Mark Bennett

I think my fave thing about the immigration whitepaper so far is how it’s turned Askbrits on Reddit into a hive of memes mocking negativity towards immigrants. Never change, UK.

Waking this account up to comment on the immigration whitepaper.

Find the ‘successive governments have failed to reduced lines a bit daft. Successive governments haven’t consistently tried (v. different approaches by Conservatives) and the 2024 policy has begun to work.

This morning I had to deal with an argument between my 9yo and 3yo regarding which Metallica song they wanted on Alexa.

How’s your day?

Oh good. The Sunday Times found the franchising story.

NEW on Wonkhe: UKVI got new rules. Hours they count em buff.ly/ffkfppe

ESRC renews funding for two key economic policy research centres The Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) and Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy (CPP) will both receive another five years of funding.

ICYMI: ESRC renews funding for two key economic policy research centres #ESRC #AcademicSky

Keep on paying the Immigration Health Surcharge upfront, government tells researchers Peers’ calls for a more attractive visa system for UK science get rebuffed

Poor from the government; astute from @wonkhe.bsky.social wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

A proper review of student maintenance is now long overdue The fundamentals of the system for student support in England were put place before most of them born. Jim Dickinson argues for change to alleviate poverty and support opportunity The fundamentals of the system for student support in England were put place before most of them born. Jim Dickinson argues for change to alleviate poverty and support opportunity

Preach

wonkhe.com/blogs/a-prop...

Just give Trump ratings. It’s not clever or complex. Treat him like a small child and give him things he can wave at his peers.

🤦‍♂️

Preferred candidate to lead Office for Students confirmed Professor Edward Peck CBE named as preferred candidate to be the next Chair of the Office for Students by Education Secretary

Outgoing Trent VC Ed Peck new OfS Chair www.gov.uk/government/n...

Podcast: New leaders, gen-AI, visas This week on the podcast UK Research and Innovation and the Office for Students both have new leadership – but what does that mean for the future of regulation, research funding, and sector confidence?

This week on Wonkhe: This week on the podcast UK Research and Innovation and the Office for Students both have new leadership – but what does that mean for the future of regulation, research funding, and sector confidence?

Pulse: What might a change to the Graduate Route mean this time? | FindAUniversity.com Reports suggest Labour may link the UK Graduate Route to employment outcomes. We''ve used Pulse to explore the impact on Masters recruitment.

Little bit on the apparent (but probably not) changes to post-study visas trailed in the Times this week.

In short, eligibility to employment absolutely would impact PG recruitment (as our FindAUniversity Pulse data reveals). But it’s not time to panic yet. www.findauniversity.com/comment/1210...

Young PG graduates will be paying much more come April 1st We’ve talked before here about the mess that is PG loans in England.

Having a PG Masters loan to repay now takes some graduates substantially below the minimum wage. This, as with many aspects of our PG finance system, is a mess. wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

Can someone just do me a BBC News header that says ‘Trump Says Things’

Damnit! No-one told me that I could have just bought one of these in Lidl...

#PhD #phdlife #academicsky #PhDSmart

Full steam ahead! Full steam ahead!

"I’ve only been here a short time but to have that connection with the fans and the players only makes me more confident.."

#swfc

Turns out someone screwed this up.

Fair play tbh.

NGL

- Professionally: Trump 👀
- Personally: Trump 🥱

I mean, it’s not wrong.

Small edit to the toilets at the Rose and Crown Wadsley #SWFC

There is a world of difference between good and bad Camembert.

Honestly

Also interesting to approximate where students take the full loan or partial (it’s a lot easier to be ‘elastic’ at PG).

Avg £ of loan per SLC masters student at OU is about half that of traditional providers. Makes an interesting kind of sense given more flexible provision.

Difficult to say what’s going on here - could be that cohorts at ‘larger’ providers are more likely to be international and / or domestic who don’t take / need loan.

Student Loans Company data on fees and maintenance, 2023-24 David Kernohan guides you through a little-understood dataset that highlights some glaring problems with the way we support students and fund higher education

A little late sharing this from @dkernohan.bsky.social at @wonkhe.bsky.social. Analysis of PG loan take up showing unexpected trends - e.g. concentrated at smaller providers. wonkhe.com/blogs/studen...

It’s late 2024 and @uber is basically an app for getting late taxis and cold McDonalds.

Dear Microsoft,

Please stop re-enabling this crap every time Outlook updates.

Sincerely,

Mark

🦉Here's how we line-up for tonight's clash with Blackburn!

XI: Beadle, Valery, Iorfa, Bernard, M. Lowe, Johnson, S. Charles, Bannan (c), Musaba, Windass, J. Lowe

SUBS: P. Charles, Valentin, Palmer, Chalobah, Ingelsson, Paterson, Gassama, Smith, Ugbo

#SHWBLA

Last night I dreamt I was on a work trip and was chased down a road by an angry honey badger.

I don’t make the rules.