February 2021 highlights

Data releases:

HESA released: UK Performance Indicators: Non-continuation, 2019/20 and Higher Education Staff Data 2019/20

Longer reads:

2021 Labour Market Report
West Yorkshire Combined Authority

This report provides an assessment of West Yorkshire’s skills needs based on a detailed analysis of the supply and demand of skills together with evidence of mismatch and market failure.

The Working Paper Series of the UK2070 Commission
Including A response to the UK2070 Commission’s Second Report from The Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at Newcastle University

Authors: Professor Andy Pike, Professor Mike Coombes, Louise Kempton, Professor Danny MacKinnon, Dr. Peter O’Brien

Unequal Britain
Policy Institute at King’s College London, in collaboration with the UK in a Changing Europe, to inform the Institute for Fiscal Studies Deaton Review of Inequalities

The study focuses on attitudes to different forms of inequality in light of Covid-19 and shows that one rare point of agreement among the British public is on the need to tackle geographical inequalities.

The University of Life: Employability and Essential Life Skills at University
The Sutton Trust

"Traditionally, there has been a focus on the academic side of university. But with more young people studying for degrees in an increasingly competitive job market, it is now becoming clear that a degree alone is not enough for young people to succeed in the world of work.

Even if two young people go to the same university and achieve the same degree classification, if one of them is from a higher socio-economic background, they will be more likely to gain a top job, and also to earn a higher salary, than their equally academically qualified peers from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

This report, authored by Rebecca Montacute, with Erica Holt-White and Alice Gent, looks at a range of activities offered at university, to examine how well they develop employability and essential life skills in students, as well as whether access to such opportunities differs by socio-economic background."

Shorter reads: 

Yorkshire’s future depends on higher and further education
Dr Peter O'Brien, YU's Executive Director  

The last twelve months have seen COVID-19 impact in ways we could never have imagined. No one can fail to be shocked by the stories of how the virus has devastated lives, communities, businesses and places, but perhaps at the same time we are also inspired and thankful for the efforts of those on the front-line who have kept essential services functioning.

YU’s submission to the Inward Foreign Direct Investment inquiry – International Trade Select Committee

Read the full response here.

Charlie Ball's UK graduate labour market update: 23 February
Lumanite Prospects/ JiSC

Charlie Ball's latest summary of data, research and reports on the labour market includes a look at the future of work over the next decade, and an analysis of outcomes for graduates with disabilities.

Understanding progress in the 2020/21 academic year: Interim findings
Department for Education

This report presents the Education Policy Institute and Renaissance Learning’s first assessment of the learning loss experienced by pupils in England as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Mature students in England
House of Commons Library Research Briefing

This House of Commons briefing paper provides information and statistics on mature students and discusses the decline in mature student numbers and highlights policy issues affecting these students.

Access all ARIAs: the UK’s newest research funder
David Kernohan, WonkHE

"The UK's newest research funder has a name and the beginnings of a remit, but - as David Kernohan explains - so many questions remain. It appears to be fundamental to the British national character that we see ourselves as a nation of inventors."

Skills development is not just about transition into work: we need innovative thinking about higher level skills too
Professor Paul Layzell, Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London and James Bennett, Director of StoryFutures Academy, HEPI

"The UK has a skills challenge. On this, business leaders, politicians, educators and commentators can all agree. Whether the driver is economic prosperity in a post-Brexit or post-pandemic world, the current levelling-up agenda or the productivity deficit, there are critical areas of skill shortage – not least in health sciences, product design and engineering, tackling climate change or embracing disruptive technologies."

Civic Universities and Social Enterprise
Lucy Findlay MBE, Managing Director of Social Enterprise Company CIC and Dr Diana Beech, Chief Executive of London Higher, HEPI

"In its 2019 manifesto, the Government pledged to strengthen universities’ and colleges’ civic role. Now, over a year on, it is right to ask how universities can prove their civic credentials and boost their ‘value-added’ to society in the process. The advent of the Civic University Network and the ambition that universities around the country should create Civic University Agreements have clearly helped us to recognise the important role that universities play in civic engagement and the development of the communities in which they are based. Yet, little did we know that this role would be tested and challenged as much as it has been over the last year."

Covid-19 and the University Experience
The Sutton Trust

"University students have faced a challenging year, and the academic experience has been widely discussed. But higher education is much broader than just what happens in the lecture hall, with the benefits of the university experience coming from participation in extra-curricular activities, work placements and other enrichment activities, as well as meeting new people and participating in university social life.

