern institutions, both the Westminster and Scottish governments should consider reducing the number of hours student nurses are legally required to undertake on a training placement as part of their course.

In a briefing published on 22 February, MillionPlus said that while universities could accommodate a required increase in the number of student nurses, the requirement for them to undertake 2,300 hours of clinical placements represented a “sizeable barrier”.

Any reduction in clinical placements would be done in a way that ensured the UK remained in line with healthcare systems in other developed nations, MillionPlus said.

Capacity issues

“The placements ecosystem is already close to capacity, with shortfalls a real risk as healthcare providers come under further pressure from experienced nurses leaving the profession,” the briefing states.

“In addition to capacity issues, inefficiencies in administering placements means valuable resources are often wasted, resulting in ‘poor experiences during placements’, often cited as one of the principal reasons why students leave their studies prior to completion.”

Currently, 10 per cent of NHS nursing vacancies are unfilled in England and Scotland. According to recent Ucas statistics, there was an 18.6 per cent decline in the number of students applying to nursing courses for 2023-24.

Graham Baldwin, chair of MillionPlus and vice-chancellor of the University of Central Lancashire, said that clinical placement requirements were “a clear barrier for growth in a system already creaking at the seams”.

In addition to wanting a reduction in placement hours, MillionPlus is calling for greater involvement of higher education institutions in long-term NHS workforce planning.

It also wants the UK and Scottish governments to provide universities with stable and longer-term funding streams for nursing education.

Research Professional News has approached the government for comment.

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Hesa data show a second consecutive decline in number of academics from the bloc

The number of academic staff from the EU working in the UK has fallen for the second consecutive year, official statistics show.

According to data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) on 21 February, there were just under 38,000 EU staff based at UK institutions in 2021-22, down 0.6 per cent from around 38,200 the previous year. In 2019-20 the number was 38,400.

The year-on-year decreases represent the first two times that the dataset, which goes back to 2014-15, show a fall. Numbers steadily increased by more than 21 per cent in the six years leading up to 2019-20. The UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020.

Meanwhile, the Hesa data show that the total number of academic staff employed at UK higher education providers grew by 4 per cent in 2021-22 to around 233,900, mirroring a 4 per cent rise in the number of students.

Non-EU staff numbers

The decline in EU academic staff members has been offset by an increase in the number of non-EU national staff, with numbers up by 9 per cent from roughly 33,300 to 36,100 between 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Overall, the proportion of academic staff with a non-UK nationality has stayed at around 32 per cent for the last three years, the data show.

Elsewhere, the Hesa data show that of the 23,500 professors employed by UK institutions, some 7,000—or 29.7 per cent—are female. This is up from 28.5 per cent in 2020-21, and 27.9 per cent in 2019-20.

In 2014-15, the earliest year on the dataset, the proportion of female professors was just 23.1 per cent, showing that there has been a 6.6 percentage point increase in the last eight years.

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Online survey launched after strike action paused during intensive negotiations

The University and College Union is asking its members to back its decision to pause strike action while “intensive negotiations” take place with employers over pay, conditions and pension reforms.

In a survey circulated on 20 February, UCU members are being asked whether they “support the principle of the union pausing action to create a period of calm to allow negotiations to take place in a better environment”. The poll will close on 22 February.

“Significant progress”

However, the decision to pause the strikes has already been made. Industrial action at 150 institutions was halted late last week after UCU general secretary Jo Grady hailed “significant progress” in talks with employers in the rows over pensions, pay and conditions.

On 17 February, Grady told members: “I am delighted to announce that we have made significant progress in our negotiations with the employers. This progress covers both our pay and pension disputes.

“Against that backdrop, we have jointly agreed a two-week period of calm which will enable us to hold intensive negotiations with the aim of delivering a final agreement in both disputes for the endorsement of the union’s democratic bodies and, of course and crucially, our members.”

“Tactical mistake”

There has been a mixed reaction on social media, with some UCU members welcoming the move and others questioning it. Vicky Blake, former president of UCU, wrote that she did “not think this was the best tactical decision for this moment in time”.

She also said that union’s Higher Education Committee had not been consulted about the decision.

Results of the ballot will be shared publicly once voting has ended, the UCU said.

Further action

Meanwhile, members are also being balloted on possible further strike action in a nationwide postal ballot opening on 22 February. If endorsed, the UCU will have a mandate for strike action for another six months.

A “ballot-eve” evening event will be held online on 21 February for members to mark the opening of the ballot.

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Union stops UK university strikes and looks to final agreement in pay and pensions disputes

Strike action scheduled for the next two weeks has been cancelled after “significant progress” in the disputes over pensions and pay.

University and College Union (UCU) general secretary Jo Grady confirmed on 17 February that two weeks of planned strike action would be scrapped to allow “intensive negotiations” to take place between staff and employers.

It comes after the Universities Superannuation Scheme Trustee suggested that joint staff and employers’ contributions could be slashed while previous benefits are reintroduced thanks to a brighter economic outlook, and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea) said that further talks would take place on contract types and revisions to the pay spine.

Industrial action was originally due to be held across 150 universities on the week of 21 February, as well as 1 and 2 March.

Two-week ‘period of calm’

In an update to members, Grady said: “I am delighted to announce that we have made significant progress in our negotiations with the employers. This progress covers both our pay and pension disputes.

“Against that backdrop, we have jointly agreed a two-week period of calm which will enable us to hold intensive negotiations with the aim of delivering a final agreement in both disputes for the endorsement of the union’s democratic bodies, and of course and crucially, our members.”

The agreement to stop the upcoming strikes follows intensive talks between staff and employers through the arbitration service Acas.

Although Ucea and the five unions involved in the pay dispute—the UCU, Unite, Unison, GMB and the Educational Institute of Scotland—agreed that “some progress at the lower end of the pay spine has been made”, they stressed that “an impasse, rather than an agreement, has been reached”.

Employers had offered a pay rise of between 5 and 8 per cent, with those on the lowest end of the pay spine receiving the highest uplift. Attention will now turn towards “other priority issues”, including a revised pay spine and “a commitment to negotiations on contract types, workload and pay gaps”.

Acas-mediated talks will continue throughout February, and an early pay uplift—part of the final pay offer—will be given to staff in March and backdated to February.

