#Wonklife – Joy Elliot-Bowman

This blog was first published on the Wonkhe website. Welcome to Wonklife – a series celebrating different wonks in higher education, sharing their story and looking to the future.   The human side of policy Originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, Joy Elliott-Bowman’s journey to a policy and public affairs brief at Independent HE may seem […]

Regulator validation is essential for a high quality independent sector

This blog by IHE Chief Executive, Alex Proudfoot, was first published on the Wonkhe website. New providers are not the barbarians at the gates of our higher education sector. They are the inventors in our labs, questioning past paradigms. They are the artists in our studios, mixing ancient craft with new inspiration. They are the […]

HESA sheds light on the diversity of independent HE

This blog by IHE Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Joy Elliott-Bowman, was first published on the Wonkhe website.   Last week HESA published its second Alternative Provider (AP) data release, and should the Higher Education and Research Bill pass, one of its last. The single system of registration proposed in the Bill will remove the distinction between […]

Independent HE responds to HEPI report on alternative providers

This blog by IHE Chief Executive, Alex Proudfoot, originally appeared on the HEPI website. Today’s report from HEPI marks a valiant attempt to summarise the data published so far on the large and incredibly diverse independent sector of higher education, and to assess the potential impact of the Higher Education and Research Bill on its […]

A new vision for validation in the HE sector

Blog published on 8 September 2016 by Alexander Proudfoot, Chief Executive of Independent Higher Education. Our pilot project with the OU and QAA has been announced today and the press release is available here. For most people the word validation means to be praised, to receive a good result and to be recognised for something you have excelled […]

Students and the HE Bill: A Second Look at the Second Reading

Guest blog by Ruth Lyons It is often said of young people that we are not engaged politically; we are apathetic and utterly disinterested. Yet after sitting in a bare Chamber as the HE Bill was being debated, it appeared that politicians were equally disinterested in the future of young people. Considering the number of […]

A student perspective on the HE Bill

Guest blog by Jedrzej Szymanski After the first year of my degree, I was proud to be on track for a 2:1, only to read the same week that this is the most common grade for English university students . With endless one-to-one tutorials and seminars, weekly essays of 2,000 words, and hours spent reading […]

Understanding the alternative HE sector: the first HESA release

This blog by IHE Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Joy Elliott-Bowman, was first published on on the Wonkhe website. Just a few weeks ago, before the drama of Brexit began to unfold, HESA released its “Experimental Statistical First Release (SFR)” of Undergraduate Designated Courses at Alternative Providers. Collected in collaboration with BIS and HEFCE, the data covers 63 of […]

The White Paper proposals will bring order to the independent sector

This blog by IHE Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Joy Elliott-Bowman, was first published on the Wonkhe website. The past two decades have seen a steady growth on two fronts: in the number of students seeking higher education and in the number of institutions (both public and independent) providing it. This is not coincidence, but cause […]

Time for a higher education revolution

An edited version of this blog first appeared on the Higher Education Academy’s website. The world looked very different in 1991. Tim Berners-Lee made the World Wide Web available to the public for the first time. The first digital mobile phone networks launched in Europe. The Soviet Union collapsed after 70 years. And Bryan Adams […]