January 2021 highlights
YU Highlights
Week 4: 25-29 January 2021
Data:
Experimental statistics from the Student COVID-19 Insights Survey (SCIS) in England. Includes information on the behaviours, plans, opinions and well-being of higher education students in the context of guidance on the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Longer reads:
This report seeks to improve understanding of home work as well as to offer policy guidance that can pave the way to decent work for homeworkers both old and new.
The Living Standards Outlook 2021
Resolution Foundation: Mike Brewer, Adam Corlett, Karl Handscomb & Daniel Tomlinson
Resolution Foundation: Mike Brewer, Adam Corlett, Karl Handscomb & Daniel Tomlinson
"The new year has begun with worse news than expected. But the prospect of a rapid roll out of Covid-19 vaccines this year should mean that, given the depth of the downturn last year, there is a significant recovery in GDP during 2021. Most discussions of recovery begin and end with the path of GDP, but whether this feels like a recovery for UK families will depend on what happens to household incomes and living standards."
After the most challenging of years, Cities Outlook 2021 assesses the impact of Covid on urban life and on the Government’s promise to level up the economy.
"Covid has made levelling up at least four times harder. There’s a new risk of ‘levelling down’ in the South. The Prime Minister has promised to ‘level up’ the national economy — that was a big challenge even before the pandemic, but how has Covid changed that task?"
"There is no doubt that 2020 was a momentous year for both the education system and the labour market, but many of the trends we have seen are not new. They are underlying changes and challenges that have been previously reported in these bulletins and have been exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19. In this edition, we look at some of the trends already emerging before lockdown."
You can watch a related roundtable here.
What does it take to “level up” places? Evidence from international experience
Industrial Strategy Council
Industrial Strategy Council
Levelling up places takes investment, time and leadership, but our research clearly shows it is possible. This report considers international examples of effective place-based interventions that have led to “levelling up” and explores what can be learnt from how they design and implement place-based policies. Four international case study areas (Estonia, San Antonio, Greater Lille, and the Ruhr region) were selected based on their success in levelling up local economies and to provide a range of experience across different governance contexts.
You can watch the related webinar here.
The University Commercialisation and Innovation Policy Evidence Unit at the University of Cambridge (UCI) and NCUB have published a report that investigates the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ability of universities to contribute to innovation through the crisis and into the economic recovery. Tomas Ulrichsen, Director at UCI, led the study and authored the report.
Higher education underwent fundamental changes to how it was financed in England 2012. There have been ongoing smaller changes since then and prospects for much larger changes following the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding. How has this affected the balance between the broad sources of funding -the taxpayer and graduate and how has the total funding from all sources for universities changed?
"Government must get a grip on further education sector, with nearly half of colleges in financial measures. The financial health of the college sector has been a cause for concern for many years. The financial health of the sector remains fragile – in 2018/19, one in three colleges reported an operating deficit. Financial pressures are having a detrimental impact on what colleges can offer students, including in cuts to mental health and other support services."
Shorter reads:
How can carbon offsetting help UK further and higher education institutions achieve net zero emissions?
EAUC and COP26 Universities Network
EAUC and COP26 Universities Network
"There are a range of views on the use of carbon offsetting among academics, higher and further education professional staff, corporates and offsetting providers. When and where offsets should be used or not used, and what types of offsets to use, are to some extent value-laden choices. These choices are being actively debated at the international and community level. This briefing note provides guidance to support the development of further and higher education offsetting policies and to challenge institutions, including our own."
"We received nearly 400 responses from individuals and organisations across the UK and internationally. Responses were overwhelmingly supportive of the ambitions set out in the Roadmap and welcomed the opportunity to contribute. This document summarises the main themes."
Skills Strategy 2021-2026 Empowering people for a greener, fairer, stronger economy
York, North Yorkshire LEP
York, North Yorkshire LEP
"This document sets out the Skills Strategy for York and North Yorkshire, 2021 to 2026. The strategy has been developed in collaboration with our partners and stakeholders and using detailed labour market analysis commissioned by the LEP to understand the supply and demand for skills and evidence of mismatch and market failure. This strategy sets out a 5 year plan to address local skills challenges and raise productivity, earnings and performance in a greener, fairer, stronger economy.
Our vision for 2026: York and North Yorkshire is a place where people are empowered to achieve their potential in a greener, fairer, stronger economy."
You can also watch the recording of the skills conference here.
