Policy Navigator
Strategic insight for HE leaders and boards
What university leaders and boards need on their agenda – and when. Download the latest edition and browse the archive below.
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June 2026
June 2026
The political landscape and Andy Burnham’s path to No.10, student finance under Treasury scrutiny, UKRI’s new research settlement, skills and NEETs, the OfS free-speech ruling, the new TEF, and rising pension costs.
Issue 1 · June 2026
In this issue
- 01
The political landscape for HE
May’s elections, the Reform surge and Andy Burnham’s likely path to No.10.
Act
- 02
Student finance
The Treasury Committee’s inquiry into loan repayment terms and the taxation of graduates.
Watch
- 03
Strategy and funding changes at UKRI
A record research settlement, reorganised into four cross-disciplinary “buckets”.
Act
- 04
Skills, NEETs and graduate employment
Skills policy moves to DWP, apprenticeship funding shifts, and the graduate-value debate.
Act
- 05
Judicial review of OfS on free speech
What the Sussex ruling means for the regulator and for institutions.
Watch
- 06
The quality regime in England
The new two-rating TEF from 2027–28 and the incentives attached to it.
Act
- 07
Pensions and the problem of rising costs
Soaring TPS and LGPS employer costs, and how providers are responding.
Watch
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