ACCESS AND PARTICIPATION Bath's SU President, Franci Masala, has a blog post on the Wonkhe website which highlights the important role students and Student Unions can play in ensuring that universities are held accountable for delivery against their Access and...

COVID On Monday, the Universities Minister wrote to universities and students confirming that remaining restrictions on in-person teaching would be lifted from 17 May. Students returning to campus will be encouraged to take a Covid test before traveling and three...

COVID Although the government has not yet announced when universities will be allowed to re-open their campuses, new data from the Office for National Statistics suggests that 80% of students are now living where they go to university. Meanwhile, there...

ADMISSIONS AND RECRUITMENT For anyone interested in demand for HE, admissions numbers, fairness and the way that demographics and this year’s exam arrangements feed into this, there is a useful article on Wonkhe.   REGULATORY OfS has published its specification...

COVID The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has responded to an open letter from 20 students’ unions calling for action to uphold student rights by saying that “consumer enforcement action may not be the best or quickest solution”. The CMA’s...

COVID This week, the Minister confirmed that students will be advised to return to campus only when the country enters step 3 of the lockdown exit plan, currently scheduled for 17 May. Letters from the Minister to institutions and students...

GOVERNANCE AND REGULATION OfS has announced the immediate introduction of a new condition of registration designed to protect the interests of students where a higher education provider has to close or runs into severe financial difficulty. The government has published...

COVID The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021 passed a vote in the House of Commons on Thursday. The Regulations don’t do much to facilitate a full national return to campus after Easter. Wonkhe has an interesting article...

RESEARCH FUNDING A study hosted on the HEPI blog warns that the UK is likely to miss its target of spending 2.4% of GDP on research and development by 2027. The Russell Group of universities has written to the Prime...

COVID THE reports that English university leaders are pushing for a majority return to campus after Easter if infection rates continue to fall. It is timely, therefore, that OfS has updated its guidance on the subject. OfS has also updated...