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 of the Transparency 2021 information. This relates to the OfS F1 condition of registration on the award of degrees, against which reporting requirements have been reduced to take account of the disruption caused by the pandemic.
COMPLAINTS
There has been widespread coverage of a report from the Office for the Independent Adjudicator for HE (OIA) on complaints in 2020, which were up 10% on 2019: a lower proportion of the total number related to academic appeals in 2020 than in 2019 (33%, down from 48%). There is particular controversy about Clare College, Cambridge, which has refused to pay the student compensation recommended by the OIA.
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
This week BBC3 put out a documentary which asked whether UK universities were institutionally racist. It’s worth a watch to help understand the issue of racism on campuses. Meanwhile, the Universities Minister gave evidence to the Education Select Committee on issues including the government’s potentially conflicting approaches to free speech and antisemitism. The session got widespread coverage and there is a recap on Wonkhe.
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