‘Final attempt’

Raj Jethwa, chief executive of Ucea, said: “While the impact of strike action continues to be low and isolated, this is about a final attempt from employers and trade unions to achieve an outcome upon which both parties can consult their members.”

On the pension dispute, a joint statement between the UCU and vice-chancellors’ body Universities UK claimed that “negotiations have been constructive” and it set out a series of commitments including further work on USS governance and a promise to prioritise an improvement to pensions benefits after the March valuation.

“We are committed to working together so that this, and future, valuations are undertaken on a moderately prudent and evidence-based basis, taking account of the open and long-term nature of the scheme,” they said.

Despite the decision to pause the strikes, UCU members will still be asked to back more industrial action in a ballot opening on 22 February. If the ballot is successful, the UCU will be able to use the threat of strike action for another six months once the current mandate expires.

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Pension contributions could drop by a third after update from scheme suggests improved financial position

The amount of money that staff and employers pay into the Universities Superannuation Scheme could fall by a third in future, according to an update from the scheme trustee.

Universities and many of their staff have been locked in a bitter dispute over changes made to the benefits USS members receive on retirement, as well as an increase to how much is paid in. The issue is a major factor in the current University and College Union strikes affecting 150 universities.

Staff and employers currently pay a joint contribution rate of 31.4 per cent.

A key factor in the dispute is the financial health of the scheme, which is assessed in periodic valuations.

A financial-monitoring report published by the USS on 17 February found that more favourable market conditions could see the ‘technical provisions’ deficit—which topped £14 billion at the March 2020 valuation—pulled into a surplus.

USS chief executive Bill Galvin said the report “gives us grounds to look forward with cautious optimism” and that if the positive market conditions hold until the March valuation, “stakeholders might want to plan for the 2023 valuation on the basis that the overall contribution rate required for the current level of benefits is unlikely to be in excess of 20 per cent of payroll”.

If previous cuts to benefits were reversed then the rate would be around 25 per cent, the report suggests.

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Report reveals high employment levels among graduates but fewer than average continuing studies

Business studies graduates enjoy high employment rates but not enough are continuing into academic careers, according to an analysis by the Chartered Association of Business Schools.

The report, which analysed data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s Graduate Outcomes survey, found that 80 per cent of UK-domiciled business studies graduates from the 2019-20 academic year were in full-time employment 15 months after they left university.

This was the same as the average rate across all subjects, but higher than most non-science subjects—only education and teaching graduates had a higher full-time employment rate at 83 per cent and geography at 82 per cent.

However, the analysis also found that fewer business studies graduates go on to further study than average, with nine per cent of UK-domiciled, first degree graduates reporting they were in full-time further study compared with an average of 14 per cent across all subjects. Of those students who were in further study, 67 per cent were doing a taught degree and just 1 per cent were taking a higher research degree—significantly less than the average of 12 per cent.

Among postgraduates, 5 per cent were still in further study compared with 8 per cent on average. Of those who were undertaking further study, 30 per cent were doing a higher research degree compared with 60 per cent on average.

‘Voracious need’ for staff

In a foreword to the report, Robert MacIntosh, Chartered Association of Business Schools chair and pro-vice-chancellor in the business and law faculty at Northumbria University, said that while “business disciplines have a voracious need for new academic staff to keep pace with strong student demand…the data suggest that business school students are significantly less likely to progress to doctoral level research degrees than their counterparts in other disciplines”.

“Whilst this could be interpreted as a sign that graduates from business and management studies have many other choices, it is perhaps a warning sign about the funding available to support the next generation of researchers to take up a career in academia,” he added.

The analysis also showed that while business studies graduates have high levels of employment, they are less satisfied than graduates from most other subjects. A total of 55 per cent of UK-domiciled, first degree business studies graduates said they were using the skills they learned on their course in their current activity, lower than the 61 per cent average.

Among postgraduates, 64 per cent said they were using the skills they learned on their course compared with 74 per cent on average.

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But Advance HE survey shows decline in collaborative working

The extent to which UK undergraduate students are engaging with their courses has returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to a major survey.

The UK Engagement Survey for 2022, conducted by Advance HE and published on 16 February, found that following a dip in engagement in 2020 and 2021, students’ engagement with their studies largely bounced back last year.

The nationwide survey focuses on the time and effort students invest in their studies, as well as how they engage with their learning. It found that in four out of seven indicators of engagement, students reported engagement levels equal to or exceeding 2019 levels.

The findings suggest that students in 2022 were interacting with staff more often during 2022 than during any year since 2018, with 38 per cent saying they saw staff ‘often’ or ‘very often’. In 2021 the figure fell to just 33 per cent.

However, students last year also reported less co-working with their peers than in any year of the report except during the height of the pandemic in 2021. Only 47 per cent of students said they had worked with fellow students ‘often’ or ‘very often’ during 2022. In both 2017 and 2018, some 56 per cent of students reported working frequently with other students.

“The survey indicates a welcome recovery in students’ engagement after a difficult period during the height of the pandemic,” said Advance HE chief executive, Alison Johns. “This bounce-back is largely due to the efforts the sector has made to understand students’ changing needs and adapt the ways it enables students to access to their learning.

“It is striking that more students now say they interact with staff often and have more opportunities for working in partnership with staff than they have ever had before. That has to be good news and may underpin the positive figures the report shows for student retention.”

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Hepi warns of “widespread alarm” about changes to England’s quality regime

The reputation of UK higher education is at risk thanks to changes to England’s Designated Quality Body role, a report has concluded, as it warned that a review of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 was “overdue”.

According to a Higher Education Policy Institute paper published on 16 February, the imminent departure of the Quality Assurance Agency from its role as England’s DQB raises questions about whether Hera 2017 is being properly adhered to—and Hepi says this could jeopardise the reputation of UK universities overseas.

From April, the QAA will only operate as a DQB in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the UK after it vacates the role in England. The Office for Students has responsibility for ensuring quality assurance in England, and the secretary of state for education is responsible for appointing a new DQB.

The Hepi report said that Hera, which introduced the OfS and transformed how tertiary education in England was regulated, should be reviewed in light of the changes.