"Since the beginning of lockdown in March 2020, careers service delivery, the wider HE sector and the global economy have changed rapidly. This is the third in our series of snapshot reports tracking how the resourcing of higher education careers services has changed, and is expected to change further, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It aims to capture how HE careers services are resourced and how the Covid-19 pandemic is influencing changes in service provision and modes of delivery.
These reports intend to give careers and employability professionals up-to-date information about the resourcing of UK HE careers services during this period. Throughout the report, we show how the data can be used by careers service leaders to support resourcing conversations in their institution."
"At the eleventh hour, a Brexit Deal was agreed with the European Union. The Deal is a testimony to the commitment of negotiators and influencers on both sides. Beyond the details of the Deal, the fact that a deal was reached at all is important."
A parliamentary briefing outlining the implications for universities of the UK-EU trade and cooperation agreement.
The Skills for Jobs white paper is what happens when policy is made in a vacuum
Andy Westwood in WonkHE
Andy Westwood in WonkHE
The Skills for Jobs white paper fails to engage with the lessons of policy history and with contemporary government policy realities, says Andy Westwood.
"We’ve been here before. But in skills policy we’ve been everywhere before. Putting employers at the heart of the system and committing to high quality education and training are not new. These have been objectives for most ministers and in most green and white papers for the last three decades."
"Why are some white students left behind in relation to higher education participation, who are they and what help do they need?"
Listen:
Professor Susan Watkins from the School of Cultural Studies and Humanities presents a series of episodes discussing how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our culture and the long term impacts we may see.
The panel discuss what history can teach us about pandemics and the lessons we can learn about how society can bounce back from such an event. Panellists:
Chair: Professor Susan Watkins
Dr Henry Irving
Dr Nick Cox
Dr Jessica Van Horssen
Dr Erich DeWald
Watch:
Witness(es): The Lord Kerslake, Chair, UK2070 Commission; Rt Hon Greg Clark MP; Cllr James Jamieson, Chairman, Local Government Association (LGA)
Week 3: 18-22 January 2021
Publications from government this week include:
Related: read the response by Yorkshire Universities to the Skills for Jobs White Paper.
The interim response to the Augar review.
Office for Students:
Longer reads:
"Brexit is done. The formal negotiations are over — even though the Trade and Cooperation Agreement paves the way to many further negotiations between the UK and the EU. Our understanding of what Brexit does mean in practice is just beginning. Now the UK is finally able to embark on its new course, we believe that the need for social science to play a role in informing public and political debates is as great if not greater than ever. The contributions that follow underline the scale and scope of the agenda that confronts the United Kingdom."
How ‘smart’ are Smart Specialisation strategies?
Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (20.52) by Marco Di Cataldo, Vassilis Monastiriotis & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose
Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (20.52) by Marco Di Cataldo, Vassilis Monastiriotis & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose
"The introduction of Smart Specialisation (S3) as a fundamental pillar of the 2014 reform of the European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy has represented a significant strategic shift in European development intervention. S3 strategies are aimed at mobilising the economic potential of each country and region of the EU, by allowing a more place-based and bottom-up approach to development. However, despite the salience that S3 has acquired in a short period of time, there has been no European-wide evaluation of the extent to which S3 strategies truly reflect the economic characteristics and potential of the territories where they are being implemented."
"As we begin the new year, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still unfolding. While that impact has been felt right across the UK, it has not been felt equally. In many ways the pandemic has reinforced existing economic and social disadvantages."
"The United Kingdom is a highly centralised state and policy decisions made in Westminster have consequences for citizens across the country. That is particularly true during a pandemic when extreme restrictions on everyday life are imposed with the stroke of a ministerial pen. But for such a centralised system the heart of government that directly supports the prime minister is weak. The prime minister’s team is underpowered, especially compared with the Treasury, lacking the tools to set direction and to hold the rest of the government to account. This paper considers the effectiveness of Number 10 and the Cabinet Office and sets out ways to improve how they work."
Shorter reads:
"Yorkshire and The Humber has a population larger than Scotland and a GDP worth more than Wales and Northern Ireland combined. Yet despite this, its share of public spending per head of population, as outlined below, remains well behind London, the North East, the North West, and the UK as a whole. This begs the question, has Yorkshire been under-sold at the national level and, if so, what are the reasons for this and how can it strengthen its position?"
"The promised ‘radical’ White Paper for Further Education (FE) is due imminently. How will it balance the need to respond quickly to improve employment without losing focus on the more complex, and slower process of transforming post-school learning? How will it link this to growth and productivity, acknowledge the importance of place, and ‘level up’ local and regional inequality?"
"Today, the Department for Education has delivered at least partial responses to many of the key sector debates from the last few years."
