Jim is an Associate Editor (SUs) at Wonkhe and takes a particular interest in student experience, university governance, and regulation – and leads our work with students’ unions, including our Study Tours to Europe.
His career background is in support for student leadership. He has held senior roles at the National Union of Students – where he led on SU development, campaigns and political strategy – and was the CEO at the SU at UEA, providing strategic management for the union’s charitable and commercial vehicles as well as policy support for the elected student officers.
Jim has served as a governor and trustee in both further and higher education and the voluntary sector, and is a regular speaker at sector events and conferences. He is an obsessive fan of the Eurovision Song Contest, and dreams of visiting Moldova.
2,633 pieces
Newest first, since August 2013 · page 1 of 132
· SUs · Members
Get RepPing – a daily ping that puts reps back at the centre
Firms keep selling universities ways around reps – Jim Dickinson and Sharanya Sivarajah set out why RepPing does the opposite, and how to get ready to join in
With Sharanya Sivarajah
· Wonk Corner
Are there really more graduate NEETs than A-level NEETs
On Tuesday night, Burnham-whisperer and former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane gave the annual lecture at the Lifelong Education Institute.
· Wonk Corner
AI marking could cost universities their get out of jail free card
Set aside for a second the fact that when you ask students if academics should be able to use AI in marking, they tend to be vehemently opposed.
· SUs · Members
Turnitin’s licence pause gives SUs a year to ask questions
With Turnitin’s licence change postponed rather than dropped, Sharanya Sivarajah and Jim Dickinson argue SUs should push for a review of cost, evidence, and who owns students’ work
With Sharanya Sivarajah
· SUs · Members
What the OfS statement of expectations on disability is likely to say, and what SUs should demand
With OfS drafting a statement of expectations on disability, Jim Dickinson sets out what it is likely to contain and what SUs should push for while the regulator is still listening
· Policy Watch
Ministers dodge the question of candour in universities
Baroness Jones asked which university functions the Hillsborough Law covers. Jim Dickinson finds ministers answered none of her questions
· Wonk Corner
Students are being nudged into housing they can’t afford that may also be unsafe
Nobody in government has ever said it out loud, but read the Renters’ Rights Act as a set of choices rather than a set of clauses and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that one of its aims is to get students out of shared houses and into purpose-built blocks.
· SUs · Members
Reserve now, sign later – what the law says about “early” student house hunting
With the 2027-28 house hunt under way, Jim Dickinson sets out what the Renters’ Rights Act stops landlords doing – and where its gaps lie
· SUs · Members
Have your uni’s bursaries kept up with the cost of living?
OfS’ interim director for fair access has told wave 1 providers that an extra year comes with a cost of living test on bursaries. Jim Dickinson sets out what SUs in England should do with it.
· Comment
Britain likes its universities but not its degrees
Polling suggests the public still values universities but no longer trusts the deal they offer. Jim Dickinson sifts five years of surveys for what’s driving the doubt – and what universities can do about it
· Wonk Corner
The Sunday Times has counted postgrads as rich kids turning down maintenance loans
One of the impacts of holding down home undergraduate tuition fees for so long is how cheap a year’s tuition fees are now in comparison to the private school you pay for to get a child into the Russell Group.
· Comment
Who pays the price when universities cancel offers to protect refusal rates?
As visa refusal rates climb, universities are revoking offers and cancelling CAS en masse to stay under the new BCA threshold. Jim Dickinson asks whether that’s lawful – and who ends up paying.
· SUs · Members
Scotland’s compassionate comms report shows SUs what to ask for
QAA Scotland’s report on compassionate communication builds on England’s 2024 principles and goes further. Jim Dickinson sets out the rights hiding in both documents, the gaps neither fills, and what SUs should call for.
· SUs · Members
Not in attendance is a coding choice, and resitting students are paying for it
Students resitting on an assessment-only basis often find their loan stops while they’re still barred from benefits. Jim Dickinson finds that more of the trap sits in universities’ gift than they let on.
· Wonk Corner
EU fees have been parked, but Europe’s real bill for UK higher education is still coming
The UK and the EU have agreed the outline of a November summit that includes a youth experience scheme.
· Wonk Corner
The student protection gap is about more than providers
There’s a piece in the Guardian on collapsing providers of high-end student accommodation.
· Wonk Corner
Hope again? Loan again
Andy Burnham’s conference speech on Tuesday began its housing section with his gran.
· Wonk Corner
A glance at Education at a Glance misleads on UK spend on universities
Every year the OECD publishes Education at a glance, and every year I flick to the table on spending per tertiary student and think the same thing – WTF?
· Wonk Corner
What is going on with student protests in France?
For most of the past fortnight, the big education story in France has been about lycées – the upper secondary schools that take 15 to 18-year-olds through to the baccalauréat, the national school-leaving exam.
· SUs
A decade on the bus – some of our fave moments from Wonkhe SUs study tours
Jim Dickinson goes back through ten years of study tour blogs – and finds that the best lessons were rarely about other countries having more money