2,633 pieces
Newest first, since August 2013 · page 8 of 132
· Wonk Corner
The Treasury Committee gets nowhere near the real issues with student loans
Well that’s two hours I won’t be getting back.
· Comment
Low expectations aren’t the same as high satisfaction in student housing
With OfS leading on headline satisfaction scores, Jim Dickinson reads an underlying research report on student housing – and finds a regulator that has mistaken tolerance for quality
· Wonk Corner
What the Graduate Outcomes data reveals about the PGT boom
When international students accuse their university of being more interested in recruitment and profits than their experience or outcomes, I often hear pushback.
· Wonk Corner
Policy Exchange sees a future – in 2010 and 1992
For the time being at least, we have notionally centre-left governments across England, Scotland and Wales.
· Wonk Corner
Portugal gives autonomy with one hand and takes it with another
The Portuguese government has a phrase for the guiding thread of its higher education reform programme – “fio condutor.”
· SUs · Members
Zero heroes
With Mack Marshall
· SUs · Members
How (and why) to respond to DBT’s consultation on zero hours contracts
Jim Dickinson sets out what the Department for Business and Trade’s consultation on zero hours contracts covers, and how SUs should respond on behalf of students in casual work.
With Sharanya Sivarajah and Wonkhe SUs explainer
· Analysis
Earning while learning? You’ll be lucky
The Employment Rights Act 2025 promises to end one-sided flexibility – but Jim Dickinson finds the framework hasn’t reckoned with term-time working, seasonal employment, or the structural realities of student labour
· Wonk Corner
Have you considered New Zealand?
Matching graduates with labour market demand is a notoriously tricky thing to do if you try.
· Wonk Corner
Are students at work (both home and international) driving NEET numbers up?
So that Alan Milburn report.
· Wonk Corner
Spain moves to make student rights even stronger
Last time we looked, Spain was already top of the charts.
· SUs · Members
The safety net has holes in it
With Mack Marshall
· SUs · Members
Renter’s Rights Act: What should have happened in May?
Jim Dickinson sets out what student tenants in England should already have received under the Renters’ Rights Act, which came into force on 1 May 2026.
With Wonkhe SUs explainer
· SUs · Members
How to get involved in the Advance HE/Office for Students research on AI
Jim Dickinson flags Advance HE and the OfS’s research project on artificial intelligence in higher education, noting that the registration and survey windows have since closed while the report remains pending.
With Mack Marshall and Wonkhe SUs explainer
· Wonk Corner
Is Burnham about to fall headfirst into the education policy trap?
Pop quiz, hotshot
· Comment
Friends, it turns out, have benefits
Course friends and off-course friends do fundamentally different things for students. Jim Dickinson and Mack Marshall examine what that means for belonging strategy – and for the students the headline numbers miss
With Mack Marshall
· Wonk Corner
Are universities supporting students too much?
Fair play to Kevin Shakesheff.
· SUs · Members
New research on students and free speech: What SUs need to know
Jim Dickinson reports on OfS-commissioned YouGov research into how students perceive freedom of speech, and what it tells SUs beyond the regulatory framing.
With Mack Marshall and Wonkhe SUs explainer
· Wonk Corner
The free speech problem is (still) a crisis of confidence
There is a version of the campus free speech story that the political movement behind the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 has told for a decade.
· Wonk Corner
Managing immigration compliance risk through large deposits is immoral and probably unlawful
Story goes that a student in Pakistan turned up to an agent’s office with a gun, demanding a deposit refund from a UK university.