The eleven modules
Eleven live online modules from September 2026 to April 2027 – an hour each, with a further
half hour of relaxed Q&A for those who can stay. Each session combines current challenges,
emerging opportunities, effective practice and practical guidance, delivered by Team Wonkhe with
special guests. Every session is recorded and shared with everyone on the course afterwards if you
can’t make it on the day.
MODULE 01 · Team Wonkhe
Wednesday 30 September 2026, 12 midday
The UK higher education sector – its history, how it fits together today, and the key
organisations and what they do – plus how the programme itself will work: what each
session covers, and the readings and resources that go with it.
MODULE 02 · Jim Dickinson
Wednesday 7 October 2026, 12 midday
The dimensions of higher education’s value – quality, skills and jobs, research and
impact, civic and local engagement, young people growing up – and the anatomy of the
sector’s scandals, from franchising and grade inflation to free speech.
MODULE 03 · David Kernohan
Wednesday 28 October 2026, 12 midday
The architecture of public funding, financial management and governance, and the financial
sustainability crisis and its implications.
MODULE 04 · Jim Dickinson
Wednesday 18 November 2026, 12 midday
The student journey – access, belonging, engagement and outcomes – plus the tricky
stuff: health, housing and finance.
MODULE 05 · Debbie McVitty
Wednesday 9 December 2026, 12 midday
Pedagogy, curriculum, learning design and the co-curriculum.
MODULE 06 · James Coe
Wednesday 13 January 2027, 12 midday
UKRI and the UK research funding ecosystem, plus innovation and economic impact.
MODULE 07 · Michael Salmon
Wednesday 3 February 2027, 12 midday
International recruitment, visas and immigration, transnational education and education exports.
MODULE 08 · Debbie McVitty
Wednesday 24 February 2027, 12 midday
Academic and business leadership and governance, the demands on leaders, and the opportunities,
challenges, enablers and barriers to strategy and transformation.
MODULE 09 · David Kernohan
Wednesday 17 March 2027, 12 midday
Public data requirements; data collection, storage and use; and data for strategy and business
management.
MODULE 10 · Team Wonkhe
Wednesday 7 April 2027, 12 midday
Organisational structures, academic and professional cultures, EDI and industrial relations.
MODULE 11 · Jim Dickinson
Wednesday 28 April 2027, 12 midday
Legislation, political parties, policy agendas, representative bodies and devolution.
The programme is subject to change – session topics, dates and hosts may be adjusted.