“Having been enacted back in 2017, Hera is now overdue for a formal review to ensure its effective implementation,” wrote Andrew Boggs, a visiting fellow at the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies and university clerk at Kingston University, in the paper. “This review should include consideration of the OfS and execution of its statutory responsibilities under Hera.”

He added: “Given the QAA’s announced demission of its role as DQB, how the OfS has managed its relationship with the DQB, and whether this has been in keeping with both the letter and spirit of Hera, should be a focus of any such review.”

‘Widespread alarm’

In stepping down from the DQB role, the QAA said that the way in which the OfS required quality assurance to be conducted in England had placed its ability to carry out assurance in other territories at risk.

“There remains a broader issue of the international perception of UK higher education,” Boggs wrote. “Whether or not the secretary of state for education is able to identify a new DQB, or if the OfS takes quality assurance functions ‘in-house’, any role the QAA had in uniting standards across UK higher education will have been compromised.”

This could in turn “diminish” the UK’s “strong international reputation for higher education provision”, he added.

Nick Hillman, director of Hepi, said there was “literally nothing more important to our higher education sector than the maintenance of quality”.

“Without secure knowledge about the quality of what is on offer, students will stop coming here from all over the world and employers will not know whether they can trust UK degrees,” he said.

“There is widespread alarm in universities that, at the end of next month, the QAA—which has been the official protector of quality for over 25 years—will cease to be the DQB for England. No-one yet knows what, if anything, will take its place.”

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Report urges policymakers to back post-study visa amid tepid government support

A lack of awareness among employers and low levels of support from policymakers are stifling the potential of the two-year post-study work visa for international graduates, according to a report.

The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services found that while international graduates benefited from the visa, which was reintroduced in 2021, there were “disheartening tales” from university leavers who struggled to find work in the UK jobs market.

Barriers to finding graduate-level employment include a lack of awareness among employers about the visa, high visa costs, limited support from the government and low awareness about the visa among graduates themselves, the Agcas report said.

“For graduates, this can have a significant detrimental impact on their wellbeing and negatively impact their perception of the UK as a welcoming study and employment destination,” Agcas internationalisation task group members Helen Atkinson and Jim Campbell wrote in a foreword to the report.

They added: “Employers may also be missing out on a global talent pool that could very easily fill skills shortages.”

Positive outcomes

The report, published on 16 February, comes as the Home Office appears to be weakening its support for the two-year post-study work visa. Earlier this week, the Financial Times newspaper reported that education secretary Gillian Keegan and home secretary Suella Braverman had met to discuss options for controlling the number of international students in the UK, including a reduction of the visa to six months.

But Agcas urged policymakers to “maintain the existing commitments of the graduate route to provide stability”, and ideally to extend the visa to compete with rival nations such as Australia, where international graduates can work for up to four years, depending on their qualification.

It also called on the government to improve its messaging around the visa and increase awareness among employers; to include international graduates in the Graduate Outcomes survey to gather evidence; and to work with the Office for National Statistics on how it records international students in migration statistics.

“Ultimately, the success of the graduate route will be measured by positive post-study outcomes and the overall quality of the international graduate experience; however, the current policy context sends contradictory messages about the importance the UK places on the evaluation of these outcomes,” Atkinson and Campbell wrote.

Jamie Arrowsmith, director of vice-chancellors’ body Universities UK International, said it was “imperative that the government commits to maintaining the visa route” for graduates.

“This will ensure that international students have the certainty and stability they need to find graduate-level work, develop their skills and therefore maximise their positive contribution to the UK,” he wrote in an introduction to the report.

Agcas received 396 responses to surveys carried out in June and November 2022, which formed the basis for the report.

A government spokesperson said: “Our points-based system is designed to be flexible according to the UK’s needs – including attracting top class talent from across the world to contribute to the UK’s excellent academic reputation and to help keep our universities competitive on the world stage.

“We keep all our immigration policies under constant review to ensure they best serve the country and reflect the public’s priorities.”

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University and business leaders to collect evidence on movement between sectors and identify best practice

A new taskforce made up of leaders from businesses and universities aims to reduce the barriers to research staff moving between the two sectors.

The struggle to move freely between academia and industry has been identified as an issue by research leaders, with the government’s 2021 R&D People and Culture Strategy pledging to increase movement and collaboration.

Set up by the National Centre for Universities and Business and commissioned by Research England, the taskforce will collect evidence on mobility, identify obstacles to it and suggest best practice to enhance it. The group will report on its recommendations in the summer.

“Improving mobility of people will improve the flow of knowledge and innovation to where it is most needed,” said Jessica Corner, Research England’s executive chair. “I look forward to hearing how businesses and universities can address their barriers and enablers.”

The taskforce will be co-chaired by Karen Holford, vice-chancellor of Cranfield University, and Sam Laidlaw, executive chair of energy company Neptune Energy.

They will be joined on the taskforce by representatives from the professional services firm Arup, retailer and technology company Amazon, communications company BT, the Careers Research and Advisory Centre, drug discovery firm Evotec, computer software company Oracle, and the universities of Exeter, Heriot-Watt, Oxford and Sheffield Hallam.

Holford said barriers were preventing “highly skilled innovators” within industry from entering academia, hindering the “creativity and development potential of university-led research”.

“We know that when we do bring in the perspective and know-how of industry, we are able to improve the outcomes of university-led R&D and shake up diversity and working cultures within academia,” she said.

“We need to enable this to happen more often, to facilitate seamless transition of staff between academia and industry.”

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Warning comes as differences in universities’ staff pay packages revealed

Negotiations over pay and conditions in UK higher education must acknowledge universities’ differing financial situations, according to the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute.

Speaking to Research Professional News, Nick Hillman said a failure to note institutions’ various financial positions risks overlooking the fact that some cannot afford an “inflation-busting payrise”.

University staff are currently in industrial dispute with employers over proposed pay increases for 2022-23.

Hillman said he thought that unions were inclined to “roll up all the sector’s resources” and view them cumulatively, rather than looking at “the full nuanced picture”. “Yet it’s so obvious that some institutions are richer and some are poorer that the tactic takes observers for fools.” 

The comments come as information collated by Research Professional News revealed a wide range of pay incentives offered to staff by some institutions over and above nationally negotiated pay deals.

