David Morris is the Vice Chancellor’s policy adviser at the University of Greenwich and former Deputy Editor of Wonkhe. Until May 2016, David worked in the policy department at the National Union of Students, and undertook policy work on further and higher education issues.
David’s main areas of wonkery included learning and teaching, admissions, student surveys, the Higher Education and Research Act, TEF, fees and funding, further education funding, and apprenticeship reform. As Deputy Editor of Wonkhe, David is responsible for managing Wonkhe editorial content, and also contributes to the organisation’s weekly and daily email briefing services. David is a regular speaker on higher education politics and policy topics.
David is the 2016 winner of the CIPR’s ‘Most Promising Newcomer to Education Journalism’ award.
97 pieces
Newest first, since December 2014 · page 1 of 5
· Analysis
Should we finally admit that TEF doesn’t inform students?
David Morris argues that the TEF could work – if we let go of the idea that it should inform student choice.
· Analysis
What (else) could a no-deal Brexit look like for HE?
David Morris thinks through the chaos to come for the sector if there’s a “No Deal” Brexit in the year ahead.
· Data
Are university admissions racially biased?
Following up on analysis from two years ago, David Morris finds much to be concerned about in the latest UCAS data.
· Comment
Millennial elephants, taxed and sunk, have said goodbye to the campus
The Resolution Foundation is calling for fairer ways to deal with intergenerational inequality. David Morris reads the small print from a millennial perspective.
· Long read
Assessing David Willetts’s university education
David Willetts’ new book is part history, part policy proposal. But it is the parts with the politics that cause the problems, argues David Morris.
· Comment
Research subsidies: universities’ (other) dirty secret
David Morris cites a recent HEPI report as evidence that cross-subsidy is the sector’s dirty and hidden secret.
· Analysis
Power games over HE regulation and funding will have lasting consequences
David Morris of the University of Greenwich picks apart some of the tensions threaded into the proposed regulatory framework.
· Analysis
Key questions for Labour and its higher education policy
As the Labour Party meets for its annual conference in Brighton, David Morris sets out the key unanswered questions that the party must now address ahead of any election.
· Comment
There’s a difference between ‘good’ and ‘good value’
Universities will struggle to improve their public image without understanding their critics’ point over whether they offer good value to students and the taxpayer. David Morris tries to illustrate this point with a draw
· Data
Data-riffic! What does data tell us about UK higher education in 2017?
More data is available about universities than ever before, and new software means it can be visualised to tell new stories about our sector. David Morris looks at data on TEF, REF, widening participation, university fin
· Data
Is Nick Timothy right about graduate salaries? A new look at LEO
The Prime Minister’s former chief wonk has got stuck into the ‘is university worth it?’ debate this morning. It seemed a good reason, combined with A level results day, to present some new ways of looking at graduate sal
· Analysis
What have we learned from the new (and improved) NSS?
The National Student Survey is back with new questions for students, and new questions for the sector to answer. David Morris takes a quick look at this year’s results, which you can find in full here.
· Analysis
What the Sunday Times got wrong on ‘crowding out’ British students
The Sunday Times made waves this weekend with accusations that international students are ‘shutting out’ UK students. But have they misread the available data from HESA?
· Comment
Why don’t they like us? A terrible two months for universities in the news
A litany of bad news stories in recent weeks has hammered away at the university sector’s collective reputation. David Morris reflects on why this may have occurred and how it can be tackled.
· Analysis
Visions for the AlterniTEF – can we do TEF better?
Four of our wisest wonks – Smita Jamdar, Vicky Gunn, Johnny Rich, and Ant Bagshaw – answered the call to outline their AlterniTEF. Is there a better way to do teaching and student experience accountability for universiti
· Comment
Forget £9k, it’s the £3k generation that matters (for now)
The £3,000 fee paying generation is just hitting the height of its repayments, well before the £9,000 hit theirs. David Morris argues that it’s their political impact that is being felt most in the tuition fees debate.
· Policy Watch
Expectation mis-management – applicants’ views on HE
Applicants’ expectations of universities are very different to their experience, but whose fault is that, if anyones? David Morris takes a look at the new HEPI and Unite-Students report.
· Analysis
TEF results – How do REF and TEF results compare?
Which universities managed to excel at both the Teaching Excellence Framework and the Research Excellence Framework? David Morris revisits the theme of his first ever Wonkhe blog with a cool visualisation of the availabl
· Policy Watch
Eight first lessons from the TEF results
It’s hot off the press and there’s plenty more to say, but David Morris has a run down of our first thoughts on the TEF results.
· Data
POLAR opposites – LEO and the class effect on graduate earnings
We already know that a graduates’ social class origins have a big impact on their graduate earnings potential. This week’s LEO release gives us the opportunity to test this for different subject areas.
With Nona Buckley-Irvine