This week on the podcast we’ve been at Labour’s conference in Liverpool – asking what might make it into the manifesto on fees and funding.
Plus ministers have written to universities over antisemitism, and we find out what Labour might do on regulating (or not) mental health in universities.
With Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive at Universities UK, Gareth Smith, Executive Director of Student Life and Strategy at UA92, Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe, Mike Ratcliffe, Academic Registrar at City, University of London and presented by Mark Leach, Editor in Chief at Wonkhe.
Read more:
- The sector needs to change its lobbying tactics over fees and funding
- To support students at university we need to help them meet their basic needs
- Where does free speech become harassment over Israel/Palestine?
- Will Labour regulate universities over mental health? Who knows
- Student costs have been rising. Have bursaries been rising with them?
I had to listen to the beginning discussion on participation in HE twice – did all the panellists (and Keir of course) forget that vocational/technical qualifications and Higher Education are not mutually exclusive and “Higher Education” and “University” are not synonyms? Did you forget that higher technical qualifications like HNDs, FdAs and FdSc’s are level 5 qualifications? Did you forget that it’s not just universities that offer degree level study? We should be encouraging more young people to get a technical education at degree level, that is in no way “levelling down” it’s absolutely levelling up!
50% participation in Higher Education is absolutely the right goal. 50% of people going to “university” is possibly not. Not everyone needs to go to university to get a Higher Education.