At the University of Birmingham, nationally negotiated staff were granted an additional 2 per cent pay increase in September on top of the salary-dependent 3 to 9 per cent secured nationally. At the University of Cambridge, staff received an “exceptional payment” of 2 per cent for 2022-23.

At King’s College London, there was a £500 increase in London weighting allowance, a £1,000 one-off payment for some staff and a 3 per cent incremental uplift on top of national increases for others.

Queen’s University Belfast has also made additional payments to staff, including a £1,000 “recognition payment” for their hard work and dedication during the challenges of Covid-19 and a “one-off cost of living payment” of between £500 and £750, dependent on salary level, for staff outside senior management.

Acas ahead

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said the dispute was “entirely the fault of university bosses who refuse to use the sector’s over £40 billion reserves to meet staff demands”.

“Investment in staff is investment in students and its high-time the sector and its commentators recognised that. No one, not least students, benefit from a demoralised staff who don’t know if they have a job from one term to the next,” she said.

Grady insisted that “the money is there to meet staff demands, which are reasonable and affordable”. 

The comments come as the sector awaits news from negotiations between employer and staff representatives over the 2023-24 pay award, which began on 13 February, moderated by the conciliatory service Acas. 

This article is based on our 8am Playbook email for Research Professional News subscribers. If you are a subscriber and wish to sign up for a personal copy, please fill in this form and add 8am Playbook as the subject.

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Tips on how to blow your own trumpet

Talking ourselves up is difficult for most people. But there are ways to make it easier and do it better without nearly cringing to death. There are writing techniques, certainly, but also a way of viewing the activity that can help.

Talking about her successful bid to the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Discovery Fellowship in Funding Insight last year, Amanda Warr, who is based at the University of Edinburgh, advised applicants to “remember that the people you work with know what you can do, but the people who read the application know nothing about you”.

That is a great point. If you’re writing for people who know nothing about you, it’s your responsibility to tell them what they need to know. We are rarely called upon to give a full account of our career and accomplishments to a stranger, which is partly why it feels odd when we are. Modesty in front of people you know is all well and good—they will often already be aware of the broad outline of your story—but strangers are not in this category.

Golden mean

We are prone to taking our own strengths and achievements for granted. We undervalue or discount what we can do, wrongly thinking everyone has those skills. We then focus on skills we don’t have—again, wrongly assuming everyone else has them. It’s also worth knowing about the Johari window—a psychological model developed by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in 1955. For current purposes it worth noting that it says there are subsections of things about me that are not known to me—or at least are not obvious—but which are known and more obvious to others. 

These phenomena show why you should always ask colleagues and friends for feedback on fellowship or job applications. They know things about you that you don’t, or that you’ve overlooked or taken for granted.

To take things into philosophical territory, it’s worth remembering that Aristotle didn’t regard modesty or humility as virtues. More than that, he argued they were vices. Claiming that your worth, value and achievements are less than they are is an offence against sincerity and truth, he believed. Of course, so is boasting and overclaiming, with the treasured ‘golden mean’ being a full and honest account of your achievements and abilities.

So, when you come to write a job application, fellowship application or a resume for researchers, you should do so knowing that if you’re giving a full and honest account of your achievements and abilities, you’ll have the spirit of Aristotle in your corner, cheering you on, urging you towards virtue.

Show and tell

I could tell you that I’m an experienced, effective research development professional with outstanding communication skills, and a network and profile beyond my own institution.

Or…I could tell you that I’ve got more than 17 years’ experience in research development. That I’m a former UK Association of Research Managers and Administrators research development special interest group co-chair, and that I co-developed a new ‘advanced’ research development peer-learning training course. That I’m an occasional Research Professional News columnist.

The first paragraph is telling. The second is showing. Even in the restricted space above, the latter is more effective than the former. But, because of a lack of space, I haven’t even martialled the ‘showing’ properly by ‘telling’ the reader why I’m citing these examples, what they demonstrate and why that matters. 

But note already how the ‘telling’ version is generic and the ‘showing’ version is specific to me (and also easier to write because I’m just stating facts). Telling without showing is just assertion without evidence, which is a technique straight from the playbook of one Donald Trump. I would say that such an approach might have worked on a section of the United States electorate once, but it won’t work for you with the fellowship panel.

Lawyer up

One writing technique I’ve experimented with involves channelling your inner barrister. They are a paid advocate whose role is to make the strongest possible case for their client: you. As a responsible legal professional, they are not allowed to lie or argue in bad faith. However, they are allowed to assemble the best possible case and put the best possible spin on your skills and achievements. Not only are they allowed, they are professionally obliged to do so. It’s literally their (imaginary) job.

If your mind works in such a way that it can accommodate this slightly odd construction, then try it. Channel your inner barrister and let them take over the writing. Just as a game, as an exercise. Don’t censor, don’t try to reassert control. Just let them write and see what comes out. You might be pleasantly surprised by what your inner advocate has produced. 

Adam Golberg is research development manager (charities) at the University of Nottingham

This is an extract from an article in Research Professional’s Funding Insight service. To subscribe contact [email protected]

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This week: tech regulation review, fusion technology, research councils and more

Research councils

A third UK research council could soon be without a long-term leader, as national funder UK Research and Innovation recruits a new executive chair for the Natural Environment Research Council. Duncan Wingham will step down from his role at the end of June, UKRI confirmed, having led Nerc since 2012. Wingham told Research Professional News he is “thinking about options” after leaving the research council. Both the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council are currently also without long-term leadership, having had interim executive chairs in place since 2021. UKRI advertised for Wingham’s successor on 3 February. The role, which commands a salary of £130,000, is for a fixed term of four to six years.

Full story

Strategy concerns

Downing Street has been urged to keep “an independent voice for science at the centre of government”, after No 10 revealed it will move a key strategic body for science and technology policy out of the Cabinet Office. The Office for Science and Technology Strategy was set up in 2021 to “drive forward the strategy of Whitehall’s science and technology priorities from the centre” and is led by the government’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance. No 10 confirmed to Research Professional News that the OSTS will now move to the newly created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Full story

Medtech strategy

The UK government has launched what it says is the country’s “first ever” medical technology strategy, with the aim of “accelerating access to innovative technologies” on which the NHS currently spends about £10 billion per year. Building on the government’s Life Sciences Vision, the strategy aims to “encourage ambitious, innovative research to secure the UK’s position as a global science superpower, attract investment for the UK economy, and create jobs”. The government said about 60 UK research programmes supported innovative technologies in 2021, representing more than £1bn of funding.

