Dr. Josh Patel (he/him)

I’m tired of the academic road to nowhere – but it’s too late to exit For one mid-career academic scientist, precarity is becoming unbearable. But they are too experienced for entry-level industry jobs and not experienced enough for senior ones. They’ve stayed too long,...

Opinion: “A career is meant to be something you grow into – layered with experience, trust and time – but in academia these days, you’re uprooted before anything can truly take hold.”

A mid-career academic scientist writes

#highered #AcademicSky

On universities the white paper only reduces the graduate visa from two years to 18 months (which is a win for the DfE).

The bigger thing universities will be worrying about is this little timebomb.

Delighted to be speaking on my research with @edgeuk.bsky.social on 'Four Nations’ approaches to tertiary collaboration and tertiary journeys' at @qaa.ac.uk Scotland's event: 'Understanding and Supporting Student Transitions in Scotland', in Dundee, 29 May:

www.qaa.ac.uk/scotland/new...

‘Baroness Smith, the universities minister, said many institutions were failing to rein in spending despite demanding financial support from the government.’

Which institutions are these? We’ve seen absolute carnage in redundancies across the sector, so I’m curious which she is thinking of

Also does anyone know where Augar's doctorate in history (Wikipedia/various bios claims he has) was awarded from?

Maybe this shows a way forward: restore faith in universal human potential and collaborative productivity. The state as investor, the obligation to deliver on that investment, collective freedoms, and better metrics of what value means. ??? 🤷🏽‍♂️ would recommend tho big thumbs up from me

From my thesis, 'Imagining the Role of the Student in Society: ideas of British higher education policy and pedagogy, 1957-1972', 71. Robbins also permitted himself what he recognised was an unscientific but egalitarian assumption in the name of fairness which permitted him to advocate the expansion of ‘pastoral power’. There was, he recognised, no way to scientifically prove that utility or satisfaction obtained by one individual from any given resource was of equal satisfaction to another individual. In an example he would frequently deploy, if members of another ‘civilisation’ told ‘us […] that members of his caste were capable of experiencing ten times as much satisfaction from given incomes as members of an inferior caste, we could not refute him […] in any objective sense’. He clarified elsewhere: ‘A Nazi or a Brahmin will choose one method of counting, a western liberal another’. But Robbins permitted the assumption on the grounds of moral necessity that the good society should assume that all individuals did possess equal faculties for the realisation of satisfaction.

Most relevant to my work: these are Hayek’s bastards. The gulf between them and 'eu-neoliberals' (ugh) like Lionel Robbins is huge. Never really known what to make of Robbins’ phrasing of this between ‘Nazi or a Brahmin’ and I left it out post-thesis, but clear distinction; he wouldn’t suffer them.

Neoliberal is probably an unhelpful category for alt-right; QS invents 'ethno-economy' (10-11). But what do we do? I wasn't sure: this is an anti-capitalist struggle, but why has this ethno-economy become so attractive for the disenfranchised?

Wildly this explanation brings me some reassurance?? From this wave of cruelty being entirely incomprehensible there is now a route towards, not necessarily empathising with a good nazi, than at least dialogue. A lot of the scientism stuff feels like angry noise looking for epistemic certainty.

3) Redistribution/ justice a smokescreen: doomed mission to involve nonwhite-migrant (and gender/trans issues? mentioned but not developed) populations into a society they are intrinsically unable to contribute to, damming the ethno-elect. Interesting relationship in Britain with declinism (109).

2) The welfare state is recast as an elite tool: a mechanism to purchase votes using taxpayer money under the guise of redistribution (a kind of ‘folk version of Public Choice theory’, 136). Green politics as the post-1989 evolution of the reds (75).

1) At its core: the new fascism sustains a key faith in the unequal distribution of faculties and fitness to participate in productive society. Cultural arguments are the softest expression; racial arguments the most explicit.

Just finished'Hayek's Bastards: The Neoliberal Roots of the Populist Right' new from @quinnslobodian.com and it’s very good. Finally bringing some clarity to the assault of contradictions of the rise of global fascism. Some takeaways from me:

‘Employer-led’: VIPs or B-listers?

🤝 Employer-led education—what does real employer involvement look like? This month in the second part of our new series, What’s in a Word? we investigate what role employers can really play. @joshpatel.bsky.social www.edge.co.uk/research/wha...

What's in a Word?

📢 Edge launch a new monthly series today - "What’s in a Word?" We explore the language of education—how words shape policy, practice, and perception. It all gets underway with an introduction and our first entry… www.edge.co.uk/research/wha...

There have been people less than helpful in my journey here. I wanted to acknowledge those too, bc I know I am not unique in this experience. No thank you to the physics study assoc that made me sing songs about how women couldn't study physics without sleeping with the professor, the day I stepped into university life. No thank you to the 5th year physics student that decided to assign me a stripper name within the first minute of meeting me in the physics coffee corner in my first year. No thank you to the technician that was responsible for onboarding me on the use of the cluster in my third year who raised his eyebrows and asked me if that meant I was some sort of computer girl. No thank you to the senior researcher that sent me utterly inappropriate texts after a conference, then proceeded to apologise months later by telling me they had not been meant for me anyway so no hard feelings remain hopefully And no thank you to him for attending every conference I've been to since. No thank you to the people who told me that it was surprising that I was doing a PhD since I was a girl. No thank you to the man who mistook me for a coffee lady at a conference, and after having to correct him two times that I did not work there, responded with you should consider it. No thank you to the researcher that asked me what I was wearing underneath my outfit during a conference. No thank you to the physicist who declared to a room full of other physicists that biologists don't know how to design an experiment. No thank you to the people who have called me scary instead of strong and intimidating instead of intelligent. And finally, no thank you to the exec board of the TU Delft, whose knee-jerk reaction to being held up a mirror about the social safety at the university, was to sue the party holding up the mirror instead of looking at the problems they highlighted. ... You have made me feel like I do not belong in science & I cannot forgive you for that.

