Global BUzz

Yesterday, the chairman of the Social Mobility Commission Alan Milburn, revealed that he believes universities should not be allowed to charge the highest amount of £9000 tuition fees should they ‘fail to admit poorer students and help them to get a job when they leave.’ His comments were made in a speech on social mobility at a… Read more » about ‘Britain has a deep social mobility problem’, report warns

Yesterday, there was tremendous coverage by mainstream media such as The Guardian, The Independent, and The Huffington Post UK  as well as other less mainstream media such as Business Matters  reporting that the Home Office intends to slash international student numbers by half under tougher student visa rules. The main source was from The Guardian, which reported on a previous story about Amber Rudd’s pledge to… Read more » about ‘We want to strengthen the system to support the best universities’ but control immigration, says Home Office

Today, British Future, an independent think tank, released a report on the implementation of the EU referendum in the UK, titled Report of the Inquiry into securing the status of EEA+ nationals in the UK (EEA includes Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland in addition to EU countries).  The inquiry explores options towards existing rights of EU citizens, rather than future immigration… Read more » about British Government ‘morally wrong’ to use EEA+ nationals in the UK as bargaining chips, report concludes

HEFCE has announced its consultation on the second Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021).  The joint consultation between the four UK funding bodies proposes incorporating recommendations provided in Lord Stern’s Independent Review whilst also reflecting and building on the successes of the first 2014 REF. HEFCE was ‘invited to work alongside the other funding bodies to… Read more » about Consultation on the 2nd REF announced

The 2016 IMD World Talent Ranking and Report, produced by IMD World Competitiveness Center, explores the extent to which countries develop, attract and retain talent to sustain the talent pool available for enterprises operating in those countries. The study is based on the overall ranking for 61 world economies ranked from the most to the… Read more » about The UK ranks 20th out of 61 countries in the 2016 IMD World Talent Ranking

Yesterday, the Higher Education and Research Bill received its second reading in the House of Lords. The debate pulled in a ‘number of Members’ which Viscount Younger of Leckie – who led the research and innovation aspects of the Bill – noted was ‘testament to the interest that the Bill is engendering’ being ‘important legislation’…. Read more » about HE & Research Bill receives 2nd Reading in House of Lords

Bournemouth University’s very own Vice Chancellor Professor John Vinney has written Research and Teaching – joined at the hip or driven apart? as guest writer for Hepi. Professor Vinney addresses the challenges and concerns of introducing the TEF, and suggests there are ‘other ways to support the links between research and teaching in the new structures as they are developed’…. Read more » about BU Vice Chancellor Professor John Vinney Writes for Hepi about Research and Teaching

Speaking on ITV’s Peston on Sunday yesterday, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson yet again managed to cause a bit of a stir in the media as he revealed he does not feel students should be included in the immigration figures. Questioned on immigration, he said that having had uncontrolled immigration which spiked numbers to a new high recently, there is ‘no… Read more » about Boris Johnson says ‘I am particularly in agreement with my brother’

This week, the Times Higher Education‘s BRICS & Emerging Economies University Rankings 2017 were announced. The rankings look at the same 13 performance indicators used in the THE World University Rankings to judge institutions in 41 countries defined as ‘advanced emerging’, ‘secondary emerging’ or ‘frontier’ economies by the FTSE as well as all the BRICS nations. China… Read more » about BRICS & Emerging Economies University Rankings 2017 are out!

The Minister of Universities and Science Jo Johnson and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy have today released an announcement that “EU nationals remain eligible for postgraduate support from UK’s Research Councils“. This follows from an earlier announcement in October which announced that EU nationals applying for undergraduate and masters’ courses starting in… Read more » about The UK demonstrates further commitment towards EU students