Freedom and parental choice are under threat from school reforms January 8, 2025 The government’s schools bill will undo all the progress that’s been made in English education and had power over our children’s futures to unions and activists, rather than the people who know best, says Mark Lehain English schools really are better now than 35 years ago, by any number of measures. Things improved by design, [...]
China accuses Britain of causing ‘trouble’ over spy linked to Prince Andrew December 17, 2024 The Chinese embassy in the UK has launched an incendiary attack on the British government today, saying London should stop causing “trouble” after it banned from Britain an alleged spy with links to Prince Andrew. Beijing’s representative in Britain issued its statement amid a furore over an alleged Chinese spy with links to the Duke [...]
New £500m university science grant can ‘commercialise discoveries’ November 13, 2024 The government has announced it will stump up £500m for 4,700 post-graduate engineering and science university places in a bid to drive long-term economic growth. Science and technology secretary Peter Kyle made the announcement today, with universities and industry set to reap the benefits. The scheme will fund 4,700 new places, equating to around £106,000 [...]
University chief says £12,500 fees needed to support higher eduction sector September 6, 2024 A London vice-chancellor has suggested universities could need tuition fees of £12,500 to address the sector’s financial woes. Professor Shitij Kapur, the vice-chancellor and president of King’s College London (KCL), has said the “number to ask for” was between £12,000 and £13,000 – but warned institutions risked looking “out of touch” if they requested the [...]
Teaching unions may come to regret Ofsted reforms September 3, 2024 Abolishing one-word Ofsted judgements could be a good thing, but not for the reasons the government says, writes David Thomas The government has abolished single-word Ofsted judgments. For now schools will get grades for each of the four sub-categories currently in use, and from next year they’ll be replaced by a report card. Unions are [...]
Watchdog says ‘all options’ should be on table to save universities August 18, 2024 The university watchdog has declared “all options” should be on the table to fix the struggling sector, warning the “golden age of higher education” could be over. Office for Students (OFS) interim chair David Behan said increased tuition fees and lifting visa restrictions on international students could help revive embattled institutions. He told The Sunday [...]