Discount rates don’t work for higher education
We think short term about graduate returns, and the public accounting models we use bake this presumption in. DK has been at the green book again.
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Podcast: Funding, student loans, NSSmass
This week on the podcast the government's Strategic Priorities Grant allocation lands with a cash cut of just over £50m
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The engine of employability is relational, not informational
Jim Dickinson and Sharanya Sivarajah unpack new polling of over 18,000 students – and find that belonging, not the careers service, is what builds career confidence
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Higher education postcard: Caius College, Cambridge
This week’s card from Hugh Jones’ postbag comes from a double-barrelled hard-to-say kind of place
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Keeping cool on campus
Our campuses, residences, and buildings were not designed for the kind of heat the last few summers have offered. David Kernohan asks what providers are doing to keep staff and students safe
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Student loans can no longer be patched up. The system is rotten
Fewer entrants, worse earnings and a franchising crackdown collide in this year's student loan forecasts. Jim Dickinson asks who ends up carrying the cost
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Correspondence: HE Access and Participation Task and Finish Group and Minister for Skills: correspondence
Correspondence between the Higher Education Access and Participation Task and Finish Group Chair and the Minister for Skills.
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Official Statistics: Widening participation in higher education: 2026
Annual statistics on participation in higher education by pupil and study characteristics.
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Official Statistics: Student loan forecasts, England: 2025 to 2026
Forecasts of student borrower numbers, student loan expenditure and student loan repayments in England.
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The NSS shows us that students still seem to like higher education
The 2026 NSS results bring evidence that most students are happy with their academic experience, and particularly appreciate the skills of their academic staff
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Professional doctorates can be transformative – but no one seems to know what they are
Despite their undeniable benefits, take-up of professional doctorates appears to have hit a plateau. Vanessa Wilson has thoughts on how to make them more central to the landscape
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A governance gap puts student fairness at risk
Timetables clash, deadlines pile up, support goes unresourced – Zak Liddell makes the case that fair treatment is an operational question, not just a contractual one