WonkHE: What do the interim Augar response and Skills for Jobs white paper mean for HE?
Debbie McWitty
Debbie McWitty
"Today further education takes centre stage in the Westminster government’s Skills for Jobs white paper and interim response to the Augar review."
"Subject TEF is gone, the Olympic medals are gone, and the whole thing will happen much less often. But what will a new TEF look like?"
"Just to manage expectations at the outset on this one – if you’re looking for major change to the structure of the academic year, or for radical proposals on what universities should use to assess applicant suitability, the Department for Education’s admissions review is not for you."
"Emerging a few hours behind today’s policy tsunami like an embarrassed uncle at a wedding was the Westminster government’s annual teaching grant letter to the sector."
Week 2: 11-15 January 2021
Longer reads:
Greater investment in rail research could be used to help level up the economy in the north of England, according to a report by economics and policy analysts Perspective Economics. The study – Rail Innovation Eco-System: Understanding the Region's Research and Innovation Capacity, Capabilities and Potential – says there is a “compelling case” for further investment in rail innovation in the region that could drive “...economic recovery, and longer-term industrial advancement and economic growth." Commissioned by the University of Leeds and University of Huddersfield, it describes a “collective appetite among academia and industry to drive research”.
Tackling health inequalities for Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and colleagues
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership
West Yorkshire and Harrogate review report to tackle health inequalities for Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and colleagues: Understanding impact, reducing inequalities, supporting recovery
"There are 445,000 civil servants employed across 23 ministerial departments and more than 300 agencies and public bodies. The highest regional concentration of civil servants is within London, especially so for senior civil servant grades as well as those in economics and policy roles. 7 in 10 senior civil servants are in London."
The UK government has reached an agreement with the European Union on a future relationship which took effect from 1 January 2021. The wide-reaching agreement has several implications for universities, their staff and students. Here is an initial summary of what has been agreed:
Skills to Thrive – academics’ perceptions of student skills development
Debbie McVitty and Mark Andrews report on the findings of a Wonkhe/Adobe survey.
Debbie McVitty and Mark Andrews report on the findings of a Wonkhe/Adobe survey.
"How are educators thinking about the range of skills students acquire during their time at university? In the public discourse, it’s taken for granted that a university education should equip students with something “beyond” subject knowledge – you can call it skills, capabilities, competencies, literacies, dispositions, behaviours, mindsets, or attributes, or some of these in combination – that captures the essence of graduateness."
This is the 2020/21 edition of JRF’s annual report on the nature and scale of poverty across the UK, and how it affects people struggling to stay afloat.
"We are in the midst of the coronavirus storm – a turbulent time when all of us have felt insecurity and instability. But our analysis shows too many of us entered the pandemic already at risk of being cast adrift into poverty, while often lacking secure housing, a reliable income or adequate support. It also shows that those of us already struggling to keep our heads above water have often been hit the hardest."
Pandemic Pressures: Why families on a low income are spending more during Covid-19
Resolution Foundation
Resolution Foundation
"This note explores why so many low-income families report spending more, not less, since Covid-19 gripped the nation in spring 2020. It brings together the findings from two online surveys of a representative sample of working-age adults in the UK fielded by the Resolution Foundation in May and September 2020, and a number of vivid accounts from parents and carers themselves, drawn from the ongoing ‘Covid Realities’ participatory research programme."
"This paper advances our understanding of the spatial dimension of productivity by investigating the link between subnational governance arrangements and urban labour productivity. It presents a detailed study of the direct and indirect effects of decentralisation (local autonomy), government quality and fragmentation and empirically demonstrates the need for a comprehensive approach when considering the effects of governance-related characteristics on regional economic outcomes. Multi-level analysis of data for Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) in Europe during 2003-2014 suggests that labour productivity tends to be higher in regions with higher quality of government. Productivity, on average, is lower in more decentralised countries. However, under “the right” conditions (high quality of government and low fragmentation), decentralisation is positively linked to productivity. Overall, cities with high levels of government quality and local autonomy but low horizontal fragmentation tend to be the most productive."
"Supported by a cross-party coalition of MPs and leading civic organisations this report calls for ministers to hand power and capital back to communities after the pandemic to repair Britain’s fraying social fabric. The Government’s flagship levelling up ambition will fail unless Ministers take concerted action to invest in and empower fraying communities after the pandemic, our report finds. The report, The Policies of Belonging, is a response to growing evidence that community is in long term decline in Britain."