Full story

Picture of the week

Image: BAS

The UK’s research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough began its polar science trials in Antarctica on 31 January to test science equipment on the ship in the cold waters of the Southern Ocean. 

ABPI leadership

Pinder Sahota has resigned as president of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry amid an ongoing investigation into his company, Novo Nordisk, for its allegedly “disguised” sponsorship of a promotional drug campaign. Sahota is general manager of the UK arm of Denmark-based global healthcare company Novo Nordisk, which has been investigated by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, a self-regulatory body that administers the ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry. ABPI said on 4 February that Sahota had made the decision to resign as president to “avoid an ongoing process around a Novo Nordisk ABPI Code of Practice breach becoming a distraction from the vital work of the ABPI”.

Full story

Fusion technology

UK science minister George Freeman has announced the creation of a new delivery body for the UK’s nuclear-fusion energy programme, named UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd. He said that the new body would be “the vehicle for industrial development and deployment of this technology as a new clean-energy source in the coming decades”. It is expected to be formed over the next 18 months. The government sees fusion as “a burgeoning industry in which the UK is already a world-leader” and which has “the potential to not only power the world but deliver vast economic growth across the country”.

Full story

Technicians’ careers

The University of Liverpool has launched a career-promotion pathway for technicians and research support staff, which it says is the first in the UK. The university said the expertise of technicians cannot currently be recognised under their existing career pathway, as they do not fit the traditional progression route for academics. It has now developed a new and “comprehensive” pathway to reward, retain and provide recognition of specialist technical and research support staff. The university added that the pathway, which it launched on 3 February, would help to grow its workforce and give a clearer route for developing a career as a technician.

Full story

R&D infrastructure

A new initiative aims to map the UK’s arts and humanities research infrastructure, which is often “hard to find”, according to project leaders. The University of London’s School of Advanced Study, which is leading the project, said research infrastructures—including well-established research centres based at university departments, as well as informal groups that cross disciplinary boundaries and learned societies—are “unconnected and difficult to discover”. The project will seek to solve this “visibility issue”, it said, and to allow policymakers to locate expertise and non-academic organisations to identify academic partners. 

Full story

Quote of the week

Image: UK Government [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr

“It’s not every day you become head of a brand new government department …Let’s make Britain the most innovative economy in the world.”

Michelle Donelan, secretary of state in the newly established Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Business startups increase 

The number of startups, spinouts and social enterprises emerging from UK universities is on the rise, a report has found. In the 2020-21 academic year, nearly 19,000 businesses were set up from universities, an increase of almost 2,000 on the previous year, according to a report by the vice-chancellors’ group Universities UK. The sharpest rise was in graduate startups, which went from around 13,900 in 2019-20 to 15,800 in 2020-21. The report revealed that £7 billion of external investment was attracted by businesses emerging from universities in 2020-21, while the estimated turnover of those businesses was £13bn.

Full story

Tech funding pulled

A government-backed organisation fostering tech businesses has announced it is closing down after the government pulled its funding. Tech Nation said that it would close its doors on 31 March after the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport decided to award its core grant to a business incubator run by Barclays Bank. Founded by the coalition government in 2010, Tech Nation has run accelerator programmes for startup and scale-up companies in the tech sector, as well as processing applications for the UK’s Global Talent visa from tech workers on behalf of the Home Office.

Full story

Lords inquiry

A House of Lords Science and Technology Committee inquiry will analyse the impacts of light and noise pollution on human health. Launched on 30 January, the inquiry will explore the extent to which unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive artificial lighting or ambient noise may have negative impacts on human health. The committee will look at the evidence base surrounding the phenomenon, the nature of the current regulatory landscape and how policy should be adjusted to minimise the impacts.

Full story

Phage regulation ‘too strict’

The UK’s promising bacteriophage R&D is held back by “too stringent” regulation and a lack of coordination, experts have warned MPs. There has been an increased clinical interest in bacteriophages, viruses that can selectively target and kill bacteria, as concerns have grown over antibiotic resistance and antibiotic shortages. But while the UK has plenty of expertise in the field, there has only been one clinical trial on bacteriophages in the UK, in 2009, as current regulations are too strict when compared to other countries, a House of Commons Science and Technology Committee heard on 8 February.

Full story

Tech regulation review

Former science minister Chris Skidmore has been appointed to review UK regulations that may be holding back emerging green technologies. The government-commissioned review aims to identify barriers in getting emerging technologies to market in the UK. The review, first announced in the chancellor’s autumn statement last year, is being led by chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, to see if and how the UK should change regulation to better support innovation. 

Full story

Cardiff appoints new VC

Cardiff University has appointed Wendy Larner, currently leader of Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, to take over from Colin Riordan as its next vice-chancellor. Larner, who takes up the role on 1 September, will be the university’s first female vice-chancellor. Before becoming provost of Victoria University of Wellington in 2015, she worked at the University of Bristol for 10 years as dean of social sciences and law and a professor of human geography. She has also held academic positions at the universities of Waikato and Auckland in New Zealand.

Full story

This article also appeared in Research Fortnight

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A UKRI scheme aims to kick-start artificial intelligence applications in healthcare

The first UK Research and Innovation-wide scheme on potential uses of artificial intelligence in health research has opened with £13 million available.

The national funder is after AI projects of 18 months’ duration, involving expertise from several disciplines, with a total cost of between £500,000 and £750,000—UKRI will fund successful projects at 80 per cent of the full economic cost. The deadline for intentions to submit is 28 February, with full proposals due by 28 March.

Yan Yip, data science programme manager for UKRI’s Medical Research Council, and Katherine Freeman, a senior portfolio manager for healthcare technologies at its Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, discuss the thinking behind the call.

What is the background to this scheme?

