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Good morning. Christmas is slowly coming in to view, but it appears the sector will try and race to the finish as reports are flying out from all directions: the event schedule shows no sign of slowing either. The Spending Review still looms large, and although there is a general sense of relief that the worst case scenario did not come to pass, there is still a mountain of new policy to get our heads around.
The Spending Review: Unbundled
Last Wednesday the Chancellor announced the much anticipated Spending Review which plots a course for government spending until the 2020 General Election. BIS is being cut by 17% annually which although is lower than expected, still means there's still pain on the horizon - there's much in the small print to unpack and understand. Most also agree that there are plenty of uncertainties that could throw the five year plan off course. We've been busy getting to grips with it all on the site and have most bases covered right now for you, and plenty more to follow:
Firstly a summary of all measures relating to HE and research, updated several times since the announcement. Postgraduate loans, part time grants, a fresh review of the REF, the potential cost of the apprenticeship levy, relaxing of the ELQ rules for STEM subjects, 50% cut to the Student Opportunity Fund and much more besides - this was one of the busiest financial statements for HE in a long time.
Loan repayment freeze is a tax on social mobility Andrew McGettigan runs the numbers in the Government's response to their consultation on freezing the repayment rate and demolishes the policy, showing how and why it will hit lower and middle earning graduates the hardest, and could ultimately damage confidence in the HE finance system.
Loans, RAB and the discount rate Andrew McGettigan again delves in to the small print of Government announcements and changes relating to the treatment of loans, explains how the Discount Rate works and shows why we'll have to wait for next year's Budget and the RAB allocation to understand the full scale of the cuts to BIS.
The great NHS bursary gamble student finance expert David Malcolm unpicks the Government's policy to switch support for nurses to student loans. He outlines the risks of this approach across a range of policy areas and cautions those in the sector that may hope this could lead to more income.
Revisiting the unthinkable predictions Julian Gravatt returns to his seminal work from December 2014 'thinking the unthinkable' about what a big cut meant for the BIS budget in reality and finds the sector almost getting away with it this time, but with uncertainties about the future. He argues that the biggest cut to universities is still the rise in national insurance for anyone in their employer's pension scheme (which was announced in 2013) and will take hundreds of millions of pounds a year from universities and their staff, starting in April 2016.
There may be trouble ahead Martin McQuillan looks as far ahead in the five year plan as possible and argues that lots of things need to go right for the Chancellor for there not to be the need for further cuts in the future.
In the Bleak Midwinter? Andy Westwood reviews the Spending Review, taking the initial temperature of universities and science on the day of the announcements (via the medium of Christmas singles).
The sector's initial reaction to the Spending Review is rounded up on Policy Watch.
What to look out for this week:
Students back the EU, for now
Today HEPI publishes a report based on polling of students which shows strong backing for Britain remaining a member of the EU. In fact 7 out of 10 students would vote to stay in the EU if the referendum were held tomorrow. However the argument is far from settled, with high amounts of 'don't knows' and the polling showing that many students have not yet given the issue a great deal of thought. Like other groups, they are likely to be influenced to some extent by the outcomes of the renegotiation (or at least the spin put on the outcomes).
Is Prevent the best cure?
Later today HEFCE is planning to publish its guidance to universities on compliance with the Prevent Agenda - the Government's strategy to counter violent extremism. This duty was handed down to HEFCE several months ago and sits uncomfortably with the Council, given the myriad issues with translating it proportionally and adequately to a university context. It also amounts to a much more interventionist approach to regulation than HEFCE is used to. The guidance is expected to set out how universities will need to report its policies and procedures back to HEFCE as well as the role of governing bodies who are going to be asked to play a proactive role in providing assurance to HEFCE year-round.
Diamonds are forever
Reform is afoot in the Welsh HE funding system, which Cardiff University's vice chancellor Colin Riorden yesterday called "unsustainable". Universities Wales is today publishing its manifesto ahead of the 2016 Welsh Assembly election, and is likely to set out the case for reform in more detail. At some point this week as well, we may see an interim report from Ian Diamond's review of higher education student finance arrangements in Wales - a review commissioned by the Welsh Government in February 2014. Although the part of the review being published imminently is unlikely to offer any concrete recommendations - these are more likely to follow early next year. The review is being followed closely across the policy community as its outcomes could have big implications for student funding and finance across all UK nations; as the interrelationship grows more complicated by the month the changes to the systems being made by each administration start to mount up.