This year, with limits on in person activities, the risk of “Zoom fatigue” after a long day of lectures and students perhaps apprehensive about taking part in social activities with new people online, access to these activities has also looked very different. This brief explores the participation of undergraduate students in wider university life during the pandemic, and how this is influenced by the socio-economic background of students."

Longer reads:

Higher education: free speech and academic freedom
Department for Education

Sets out proposals to strengthen freedom of speech and academic freedom in higher education in England.

Research and Innovation in the North of England
Transport for the North

Innovation is regarded as a strong driver of productivity and economic growth. The North has a significant array of science and innovation assets, but is currently punching below its weight in terms of innovation and the economic contribution it makes. This unique study was commissioned to explore the nature of innovation networks in the North of England, and to understand the key drivers, enablers and barriers to those processes. The work was undertaken by Cambridge Econometrics in partnership with the University of Sheffield, Oxford Brookes University and the University of Dublin. It was funded and managed by Transport for the North, in collaboration with the N8, the NP11 and Innovate UK.

Shorter reads:

Productivity Insights Network Top 10: From novel research methods, the green economy, inclusive practice and responding to a global pandemic: Highlights from 2020.

"If you were to draw up a shortlist of words commonly used to describe 2020, challenging would almost certainly be on it. Despite the numerous challenges that we have all faced, thanks to the commitment and support of our tremendous Co-Investigators and wider network, we have been able to continue producing insightful and quality research into the UK’s Productivity Puzzle. To this end, we thought that for our final blog of the year we would identify 10 top themes that our network has contributed too (though not an exhaustive list). Keep reading to see how!"

HESA Spring: Widening participation UKPI
David Kernohan, WonkHE

"Widening participation data moves very slowly – frustratingly so. The Widening Participation HESA UKPI is the gold standard for tracking the pace of change in the socio-economic makeup of each cohort applying to providers registered with the Office for Students."

Twelve examples of how to extend university ‘civic’ engagement
James Ransom, YU Associate

"In July 2020, Yorkshire Universities, the Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network and the NHS Confederation published Levelling Up Yorkshire and Humber: health as the new wealth post-COVID. The report set out the bold actions that are needed by local and national leadership to embed a renewed focus on health, tackle long-standing regional inequalities, and boost future investment in Yorkshire’s health and life sciences assets as we begin living with and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic."

International and EU students in higher education in the UK FAQs
The House of Commons Library

This House of Commons briefing paper answers some frequently asked questions about international and EU students in the UK. It sets out statistics in this area and outlines policy issues including the potential impact of Brexit and the net migration target on international and EU student recruitment.

Nursing applications soar as UCAS publishes latest undergraduate applicant analysis UCAS

"Over 60,000 people are keen to be part of the fightback against coronavirus and embark on a career in nursing according to latest university application statistics, published today by UCAS." (18 Feb 2021).

UCAS January application deadline 2021 in depth
David Kernohan, WonkHE

"This is not your usual January deadline. Literally so. For 2021 applicants were given an extra two weeks to complete their UCAS forms – a 15 January deadline in other years was a 29 January deadline for 2021. So we need to be careful in comparing this data with previous years."

Covid economic fallout leads to rise in postgraduate applications
The Guardian

"There are almost 600,000 postgraduate students in the UK, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, but how has the postgraduate job market fared during the pandemic and which sectors are still recruiting?"

Life science sector data, 2020
Office for Life Science

Data on the life science sector in the UK and other countries.

Watch:

Devolution, data and levelling up: Can the devolution of data support the country in the recovery and in the future?
Centre for Cities

"The pandemic has underlined the importance of policy makers using data effectively to help them make decisions in a crisis. However, at the same time, it has exposed the lack of good data that is made available to support local leaders, such as mayors and council leaders, and help them make decisions. For this event we were joined by Tom Forth, ODI Leeds; Rebecca Riley, City-REDI and Professor Arpana Verma, University of Manchester who discussed the following questions."

Building back better: Reaching England’s left behind children 
Speech by the Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England

Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has delivered her final speech in post with a challenge to the Prime Minister to show he is serious about children by putting them at the heart of his post-Covid plans. Her speech warned that the Prime Minister’s promise to ‘level up’ will be ‘just a slogan unless it focuses on children’.

