Three Clouds on the Horizon?

Three Clouds on the Horizon?

You could be forgiven for thinking that all is well – we’ve gone through the pain of reform and everything is now in place for the long term – the system, give or take a few thousand students (on a like for like comparison with 2011 this looks like...
Three Clouds on the Horizon?

Immigration: politics matter more than statistics

In the last couple of weeks we have seen several media stories about immigration and international students. Eighty VCs and Chairs wrote to the PM to ask that international students be removed from the migration statistics. It’s a very well organised and argued...
Three Clouds on the Horizon?

Why being a University Matters

In last June’s Higher Education white paper (yes it really was that long ago), BIS declared their intention to reduce the qualifying threshold for university title from 4,000 to 1,000 students. All the other qualifying criteria – notably the need to hold degree...
Three Clouds on the Horizon?

Student Number Controls for 2013

Ministers have now made up their minds on student number controls for 2013 opting for an increase in contestable places with a shift from AAB to ABB and equivalents – further opening up the market at the top end. Core and margin will reduce significantly with...
Three Clouds on the Horizon?

Why local pay isn’t a great or straightforward idea

Weekend media was full of Budget leaks suggesting that the government will abandon national public sector pay deals for a series of local or regional settlements. Such a decision may save considerable money for HM Treasury over the longer term as public sector pay...