Prof Debby Cotton

The students claiming uni Covid compensation 'for the principle' Dozens of universities have received legal letters over what students say they missed out on during Covid.

Yet again we in Higher Ed get everything bad from being private institutions, and everything bad from being seen as part of the public sector. We can be sued and sued again for actions which we didn't cause, which hit *us*. And yet ppl think we are backed by govt. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I agree with your point about salaries. But there are a lot of other costs, buildings, maintenance, energy etc which are crazy high. And unis can’t increase fees - in fact they’ve barely been increased for years because government have prevented it..

Have you considered the difference in cost of living? UK much higher than most of Europe… https://en.uhomes.com/blog/life-in-uk-vs-europe#life-in-the-uk-vs-europe-cost-of-living

‘Is university still worth it?’ is the wrong question The graduate earnings premium isn’t really measuring what most people think

Turns out (says @jburnmurdoch.ft.com) it's not so much an oversupply of graduates in the UK (the same would be true of other similar countries but it's not) as an undersupply of the kind of jobs that a better-performing, more productive economy would supply.

FDA chief Marty Makary says 'everything should be over the counter' unless drug is unsafe or addictive Makary said the FDA is looking at prescription drugs like nausea medications and vaginal estrogen, and hopes to make changes this year.

FDA Chief Makary just said that most drugs should be sold over the counter and not require a prescription, unless it’s “unsafe, you need laboratory tests to monitor…or if it could be used for some nefarious purpose or it's addictive”.

Bacteria celebrate as antibiotic resistance enters the chat.

“It’s a UK winter endurance medal”

From the new Private Eye, out now.

This>>

Obviously it’s not your fault, but also I was saying only this morning that UCL could potentially bring the sector down with this action..

Number of academic staff in UK higher education falls for the first time | HESA

"They're only popular because they're on every TV programme" complaint from right wingers.

Media appearances per MP:

LibDems: 624
Reform: 70,732

bebroadcast.co.uk/politics-who...

Universities face:
*Teachers pension scheme cost increases
*National Insurance rises
*International student levy
*Soaring library costs
*Brutally high energy charges
*Potential 'free speech' fines
*Covid class action
There's nowhere to turn really.

Yup. This hurts.

We worked ourselves to the bone during Covid to keep the show on the road.

I ran virtual fieldtrips & recorded endless bite-size lectures, with a 2-year old balanced on my lap while the nursery was closed for 6 months.

Our students were MAGNIFICENTLY patient and gracious 🙏

This is really not what the sector needs right now…

What the actual..?

Love Larry…

Interesting way to visualise and explore the developing BlueSky community(ies?).

Also shows (roughly left vs right end ish?) perhaps different types of community - professional, social vs political/news orientated?

We're down in the bottom left, "UK HE Commons" people!

21 universities with the weirdest names you've ever heard From Chicken University to Batman University, these are the universities with the weirdest names in the world today.

Sunday morning started with an argument about Johns Hopkins university and ended here: https://studyinternational.com/news/universities-weirdest-names/ Any suggestions for weirdest Uni names in #UKHE ? (I think Bishop Grosseteste changed their name or they would win for sure!)

Bad and getting worse: for students like me, the loan system is the disaster that never ends | Rohan Sathyamoorthy The current situation in England and Wales is akin to generational warfare – Martin Lewis is right when he takes ministers to task, says student Rohan Sathyamoorthy

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... #UKHE

Steve Bannon says ICE will ‘surround the polls’ as Trump doubles down on taking over elections Trump doubled down on his comments to nationalize voting Tuesday during an Oval Office press conference. “If you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections,” Trump sai...

🚨BREAKING: Steve Bannon said Tuesday that the federal government is planning to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to patrol polling stations during this year’s midterm elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Mergers and closures:
UK universities, 2026

‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university? When Essex University’s Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a ‘left behind’ UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degr...

Excellent article but stark reminder that for all the perceptions of universities as ivory towers for elites, they are actually vital hubs in towns n cities supporting local businesses and providing key services as well as education….

"I'd love to play their calls to Rachel Reeves."

Do callers Elliot and Kieran illustrate the implicit unfairness of the student loan system? @benkentish.bsky.social thinks so.

My experience is that this model results in old, white men getting all the research time while young women and scholars of colour end up being pushed into the teaching-heavy roles.

For Everything to Stay the Same, Everything Must Change ... a riposte to academic nostalgia

'We likely require fewer academics with research in their remit, but those that do need greater time allocated, and must be subject to a strategic research management regime'.

I remain very sceptical/negative about the medium- and long-turn impacts of separating research and teaching. 1/2

‘I work as a doctor in the NHS – I’ll never be able to pay back my student loan’ Taking out a student loan was once seen as an investment in your future. But as graduates face soaring rates of inflation, they say the loans are leaving them ‘locked’ into debt

Education is a public good.

The cost should be met from general, progressive taxation, not dumped on the shoulders of these and future generations

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Sustainability in business and economics education in South African universities: Whose agenda is it? Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has become increasingly significant in business and economics disciplines due to their focus on production…

What does sustainability education look like when economic survival, inequality, and decolonisation shape the classroom? New paper on ESD in South African business & economics education.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

At last, the issue of student loans is properly hitting national politics.

Young Labour MPs team up to force chancellor’s hand on st... Backbenchers hope to overturn chancellor’s change to scheme that could burden graduates with above-inflation interest rate increases

In so many ways - student loans that take 9% of your marginal income without ever being paid off, higher rate tax threshold freezes, mortgage and housing costs - we have seen the return of the "squeezed middle".

A huge political opportunity/risk.

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Completely unsustainable and makes Rachel Reeves’s comments earlier this week even more objectionable.