Listen:

England's Level Best
Sebastian Payne on BBC4

"When Boris Johnson won the 2019 election, he did so pledging to tackle regional inequality and invest in parts of the country that felt left behind. His desire to 'level up' the UK is not the first attempt by a government to tackle one of the most fundamental problems in the country’s economy. But his plans were quickly derailed by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now he faces the enormous challenge of delivering tangible improvements to the lives of those who voted for him, while rebuilding the country after successive lockdowns. Can it be done?"

Longer reads:

Life on low pay: in the pandemic
Living Wage Foundation

"Building on our previous 'Life on Low Pay' report, this report explores the experiences of full-time, below-Living-Wage employees based on polling of 2,128 adults conducted by Survation in December 2020. We explore the impacts of the pandemic on pay, and the broader implications of being in low-paid work for health, finances and family life."

UK Innovation Report
Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy

"The UK faces significant challenges as it seeks to return to sustained and inclusive growth following the deepest economic recession since the Second World War. There is a pressing need to support a swift economic and social recovery from the impacts of COVID-19. Moreover, fundamental challenges present before the pandemic are likely to dictate the shape of the UK economy for years to come: increasing international competition; erosion of market share in key industries; hollowing out of supply chains; the need to reduce carbon emissions; and regional imbalances."

UK Research and Innovation’s management of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund
NAO

"The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (the Department) has overall responsibility for the government’s spending on science, research and innovation. One of its objectives is to deliver the UK’s Industrial Strategy by, among other things, promoting investment in science, research and innovation to make sure the government’s ambition of the UK becoming the ‘most innovative country’ is fulfilled."

Estimating the potential impact of policy changes on international student demand for UK higher education
London Economics

London Economics were commissioned by the Department for Education to undertake an analysis of:

• The price elasticity of international student enrolments with respect to changes in the level of tuition fees charged – separately at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and for EU and non-EU domiciled students.

• The potential impact on first-year EU student enrolments and associated tuition fee income for UK higher education institutions (HEIs) resulting from:

• The removal of tuition fee loan and grant support (where applicable) for EU students;

• The harmonisation of tuition fees charged to EU and non-EU students (i.e. the de-coupling of EU and Home fees);

• ​͏͏Changes to the post-study work rights for EU students to those of non-EU students; and

• ​͏͏Changes to the rights to bring dependants for EU students to those of non-EU students.

Shorter reads: 

Improving local prosperity: the big challenge for higher education in 2021
Chris Millward

"When the Civic University Commission (CUC) was launched in July 2019, I set out how I thought universities’ ambitions to improve access and student outcomes, for which they are accountable to the Office for Students (OfS), could benefit local communities. This has become more important during the 18 months since."

UK Graduate Market Updates from 2nd & 9th February
Charlie Ball

Charlie Ball provides his regular update on the graduate labour market, summarising the key highlights from the week's news, data and research brought to you by Prospects Luminate at Jisc.

R&D, Transport, Skills, and Growth
Tom Forth

"The last few months have been hectic. You’ll see our new product announcements at The Data City next week which explain why. In a time where I haven’t had much chance to reply, I’ve read two fantastic blog posts on regional development in the UK.

• The first is by Henry Overman, on transport investment decisions by the UK government. It argues and shows in the accompanying paper that “while there is no strong evidence of significant regional differences, the data available is problematic”.

• The second is by Paul Swinney, on R&D decisions by the UK government. It argues that “discussions on R&D spending need to move beyond geographic imbalances in public funding if they are to help policy makers encourage innovation in other parts of the country.”

HESA, HESES and the missing students
David Kernohan, WonkHE

"There’s a lot of data about students out today, but none of it answers the key question of how many students are enrolled (as of early December 2020) at universities in the UK, and how many that might be expected to be enrolled are not."

The value of a national TEF is in enhancing university learning and teaching
Shirley Pearce, WonkHE  

The TEF will serve public and student interests best if it drives teaching enhancement in universities. Shirley Pearce, independent reviewer of the TEF, sets out what that could mean in practice.

"It is great that the TEF review is finally out in the open and the government accepts most of my recommendations."
Related blog: Questioning the statistics that underpin TEF by David Kernohan, WonkHE

The higher education sector needs high integrity carbon offsetting – it starts by asking the right questions
Piers Forster & Eli Mitchell-Larson, HEPI

This blog was kindly contributed by Piers M Forster, University of Leeds and Eli Mitchell-Larson, University of Oxford. This blog builds on a COP26 UK University Network Briefing: How can carbon offsetting help UK further and higher education institutions achieve net zero emissions? The Briefing was authored by a mix of eleven researchers and sustainability managers representing seven higher education institutions in the UK. It will form the basis of EAUC discussions on the role of offsetting across the sector.