Yan Yip: There have been other AI-for-health funding opportunities within and outside UKRI, but this is the first time we’re offering something that spans the remit of all the research councils. There are still significant barriers in AI in health and innovation, such as health data access, storage and use, understanding societal acceptance of the use of AI in health, and the professional skills to enable this potential.

But this funding opportunity is not only about applying AI to understand health problems but also how to create a suitable ecosystem that will enable the use of AI to improve health research. For example, how would you create technology that is effective and trustworthy enough so that it is adopted by clinicians? To do this, AI researchers will have to work closely with end users such as clinicians and patients to develop this technology.

Katherine Freeman: Challenges in different health areas are unique; therefore, tailored solutions are needed for a particular context. AI technologies need to be developed to meet these challenges and will require collaboration between multidisciplinary team members who can develop suitable solutions and build new capability.

How many projects do you expect to fund?

YY: The funding allows for a maximum of 16 to 17 projects, but the final number will depend on the quality of applications.

Are you looking for identification of a health problem amenable to tackling with AI or do you want teams to bring tech that could potentially do that?

KF: The latter, but any project does need to have a clear health need. We’d consider funding more risky, quite early-stage AI tech but the applicants would have to have the right people in the team and a well-chosen application area in health. I’m not 100 per cent sure how much pilot data is necessary but there would need to be an idea of what you would want to do and some evidence of its usefulness.

YY: I wouldn’t say you need to have something that already works, though. You can develop something.

How does the ‘intention to submit’ work?

YY: To submit a full proposal, applicants need to fill out an intention to submit. It helps us gauge the types and number of applications. This way, the office can get the review panel ready and manage the applications. However, it is not used to evaluate applications. It is really just the name of the principal investigator, keywords, co-investigators and a short abstract.

Teams should work across “the nexus of challenge spaces”—could you elaborate on this?

YY: We want people to propose ambitious projects that address multiple aspects of particular health challenges. For example, if you’re creating a piece of technology, is it responsible, is it ethical and is it effective? As a development and application project, this isn’t so straightforward. Sometimes there are challenges around data, such as how you are going to ensure that the data you’re using is a suitable resource to develop your algorithm.

For this scheme, applicants have to think about all pieces that fit together to answer a specific health challenge. This is why projects must involve multidisciplinary teams to bring different expertise together.

KF: An example of confronting a challenge would involve working with users of technologies, for example with patients, to ensure they would accept any technology developed. For example, a decision support tool where AI gives diagnoses—would patients approve of that?

Should applicants be aware of regulatory issues in this area?

YY: The focus of these projects should be development of innovative technology. This usually means the project would be quite far away from a working prototype and regulatory approval. But we do want applicants to think about what is needed, maybe by involving people who have relevant expertise, to help them consider ethical and regulatory concerns.

There’s a lot of development activity in health AI but many technologies end up failing regulatory assessment. Instead of thinking of the regulatory component when you’ve got a prototype that’s fully formed, we want the applicants to think about it much earlier. 

This is an extract from an article in Research Professional’s Funding Insight service. To subscribe contact [email protected]

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Facility will provide academia and industry with specialist equipment to develop the next generation of telecomms

The University of Sheffield is set to open a new 6G research facility, which it said will be the first of its kind in the UK.

Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the facility will bring together academia and industry and provide them with the specialist equipment needed to develop the next generation of telecommunications technology.

The announcement comes after years of concern about issues such as the use of Chinese technology in 5G networks and a lack of coordination in research on these critical infrastructures.

‘Strategically important’

Timothy O’Farrell, professor of Wireless Communication at the university, who will direct the new facility, said 6G was a “strategically important” area for R&D.

“If the UK is to maintain its place as a global leader in telecommunications, then we need the specialist equipment that our academics and industrial partners can use to innovate and develop next generation 6G technologies.

“The national facility we are creating at the University of Sheffield will play a huge role in the UK’s 6G capabilities.”

The facility, due to open next year based in the university’s department of electronic and electrical engineering, will support research into multiple aspects of 6G radio systems.

The university said the facility has received support from 40 companies and academic institutions and it will be “straightforward to use, yet versatile, and will have the capability to enable a very broad range of novel research to support the delivery of future 6G services”.

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Professors body calls for change as survey suggests system favours white British males

There is “work to be done” to increase the diversity of professors in the UK after a report found that women and professors from ethnic minority backgrounds take on more responsibilities than white men.

The survey by the National Conference of University Professors found that, while the majority of professors in the UK are white British males, women and non-white professors take on more roles and responsibilities, including research and doctoral supervision.

“This is surely a matter of concern, that both these groups assume a greater number of roles yet remain underrepresented among the UK professoriate,” the NCUP wrote, adding that the “disproportionate distribution of roles and responsibilities towards women and non-white British professors should be investigated and, if necessary, addressed”.

According to data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, of the 21,760 professors in 2021-22 with known ethnicity, 2,625, or 12 per cent, were from ethnic minority backgrounds. Of the 23,515 professors counted in the statistics, 6,980 were women.

‘Vicious cycle’

Writing in a blog post published by the Higher Education Policy Institute on 13 February, NCUP president Roger Watson pointed out that, while most professors surveyed said that they mentored others such as early career staff, men more commonly mentored than women and white men were more likely to mentor than men from ethnic minority backgrounds.

This “possibly reveals a failing in the system of staff support and the likely existence of a vicious cycle whereby women and non-white British professors are less involved in mentorship and, therefore, less likely to serve as role models for others”, Watson said.

“The lack of role models and, especially, the lack of insight into how women and non-white British professors have attained their goals may be a factor dissuading non-white academics from seeking promotion to the professoriate,” he added.

Watson concluded that the distribution of roles and mentorship “are unevenly distributed based on ethnicity and gender, favouring white British male professors”.

“In terms of increasing the equality and diversity of the UK university professoriate, there is work to be done,” he said.

The survey was carried out in December 2022 and 1,018 responses were received.

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Statistics agency suggests changes to Ucas form question to improve data and help applicants

A question designed to find out whether students’ parents went to university should be changed to encourage more students to answer, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Analysis carried out by Hesa found that around 15 per cent of university applicants either do not complete the question about parental education on their Ucas form—which is designed to measure the participation of under-represented students in higher education—or say that they do not know.