Nobody expects the BIS Select Committee
The Commons BIS Select Committee are holding a bumper evidence session streamed live to the world on Tuesday morning at 9.15 as part of their inquiry in to quality assessment. Cleverly orchestrated to see off their competition on the airwaves in the form of the Jeremy Kyle Show, Homes Under the Hammer and a Frasier re-run, the Committee appears to have called in the entire sector to give evidence at once. Appearances include NUS President Megan Dunn, UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt, Birmingham VC (and former HEFCE CEO) David Eastwood on behalf of the Russell Group, Winchester's Joy Carter on behalf of GuildHE, Dave Phoenix from London South Bank for Million Plus, Greenwich's David Maguire for University Alliance, Wonkhe regular James Wilsdon, the list goes on. Those in the hot seat are likely to be on their best behavior, but with canny MPs already timing the review to cause maximum disruption to a very active policy development process, they are well-placed to use the occasion to cause a splash. It will be interesting to see how well the sector representatives 'hold the line' and how far the Committee will be able to exploit some of the big differences in views and approach across the interviewees.
Deadline for satisfaction
Friday at noon sees the deadline to respond to HEFCE's consultation on the future of NSS and Unistats. The consultation was launched when the TEF was little more than a Monday Morning Briefing rumour, and so following the Green Paper, the future shape of the survey has taken on added importance, as it will be one of the key metrics input in to the TEF. You can respond here.
You might have missed
Over with our friends at the Guardian HE Network, I write about the leadership challenge for vice chancellors brought by the TEF and coming HE reforms. Nurse's watery prescription for research is James Wilsdon's authoritative analysis of the Nurse Review of research councils. How the legal nature of the student - university relationship has changed - by Smita Jamdar. Enhancing student representative systems - Alex Bols offers a new framework. We were in Worcester live-blogging the GuildHE Annual Conference - you can catch up with all of that here. Finally, Registrarism unveiled a brand new ranking of entirely fictional universities.
Let me know what I missed or what else you'd like to see in the Monday Morning Briefing. Have a great week.
Mark
The rest of the week's HE agenda
Monday 30th November
REPORT: HEPI - What students think of EU membership research
REPORT: HEFCE Prevent Strategy
REPORT: Universities Wales manifesto ahead of 2016 Assembly election
Tuesday 1st December
PARLIAMENTARY: BIS Committee taking evidence on assessing quality of HE
REPORT: Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission annual report
EVENT: Vitae Connections: Supporting Open Researchers, Leeds
EVENT: ARMA Regional Symposium, Edinburgh
EVENT: HEPI Annual Lecture 2015
- Andreas Schleicher
EVENT: AoC NE College HE Network, Durham
EVENT: UKCGE Supporting the Mental Health & Wellbeing of PG Students
EVENT: LFHE Aurora, Glasgow
Wednesday 2nd December
REPORT: SLC statistical release - Student Support for HE Finance
EVENT: Student mothers in higher education, London
EVENT: UCEA Equal Pay Reviews workshop, London
EVENT: UUK/ECU: Equality and Diversity in Higher Education
EVENT: ARMA Postgraduate Research workshop, Bristol
EVENT: OBHE The New Landscape of HE, London (until 3 December)
EVENT: CASE Regular Giving Conference, Leeds (until 3 December)
Thursday 3rd December
REPORT: UUK - patterns of higher education
EVENT: Westminster Forum Improving student success and retention conference, London
EVENT: ARMA Managing Cultural Change of New Requirements workshop, London
EVENT: ARMA Communicating Effectively webinar
EVENT: Inside Gov - Reforming Education Through Improving Qualifications and Assessment
EVENT: HEA inspire – sharing great practice in Social Science teaching and learning
EVENT: HEA teaching and learning in social sciences conference
Friday 4th December
EVENT: AHUA Scotland Regional Meeting
MEETING: Wonkhe Board
DEADLINE: HEFCE NSS/Unistats Consultation
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