The HE week

Good morning and welcome to the first of our weekly newsletter rounding up what's important in the sector this week and looking ahead to HE comings and goings over the coming days. The new Parliament is swinging back in to action and all eyes are on the State Opening and Queen's Speech on Wednesday.

The Queen speaks
A look at the Conservative Party's election-winning manifesto gives the contours of the party's agenda for the next five years. Although we're not expecting a new higher education bill this week, there's plenty that Her Majesty will announce on Wednesday that will affect the sector deeply - the EU Referendum Bill fires the starting gun on the big debate about the UK's future in Europe, the Immigration Bill will see a fresh crack-down, the City Devolution Bill will boost the 'Northern Powerhouse' and give city-regions greater autonomy, the Counter-extremism Bill will include measures that affects universities, the Repeal of the Human Rights Act will have all sorts of consequences for students and universities. We'll be covering all of this with analysis as it happens along with the reaction and fallout at Wonkhe as per usual. 

In league 

Over the weekend, the Guardian published its university league tables - the big story being the rise of Coventry University to 15th place (up from 27 last year). Coventry's vice chancellor John Latham said that they were "challenging the system". They're certainly doing something to the system as the post-1992 institution has risen above Russell Group players like Birmingham (17) and Manchester (29).

GPA in play
On Thursday the HEA will publish the results of its Grade Point Average pilot. Early briefing to the press indicated a positive result and recommendations for a wider roll-out. Degree classifications have been written-off before, but this time there's a workable alternative that could be put in place. Expect the sector debate to heat up about this once again.

Sub fuss
Radical Oxford University students have voted in a referendum to keep the traditional 'subfusc' uniforms worn whilst sitting exams. Arguments that the tradition was 'elitist' and 'archaic' only served to bolster the Yes campaign which won a convincing 75.8% to 24.2%.

On Wonkhe
Andy Youell has a new piece about designing a the data landscape. Alistair Jarvis makes the HE case for staying in the EU. We sit down with University Alliance CEO Maddalaine Ansell to talk about her career in policy and Jonathan Simons reviews Andrew McGettigan's latest work for HEPI on the RAB charge. 

Watch out out for: 

Thursday
STATS: UCAS Applicant Figures (interim)
REPORT: British Council report on students and oversees higher education
REPORT: HEA report of the GPA Pilot Project

Friday
DEADLINE: HEDIIP HECoS Stage 2 consultation
DEADLINE: BIS Support for postgraduate study consultation (remember that one?)

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