From Moonshots to Earthshots
Mariana Mazzucato

"The pandemic has highlighted the cost of neglecting public investment, both in the welfare state and value creation. But the crisis has also created a huge opportunity to pursue industrial policies beyond traditional sectoral and technological silos, and to restore mission-driven governance in the public interest."

Watch: 

Improving local prosperity through pathways and participation webinar
Civic University Network

Hosted by Natalie Day, Head of Policy and Strategy, Sheffield Hallam University, the webinar included an opening statement from each speaker followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with the audience.

The panel included:

• Chris Millward – Director for Fair Access and Participation, The Office for Students

• Professor Karen Stanton – Vice-Chancellor, Solent University

• Dr Omar Khan – Director, TASO and Member of Civic University Network Advisory Group

• Sammy Wright – Lead Commissioner for Schools and HE, Social Mobility Commission, Vice Principal of Southmoor Academy, Sunderland

• Professor Trevor McMillan – Vice-Chancellor, Keele University

Shorter reads: 

EU-UK relations after Brexit: what the deal means for universities
European University Association briefing

In late December 2020, the European Union and the United Kingdom concluded a Trade and Cooperation Agreement, setting the framework for their future cooperation in the post-Brexit era. To better understand the new relationship, EUA has prepared this briefing on the specific implications for universities. It covers EU programmes, travel, data protection and private provision of education services.

Viewpoint: Research’s ‘lone genius’ image is unhelpful
Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, UKRI

UKRI chief executive Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser on why we must recognise the vital contribution of everyone in research and innovation and debunk the Einstein myth.

The biggest problem facing UK universities? The lack of ‘friends beyond their borders’
Nick Hillman, HEPI

Spending reviews and déjà vu. After the recent rash of documents from the Department for Education, we must raise our eyes to the next spending review, when the Government decides how much is to be spent on different priorities over the next few years. I have a serious case of déjà vu

WonkHE UCAS End of Cycle 2020 analysis:

Winners and losers

All the action from the 2020 UCAS cycle - David Kernohan graphs who's up, who's down, and who's recruiting regionally.

Tracing the Chris Whitty effect in the 2020 end of cycle admissions subject data

Sander Kristel breaks down the subject trends in this year's end of cycle data, finding a Covid boost for health subjects.

Unconditional offers, student characteristics

A high-profile clampdown on various unconditional offers doesn't seem to have slowed the growth of such practices. David Kernohan plots unconditional offers, and measures of student diversity for the 2020 intake.

Watch:

Public Health England and YU: Supporting Positive Mental Health during Covid-19: A Good Practice Sharing Event for Universities

This event brought together universities and higher education institutions from across Yorkshire and the Humber to share good practice on promoting positive mental health during COVID-19. It aimed to illustrate the impact that the pandemic has had on the wellbeing of students and will outline some of the key national resources and support available from Public Health England and other agencies. The event brought together a range of professional perspectives and highlight examples of how positive student health and wellbeing is being promoted currently within Yorkshire and the Humber. The webinar will hear contributions from Yorkshire Universities, Public Health England, NHS England Clinical Networks, the University of West of England and a number of universities from across the region.

Watch the recording of the event here.

Centre for Progressive Policy: The role of education in levelling up the North

"As the rate of unemployment starts to rise and more redundancies are expected into the first half of 2021, the question of how we reskill and upskill young people and older adults in the workforce has come to the fore. The pandemic has also raised big questions about the value we place on keyworkers and what we define as essential work in a predominately knowledge-driven economy. The current Further Education system must now be geared up for this challenge, made more agile and responsive than ever if it is to meet the needs of new and evolving sectors as they thrive – or fade – in the wake of Covid-19."

Panellists in discussion:

• Charlotte Alldritt, Director, Centre for Progressive Policy (Chair)

• Zoë Billingham, Head of Policy and Engagement, Centre for Progressive Policy

• Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

• David Goodhart, Head of Demography, Immigration & Integration, Policy Exchange

• The Rt Hon. Lord David Willetts, President of the Advisory Council and Intergenerational Centre, Resolution Foundation

View published Local Industrial Strategies:

• York, North Yorkshire LIS

• Humber LIS

• Greater Manchester LIS

• West Midlands LIS

• West of Englang LIS

• The Oxford-Cambridge Arc: Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Oxfordshire, the South East Midlands