A friend included this anti-acknowledgement section on her PhD thesis. She also added the proposition: “Systematic bullying and undermining of girls and women in STEM starts early on and is the reason why they do not stay in science and related fields.”
Absurd we still need to go through this
🧪👩‍🔬

Hello education/history Bluesky: does anyone know of any recent material on the Manpower Services Commission (1974-1988) in the UK? Aware of material from the 90s by Patrick Ainley and Brendan Evans: but aware there might be more recent material my survey of literature didn't capture. Thanks!!

Freckles - or something else? - HEPI The government must critically assess whether the post-2012 higher education market serves the public interest or prioritizes private profit.

When people talk of challenger institutions of HE, they rarely talk of the for-profit business management providers in converted office blocks.
Martin Williams is right that DfE & OfS should check whether this was intended consequence of market de-regulation.
www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/02/25/f...

Skills Shortages bulletin – Summary

Our 2025 Skills Shortages bulletin summary is out now. Skills Shortages across the UK are growing. Without urgent investment in skills and training, national priorities like net zero and economic growth are at risk. 🧵 bit.ly/3EC4M3G

Cost and complexity turn providers off degree apprenticeships Degree apprenticeships are mired by a myriad of regulatory, financial and engagement challenges

Edge Director of Research Andrea Laczik presents a comprehensive overview of the future of Degree Apprenticeships in FE News. feweek.co.uk/cost-and-com...

Degree Apprenticeships in England: What Can We Learn from the Experiences of Apprentices, Employers, and Education and Training Providers? - HEPI The Edge Foundation's new report explores the rapid growth of Degree Apprenticeships, their challenges, and policy recommendations to enhance access, employer engagement, and regulatory efficiency.

Degree Apprenticeship piece number two for @hepi-news.bsky.social - emphasising our recommendations to government on Degree Apprenticeship policy

www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/01/30/d...

Degree apprenticeship delivery needs strengthening to realise their potential Kat Emms and Josh Patel introduce new research exploring the views of employers, education and training providers and apprentices on the future for degree apprenticeships Kat Emms and Josh Patel introduce new research exploring the views of employers, education and training providers and apprentices

Our new report on Degree Apprenticeships is finally out! We'll be talking about the findings and recommendations over the next few days: first, an overview on WonkHE wonkhe.com/blogs/degree...

Degree Apprenticeships in England: What can we learn from the experiences of apprentices, employers and education and training providers?

Edge publish a new research report today, "Degree Apprenticeships in England: What can we learn from the experiences of apprentices, employers and education and training providers?" Read the report here: www.edge.co.uk/research/pro...

T levels - An Opportunity to Succeed?

Edge published their latest report today. "Student Voices: What Are Students Saying About Their Experiences of T Levels?" The report was written with Professor Kevin Orr. Our Education and Policy Senior Researcher, @dana_dabbous takes a look... www.edge.co.uk/news-and-eve...

An informational flyer from the Edge Foundation seeking student participants for research on studying at both further education colleges and universities, focusing on experiences, challenges, and ambitions. We are interviewing students from across the UK to ask them to share their experiences, and want to understand these to improve how colleges and universities work together. Interviews include a 15 minute activity and 30 minute discussion. Includes contact details (jpatel@edge.co.uk) and ethical guidelines.

I'm still looking for participants for a research study into student experiences co-designed and co-delivered FE-HE pathways - please share/drop me a message if you are interested in the findings or can help with contacts!
More about the research:
www.edge.co.uk/research/cur...

Labour’s skills strategy under fire for lack of ‘clout’ and urgency Business and education experts say diminished role for companies could undermine reforms

Skills England can be a gamechanger, but only with the right powers. That is why we supported Lord Lucas with his amendment to introduce a Chief Skills Advisor, making skills a cross-departmental priority. www.ft.com/content/6cb3...

England's graduates face a starting tax rate on their earnings of... 37%. Thirty. Seven. A starting rate! Yeah, that economy's gonna succeed. Oh wait, it won't. 🤯

So good to hear this morning about the work and growth of the Journal of PGR Pedagogic Practice this year - now in its fourth issue and launched today! Amazing to hear the new GTA editorial team's work and the international reach the journal is developing

doi.org/10.31273/jpp...

Skills Shortages Bulletin 15

New today: Edge's fifteenth Skills Shortage Bulletin explores possibility of reform and action to address Skills Shortages with the coming of a new government – but the scale of the challenges we face remains hard to ignore. Contributions from AoC, NFER, and others:

www.edge.co.uk/research/ski...

Hi everyone!

Edge have been working three projects on Degree Apprenticeships, on experiences of stakeholders, what makes a good work-based mentor, and social mobility - and to be published over the next two months! Read our blog for SRHE

srheblog.com/2024/09/11/i...