PODCAST: Bolton fire, Oxford Union, election

This week on the podcast we discuss the fire that affected student accommodation in Bolton, unpick the incident where a blind international student was forceably removed from a debate at the Oxford Union, and scrutinise the many demands made for higher education in the current general election campaign. And Hidden History looks at university chancellors...

With Jess Moody, Senior Adviser at Advance HE; and David Kernohan, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.

Yes, but does it correlate?

This week we're looking at institutional recruitment - in particular the percentage of UK students from state schools or colleges, and the percentage of students from non-EU countries. This is for all students, and excludes providers with no students in either of these categories. But is there a relationship between recruitment from state school backgrounds and recruitment from countries outside the EU? Does it correlate?

The answer is yes, to an extent. There is a moderate negative correlation (r squared is 0.40), meaning that providers that recruit well from non-eu countries tend to under represent state school UK entrants - you'll recall from earlier this year that around 7% of young people in the UK attend a non-state school.

Data is from HESA and refers to the 2017-18 academic year. And where the data doesn't exist, I've not plotted it.

Items this week

• Mayor says Bolton fire shows cladding issue is much bigger than anyone thought
• From the archive - David Kernohan and Jim Dickinson ask if the expansion of universities and student residencies since the removal of recruitment controls has had harmful effects.
• Oxford Union president steps down in wake of blind student row
• Which is the best pre-election higher education briefing?

Get involved

To get involved in the Wonkhe Show, email team@wonkhe.com