Quality of the Student Experience and the Levelling up Agenda

  Since its inception in 2018 the Office for Students (OfS) has not placed any priority on the environmental and social sustainability agenda unlike its predecessors (Higher Education Funding Council; Quality Assurance Agency). So, I was interested to see it announce a new consultation on its next strategy. What caught my attention was the propositionContinue reading “Quality of the Student Experience and the Levelling up Agenda”

CONSULTATION ON THE OfS STRATEGY-2022-2025

The Office for Students(OfS) has just announced a change in emphasis to its regulatory strategy for university quality assurance:it’s about levelling up and the role of universities in this policy vacuum. “Three and a half years since our public launch, this consultation on our new strategy marks a significant milestone for the Office for StudentsContinue reading “CONSULTATION ON THE OfS STRATEGY-2022-2025”

Sustainability needs new approaches to adult learning: a role for citizens’ assemblies.

Adult learning for citizenship needs to respond to rapid global change which is economic, political, social, cultural and ecological. The destruction of the environment, and the various initiatives and actions, by individuals, communities, organisations and movements like the Climate Change school ‘strikers’ and Extinction Rebellion, set a bold and urgent context to repurposing adult citizenship education andContinue reading “Sustainability needs new approaches to adult learning: a role for citizens’ assemblies.”

Twelve Principles for Reinventing the 21 Century University

Universities are much in the news, but it is not good news. The rise in the  pandemic R number in the UK is having a profound impact on university students as they return in their thousands to campuses to find in many of them that they face total lockdown. So, no immersive quality campus experienceContinue reading “Twelve Principles for Reinventing the 21 Century University”

Climate Assembly UK: Talking about the whether…

Guest Blog by Barry Carney, Research Associate with Change Agents UK The UK is legally committed to net zero emissions by 2050. This target was put forward by the Government’s statutory advisor, the Committee on Climate Change, for delivering on the UK’s commitments to the Paris Agreement. The measures are a continued response to theContinue reading “Climate Assembly UK: Talking about the whether…”

CIVIC UNIVERSITIES and CIVIC RENEWAL

There is a growing interest in the idea of civic universities. It’s an idea which has a new resonance with many who believe its time for a reassessment of what a university is for(see my earlier blogs on From Green Academy to Ecological Universities and What is a University For?). I was particularly struck byContinue reading “CIVIC UNIVERSITIES and CIVIC RENEWAL”