The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Peter Mandelson, hammered another nail into the coffin of UK higher education in his letter of 22nd December to the Chairman of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) confirming the Council’s budget for 2010/11. As has been widely reported (Independent, BBC, Daily Mail, Guardian) [...]
Posts Tagged as ‘UK’
December 9, 2009
Pre-Budget report: impact on higher education
The Chancellor’s pre-budget report makes grim reading for higher education. The key paragraph notes the following savings:
“£600 million from higher education and science and research budgets from a combination of changes to student support within existing arrangements; efficiency savings and prioritisation across universities, science and research; some switching of modes of study in higher education; [...]
November 7, 2009
Putting a value on the UK’s universities
The latest report on the ‘added value’ of universities in this country undertaken by academics at the University of Strathclyde for Universities UK, has found that “Universities in the UK now generate £59 billion for the UK economy putting the higher education sector ahead of the agricultural, advertising, pharmaceutical and postal industries, according to new [...]
November 5, 2009
Against Mandelson’s view of higher education in Britain
On the 3rd November, Lord Mandelson announced what his Department of Business, Innovation and Skills described as “a new framework for the future success of higher education”. Perhaps this could lead to a certain kind of success, but it hammers with renewed vigour another nail into the coffin of universities in the UK.
As his Department [...]
October 11, 2009
Solving the crises facing UK universities
The time has come to ignite a debate about the real purpose of universities in the UK. I believe passionately that universities should be about the advancement of knowledge, and the pursuit of excellence in research and teaching; they are not just about further education for the masses. All too often universities in the UK [...]
June 21, 2009
Digital Britain
The UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (I still think this is a crazy mixture, but…) published its final report on Digital Britain on 16th June 2009. It claims that “The Digital Britain Report is the Government’s strategic vision for ensuring that the UK is at the leading edge of the global digital economy. [...]
April 28, 2009
UK Government announces that it has no plans to create a central database for storing communications data
The UK’s Home Office has recently announced that it no longer has any plans to create a centralised database to store all communciations data. In its consultation paper presented to Parliament in April 2009, and entitled “Protecting the Public in a Changing Communications Environment“, the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith commented that “this consultation explicitly rules [...]
March 8, 2009
UK surveillance update…
The Times yesterday published another article on CCTV cameras and surveillance in the UK, noting that the frequently cited claim that there are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in use in the UK is based on a survey of only two streets in London seven years ago! Police forces across the country are now being asked [...]
February 8, 2009
Is the UK becoming a police state?
The Sunday Times published a front page report today noting that: ‘THE government is building a secret database to track and hold the international travel records of all 60m Britons. The intelligence centre will store names, addresses, telephone numbers, seat reservations, travel itineraries and credit card details for all 250m passenger movements [...]