Fixing the underlying problems behind the question “could bring the twin benefit of reducing the extent of missing data we observe, but also assisting individuals to respond more accurately too”, Hesa said.

Single-parent households

Hesa suggested that applicants from single-parent households could be skipping the question as they do not know about the other parent’s educational background. By mapping applicant data to data in the 2011 census, the statistics agency found that a higher proportion of students who did not answer the question were living in single-parent families.

The census data also revealed that those students were more likely to be from Black African or Black Caribbean backgrounds. Hesa said that if more research supported its findings, “it may be worth investigating whether the wording of…the parental education question might benefit from being changed to make it clearer how individuals from such households should respond”.

The question is currently phrased as: "Do any of your parents, step-parents or guardians have any higher education qualifications, such as a degree, diploma or certificate of higher education?"

Archie Bye, lead statistical analyst for the research, said that “there might be value in reviewing the way the question is asked, alongside the associated guidance provided to applicants, to help with improving the quality of the parental education data”.

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Gillian Keegan and Home Office seemingly at odds over international student numbers

Education secretary Gillian Keegan has hinted at a clash with the Home Office over international students, saying she wants to grow education exports rather than cut numbers.

Keegan told the Financial Times that universities are a “hugely valuable” export and that she is keen to increase education export revenue from roughly £26 billion to £35bn by 2030.

“It’s a sector we should be very proud of,” she told the paper on 10 February. “It’s world-leading, a great advert [for] our country. We have a strategy which is very much focused on growing the revenue.”

Keegan’s views are at odds with those of home secretary Suella Braverman, who has suggested that the Home Office wants to curb the number of foreign students coming to UK universities and impose restrictions on what they study and whether they bring dependents.

International student numbers came under scrutiny last year after figures published by the Office for National Statistics suggested that a jump in the number of international students had contributed to record net migration to the UK.

Despite Keegan’s support for the sector, restrictions on international students are still being considered—the FT reported that a meeting between Braverman and Keegan to discuss options took place on 9 February.

According to the newspaper, officials briefed on the meeting said a review of the rules on who can apply for the two-year, post-study work visa was discussed, as well as the ability of students enrolled on so-called “low-value” courses to bring their dependents to the UK.

Universities have previously warned that attempts to cut the number of international students coming to the UK would be “an act of economic self-harm”.

According to vice-chancellors’ body Universities UK, international students make a net positive contribution of nearly £26bn to the economy. At the same time, universities are increasingly reliant on international students’ higher tuition fees to fund research and teaching for home students, as domestics fees have been frozen for several years.

The government has been contacted for comment.

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Efforts to resolve the pay dispute step up as more strike action takes place today

University staff and employers will sit down together to try to end strike action over the pay dispute, in talks mediated by the arbitration service Acas.

The five unions involved in the dispute over pay and working conditions—the University and College Union (UCU), Unite, Unison, GMB and the Educational Institute of Scotland—have agreed to discussions with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, which represents employers in the pay row, through Acas.

The first meeting will take place on 13 February and the Acas-mediated talks will attempt to resolve disagreements over pay, equality, casualisation and workloads.

But UCU strike action will continue, with staff walking out today and for three days next week. Overall, there are 18 days of strike action taking place this month and next.

Ucea’s final pay offer for an uplift in 2023-24 of between 5 and 8 per cent across the pay spine, with those on the lowest salaries receiving the highest uplift, was rejected by the unions last month.

Casualisation and workloads

Jo Grady, general secretary for the UCU, said the union was “pleased the employers have agreed to enter the Acas process in order to try and resolve our dispute”.

“The union has been clear, we need an offer that addresses the key issues affecting our members—specifically on casualisation and workloads. We haven’t had that yet,” she said. “The sector has more than enough money to pay and treat people fairly, and employers have the power to do so.”

Ucea has previously said that universities could not increase the final pay offer, with its chief executive Raj Jethwa arguing that the existing offer would “push the pay packet to the sector’s absolute limit”.

Commenting on the Acas talks, Jethwa said the offer would be the highest pay rise in higher education in nearly 20 years, and that universities’ finances are already “severely stretched in the face of falling income and rising costs,” but institutions “are trying to commit to implementing a proportion of this award six months early, as a direct response to current cost of living concerns”.

“Ucea has agreed to accept Acas’ services as the right thing to do to try to reach a settlement and to meet our original objective of getting an affordable uplift to staff sooner,” he added.

In a joint statement, the five unions said that, after being approached by Acas for talks, they would not go ahead with a meeting of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff Dispute Resolution—also designed to resolve the dispute—today, and would instead meet with Acas on 13 February.

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Social Mobility Commission calls for improvements on access

It is of “great concern” that selective universities tend to recruit fewer disadvantaged students than other providers, the Social Mobility Commission has said.

In an interim report looking at the earnings of graduates from higher and further education, the commission says that more academically selective universities “tend to have a higher value-add” when it comes to future earnings than less selective institutions.

“However, on average, the more selective universities also tend to be disproportionately less accessible to pupils from lower socioeconomic backgrounds,” the report states—adding that accessibility “may have improved” in recent years.

“Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to choose less selective universities and courses than students with similar grades from wealthier backgrounds,” the report states.

In a statement accompanying the report, the commission said the findings were “of great concern” and suggested that more selective universities “would seem to be hindering social mobility, because students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds with the required grades are underrepresented on their high value-add courses”.

“We need these universities to do more to improve access,” the commission said. “Many courses at less selective universities seem to add little in terms of labour market value, and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are overrepresented here. We need to ensure prospective students are aware of the likely boost to earnings, so they can make an informed choice before applying.”

The commissioners add that there could be valid reasons—other than future earnings—that might determine which courses students choose.

Better off

The research found that on average, studying for a qualification in higher education correlates positively with future earnings. At the age of 29, men who attended higher education tend to earn 25 per cent more than those with five good GCSEs but who did not go to university; and for women, attending higher education is associated with 50 per cent higher earnings.

The report also finds “a lot of variation” in added value across subjects, with science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects and law being associated with higher earnings.

It suggests that while some courses at some institutions have a negative impact on earnings—implying a student will earn less than similar students who did not study the course—this finding is “not statistically significant for many specific courses at specific universities”.