A One Powerhouse framework for national convergence and prosperity: A Vision for Britain. Planned
RSA and One Powerhouse Consortium
RSA and One Powerhouse Consortium
"‘Levelling-up’ is about more than just investment. Improving infrastructure & reducing inequality between English regions needs a clear and coherent plan to increase spending’s impact. In this report the RSA and the One Powerhouse Consortium, supported by The Sir Hugh and Lady Sykes Charitable Trust, argue that spatial planning that spatial planning can be the answer. What is spatial planning? It maps everything in a region (like places, infrastructure, energy) and makes a plan for how to best join up & make the most of them."
Shorter reads:
Improving local prosperity: the big challenge for higher education in 2021
Civic Insights by the Civic University Network
Civic Insights by the Civic University Network
Chris Millward, Director for Fair Access and Participation, Office for Students (OfS)
"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. During 2021, we want to align our statutory duties relating to choice and equality of opportunity for students more closely with the drive for local prosperity in places where it is needed most."
Mission Possible – an agenda for the future of performing arts in higher education
Mark O’Thomas in WonkHE
Mark O’Thomas in WonkHE
"It's not just Covid-19 that has put the performing arts at risk - toxic cultures in the disciplines and industry are also at fault. Mark O'Thomas sets out an agenda for reform and renewal."
Watch and listen:
For the first time in its history, 2021’s YorkTalks event was delivered entirely online. On Wednesday 13 January academics from the University of York demonstrated their current research, showcasing the University's efforts to meet some of the most pressing global and societal challenges.
Week 1: 4-8 January 2021
Announcement: Updated DfE guidance on Spring term returns for England published
Today, the Department for Education (DfE) has published the latest guidance for higher education providers in England for students returning to, and starting higher education, for the Spring term 2021. This document supersedes the previously published guidance on January returns in light of the national lockdown restrictions announced on 5 January.
The guidance confirms that providers should limit the return of students for face-to-face teaching in January to students who fall under the following categories:
o Medicine and dentistry
o Subjects allied to medicine/Health
o Veterinary science
o Education (initial teacher training)
o Social studies (social work)
o A limited number of courses that require Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) assessments and /or other PRSB mandatory activity in January and that cannot be rescheduled.
Longer reads:
Being in a Good Place: investing in social infrastructure
Early Action Task Force at Community Links
Early Action Task Force at Community Links
Being in a Good Place: Investing in social infrastructure argues that major investment in social infrastructure is needed, particularly in communities experiencing ‘civic inequality’, and points to how this can be achieved. It is written by the Director of Civil Exchange, Caroline Slocock, for the Early Action Task Force at Community Links.
This investment is especially urgent now, given the Covid-19 crisis, and can be justified by the long-term social and economic benefits and savings to the Exchequer as a result of better health and well-being, stronger and more inclusive local economies and reduced inequalities.
Prospects' head of higher education intelligence, Charlie Ball, provides his regular update on the impact of the COVID-19 recession on the graduate labour market.
Better housing is crucial for our health and the COVID-19 recovery
Adam Tinson and Amy Clair, Health Foundation
Adam Tinson and Amy Clair, Health Foundation
'Since March 2020, most people in the UK have been spending a lot more time at home. Rarely has the nature of these homes been more important, as they are doubling up as workplaces, schools, gyms and the only place to spend time if working from home, furloughed or unemployed. This has highlighted stark inequalities in housing, with some residents enduring the lockdown in large homes with gardens and plenty of living space, while others struggle in overcrowded conditions with no outdoor space. COVID-19 has highlighted and intensified existing problems with housing in England.
Housing can contribute positively to people’s mental and physical health – but all too frequently it does not. In this long read we sets out the links between housing and health and explores the inequalities in housing across different groups and types of tenures. We then consider the impact of COVID-19 on housing so far, future risks and possible ways forward.'
'Make a cup of tea and strap in for Debbie McVitty's review of the year, taking you to places other reviews of the year can only dream of.
2020 has been a hell of a year whatever your personal experience of the Covid-19 pandemic. Though higher education policy slowed down across the country, the policy cogs have continued to turn, fuelling expectations for 2021. And the pandemic itself taught us a lot about what happens when the sector comes under extraordinary stress.'
Shorter reads:
'Ask anyone in a university working on local growth or community engagement whether having dedicated funding for this activity makes their life easier, and you’ll nearly always be told it does. The same person may also bemoan the amount of red tape, small print and complexity involved with this funding – but the benefits of European Structural Investment Funds (ESIF), for example, outweighed the bureaucratic headaches and university engagement in ESIF grew year after year.'
