Universities at the heart of ‘industrial activism’

by Conor Ryan

John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, spoke positively of the role higher education  played in supporting ‘industrial activism’ in different parts of the country, when he addressed delegates as the G20 summit was also concluding in London.

Denham’s long-term approach to funding is welcome

by Conor Ryan

Universities secretary John Denham said that Government was keen to avoid short-term funding decisions in the light of the recession. Ministers would – both in the run-up to the Budget and afterwards – want to consider funding for the sector in broad terms over a five-year period and would want to work with the sector to develop this.

A call for greater understanding

by Alex Bols

The second day of the conference brought out a number of interesting points. Firstly is that higher education has significantly expanded in the past 30 years – both in terms of numbers of students and institutions. But perhaps the most striking difference is not the change in size but the way in which HE has changed.

Interesting times call for inspired leadership

by Alison Johns

In his plenary on ‘Cross-cutting themes and Leadership, Governance and Management’, HEFCE Chair Tim Melville-Ross had the unenviable task of pulling out the cross-cutting themes from all the – lively and varied – conference discussions. He identified these as follows:

Are academics ready for the 3am phone call?

by Conor Ryan

Are university staff ready to take a 3am call from a student who wants help with their essay? This was one of the interesting issues raised by HEFCE Chair Tim Melville Ross at a plenary session of the conference this morning.

Winning public battles on what it means to be a student today

by Conor Ryan

New thinking about students will be needed from universities in a period of constrained public funding. But there is also an important challenge in explaining to the public both the expectations that are placed on students and the contribution that widening participation programmes make to social mobility.

Meeting the challenges of economy and employers

by Conor Ryan

Universities face significant challenges when it comes to delivering research and engaging with employers in the next few decades. Delegates brought their insights on these challenges to the conference this morning.

Maintaining autonomy means working together

by Tony Bruce

Professor Geoff Crossick’s presentation to the conference on autonomy raised some fundamental issues about the relationship between universities and the state, and the role of the funding council.

We must talk about quality

By the HEFCE communications team

The debate on public confidence in the quality of higher education started before the official ‘challenge debate’ with questions at the first plenary on quality. A number of vice-chancellors had been on the receiving end of a grilling by the innovation, universities and skills select committee hearings on quality and standards.

No risk to institutional autonomy?

by Bahram Bekhradnia

The breakout session on autonomy was highly entertaining, though not exactly mould-breaking – nor even, in the words of Geoff Crossick, Warden of Goldsmiths, who presented – very important. He didn’t mean that the topic wasn’t important, but that the discussion wasn’t going to lead anywhere nor add to our insights. But it was fun.