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Admissions body publishes initial data on applications for 2023-24 academic year

There has been a decline in the number of prospective students applying to study nursing and teaching, according to Ucas.

On 9 February, the admissions body published application data for the ‘equal consideration’ deadline, which passed on 25 January. This release gives initial indications of what the 2023-24 higher education student cohort might look like.

The statistics show that the total number of applicants has fallen by just over 2.3 per cent year on year, from 610,720 to 596,590. There are wide variations by subject, with a significant fall in applications for nursing (down 19 per cent) and education and teaching (down more than 15 per cent).

Meanwhile, there was growth in applications for courses such as computing (up almost 10 per cent) and law (up more than 2 per cent).

‘Chronic’ teacher supply issues

Vanessa Wilson, chief executive of the University Alliance group of professional and technical universities, said the numbers suggested nursing applications were “returning to pre-pandemic levels”—but she warned of a shortage of 47,000 nurses in the NHS.

“Last year, only 52 per cent of people who applied to study nursing across the UK were accepted onto courses,” she said. “There is a lack of capacity to train nurses in the UK that is a more long-term issue than year-on-year fluctuations in demand from students.”

Wilson added that the drop in teacher training applicants “will further exacerbate chronic teacher supply issues facing the country”.

Ucas chief executive Clare Marchant said that myriad “global and national factors” were affecting demand for UK higher education.

“Demand for undergraduate courses during Covid-19 was unprecedented and so a slight recalibration in the number of applicants might be expected, particularly for courses related to nursing and healthcare, which saw exceptional growth as students were inspired by the pandemic to pursue these professions,” she said.

Marchant added that the number of applications for nursing and teaching courses exceeds the number of acceptances seen in last year’s cycle, “showing there is still plenty of demand for places”.

Mature slump

Elsewhere, the data show a 3 per cent increase in international applicants—driven by surges from Nigeria (up 23 per cent), India (up 5 per cent) and the US (up almost 10 per cent). Applications from China, however, are down by 4.2 per cent year on year.

The statistics also show that the second-highest number of UK 18-year-olds ever applied to an undergraduate course. Some 314,660 school leavers applied, down slightly from 320,420 at the same point in the cycle last year but up almost 15 per cent on the final pre-pandemic number of 275,300 in January 2020.

However, the number of applications from prospective mature learners in the UK is down by 14 per cent from a year ago.

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Shawcross report finds that negative opinion of anti-extremism programme leads to low number of referrals

Universities are dominated by “anti-Prevent narratives”—and a poor opinion of the counterterrorism programme among staff stops them sharing their concerns about radicalisation, a review of the controversial strategy has claimed.

The long-awaited report from William Shawcross’s independent review of the government’s £40 million-a-year Prevent counterterrorism strategy was published on 8 February, following a series of delays.

In the report, Shawcross said that the negative opinion of the anti-extremism programme in higher education was leading to a low number of referrals, despite concerns that extremist organisations are targeting universities for recruitment.

“It is clear that anti-Prevent narratives dominate the discourse about Prevent in British universities,” Shawcross said, adding that some staff feel the programme is “divisive, unfairly stigmatises Muslims and is counterproductive”.

Nick Hillman, chief executive of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said he did not believe that anti-Prevent sentiment was rife “across the board, not least because our sector includes such a diverse range of institutions”.

“But I would say it is quite common and it can be challenging to confront as it can appear to some as if institutions are doing the government’s work for them,” he said. “In my view, this is the wrong way to perceive it, however, because tackling extremism is a duty for the whole of society.” 

‘Philosophical resistance’

Overall, the review concluded that less emphasis should be put on far-right extremism and more attention should be paid to Islamist extremism.

Universities do have concerns about how the Prevent duty affects their duty to uphold free speech. A report published by the Department for Education found that those worries over academic freedom gave university staff “a strong philosophical resistance to Prevent”.

Separate research from Soas, University of London, in 2020 found that there was a “culture of mutual suspicion and surveillance” in universities thanks to Prevent, with Muslim staff and students using self-censorship “to avoid becoming the object of suspicion”.

Among the “key areas of concern” highlighted in the review, Shawcross said that higher education institutions “are less likely to identify a radicalisation concern than a wider safeguarding issue”, and the “negative perceptions of Prevent” among some staff lead “to difficulties about sharing radicalisation concerns”.

“I believe that these factors are contributing to the strikingly low number of Prevent referrals from [higher education],” Shawcross said, pointing out that between August 2016 and July 2017, only 24 cases were referred.

Regulatory role

Although the Office for Students—which monitors compliance with Prevent at universities—found that “the overwhelming majority of providers are adhering to their statutory obligations”, Shawcross said that evidence showed “this might not be the case in practice”.

He also recommended that the regulation of the statutory duty within universities should place “greater weight on independent monitoring and evaluation”.

“I am…concerned that, despite recent improvements to its monitoring framework, the Office for Students appears to rely principally upon annual reports from higher education providers to demonstrate due compliance with Prevent,” he wrote.

Elsewhere in the report, Shawcross recommended that all staff with student-facing responsibilities should be trained on the Prevent strategy, rather than “relevant staff”, which he said was “open to interpretation”.

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Partnership between UK and South Africa will train dozens of master’s and PhD students

South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Edinburgh in the UK have jointly established a postgraduate training scheme targeting sustainability.

In a statement on 3 February, Wits confirmed that the scheme would enable an estimated 50 African researchers to study for a master’s in sustainability research. Of that cohort, 30 will continue to a PhD that will be supervised by both institutions. The scheme is supported by the Mastercard Foundation.

The University of Edinburgh said in a statement that the scheme was part of a broader programme it was running in Africa with the Mastercard Foundation, which features a digital education network to support African universities in developing online degrees in sustainability.

James Smith, Edinburgh’s vice-principal with responsibility for international affairs, said in a statement that the project aimed to provide cutting-edge research training for talented researchers in Africa.

“The programme will act as a catalyst to ensure that African researchers are at the forefront of addressing some of our most profound challenges,” he said.

Ruksana Osman, senior deputy vice-chancellor for academic affairs at Wits, said: “Wits is pleased to be part of this incredible programme that will go a long way towards advancing teaching and learning and knowledge creation on the continent.”

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