How does the UK rank as a knowledge economy?
Richard Jones, Professor of Materials Physics and Innovation Policy at the University of Manchester
Richard Jones, Professor of Materials Physics and Innovation Policy at the University of Manchester
'Now the UK has withdrawn from the European single market, it will need to rethink its current and potential future position in the world economy. Some helpful context is provided, perhaps, by some statistics summarising the value added from knowledge and technology intensive industries, taken from the latest edition of the USA’s National Science Board Science and Engineering Indicators 2020.'
'A year and a half ago we launched the IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities. When we did so, the chair of the Review, Nobel Laureate Sir Angus Deaton, raised the possibility that inequalities may prove a threat to our economic, social and political systems unless they are tackled effectively.'
Listen:
Rethink Fairness is the latest chapter in Radio 4's Rethink project that ran throughout last year. It is a series of five discussions spread over one week at the start of the new year, presented by Amol Rajan. Its focus is fairness, a theme that emerged time and again in the conversations and essays of 2020. The pandemic brought renewed focus on how different areas of the country fared. There has been political talk - on both the left and the right - for decades about the need to make the regional map of the UK, economically and socially, more equal. Why has that been so difficult to achieve and Is now the time to bring about a fundamental shift?
Contributors:
Andy Haldane, chief economist at the Bank of England
Dame Helena Morrissey, City of London financier and campaigner
Paul Swinney, director of policy and research for the independent think-tank, Centre for Cities
Dr Joanie Willett, senior lecturer in politics at Exeter University and co-director of the Institute of Cornish Studies
Professor Calvin Jones, deputy dean of Cardiff Business School
Producer: Louise Hidalgo
Editor: Rosamund Jones
SIGN Collaborative Research Grants
The Screen Industries Growth Network (SIGN) is a new project based at the University of York, which aims to empower people and support economic growth in the screen industries in Yorkshire and the Humber. Working across TV, film, games and other digital media, SIGN combines the University of York’s research excellence with a strong, collaborative focus on diversity and inclusion, business support, and skills and training.
We welcome applications for research projects which contribute to the activities of SIGN. Applicants can bid for up to £40,000 for research to be conducted over a maximum of 12 months. Research teams must include academics from at least two of the region’s higher education institutions and propose interdisciplinary research.
We have developed thematic research areas to guide applications. These are priority areas for SIGN and the region’s screen industries, and applications should centre on one or more of these.
Diversity and Inclusion research areas:
Career trajectories of people leaving the screen industries
Career progression and journeys through the screen industries, particularly progression to higher levels
Diversity and inclusion schemes: what does and doesn’t work?
Skills and Training research areas:
Skills and training needs to build sustainable screen industries – what skills do workers need to support carbon-zero aspirations?
Identification of best practice for addressing skills needs and gaps in the screen industries
The effectiveness of job descriptions for recruitment and skills matching
Business Support research areas:
Production-related research looking at changes in processes, production methods or content design that are emerging as a result of Covid
Emerging means of maximising monetisation of content across media that are relevant to independent producers
Emergence of Virtual Production and its viability for independent producers
The geographical focus of research does not need to be Yorkshire and the Humber. Our priority is identifying useful insights for the region’s screen industries which may be drawn from elsewhere in the UK, Europe and wider world.
We’re keen to see applications from across arts, humanities, social sciences and computer and information sciences who can provide informed insights into the screen industries through their research.
The deadline for applications is Monday 8th February, 2021 at midday.
For more information, please see the scheme’s webpages which contain the full call document, FAQs and a short news piece about development of the scheme. For enquiries about this scheme, please email enquiries@screen-network.org.uk
COVID-19 related resources:
Economic Recovery
Local and regional resources:
The LEP Network and 5 Point Plan for Recovery:
York & North Yorkshire LEP, Growth Hub - C-19 info, Covid-19 Economic Recovery: Greener Fairer, Stronger
Leeds City Region LEP and Growth Hub & Economic Recovery Board: Economic Recovery Plan
Sheffield City Region Strategic Economic Plan and Growth Hub & Response Group & Renewal Action Plan
Humber LEP and Growth Hub & Humber Economic Resilience Group
Open consultations, inquiries and calls
DfE consultation on post-qualification admissions is closing on 13 May 2021.
Policy Connect, in partnership with the Higher Education Commission, announced that Chris Skidmore, former Universities Minister will be chairing the Commission’s next inquiry into university research and regional inequalities.
View published Local Industrial Strategies:
Get in touch if we missed anything or would like us to share news from you!