‘There is no one way of being a good university… we must celebrate the strengths of a range of universities doing different things.’ Lord Willetts celebrates the diversity of the higher education sector in the UK.
Phil Baty
8mo
Lord Willetts, as a previous member of Times Higher Education's advisory board, was instrumental in encouraging us to develop alternative performance metrics beyond the traditional research and prestige-based World University Rankings. It took some time, but the THE Impact Rankings were launched in 2019 and they offer a very different view of excellence - showing a tremendous diversity of excellence across the UK and the world, based on social and economic impact, framed around the UN Sustainable Development Goals, covering everything from equality, decent work and economic growth to protecting the environment.
It’s delightful to here Lord Willetts speak in the House of Lords. His pivotal role in implementing the Robbins Report Revisited model for Higher Education in England, which enabled British students to attend university based on their academic achievements, has enabled people from all backgrounds to go to university. Additionally, his support and encouragement were instrumental to me in founding Aston Medical Schoo in Birmingham and promoting social mobility in medicine. Given his Birmingham roots, it was my privilege and honour to present him for the university’s conferral of an honorary doctorate at Aston University, for which I also nominated him.
Very well said indeed, best UK ex-Minister for HE
Louise Nicol
8mo
Vivienne Stern CEO of Universities UK, is right when she says is “a very high risk of a manifesto from The Conservative Party that includes a commitment to removing the graduate route”. We have been saying this since the Tories Net Migration Briefing was leaked in May 2023. What if there were a way to influence MAC which also provided universities a Plan B to increase international #studentrecruitment & support their existing #internationalstudents? If the sector evidence now that inbound international student #recruitment is largely #immigration neutral, with by far the majority of #internationalstudents returning to their home countries & into successful #careers following their studies. MAC reports in the May, so if the sector commission Non EU #graduateoutcomes data in the Spring, they have a chance of submitting their findings before MAC reports, universities would have a Plan B & #psw could receive a stay of execution? “There are fears the Conservatives might pledge to scrap the UK’s graduate visa route in their election manifesto, putting pressure on Labour, if a review of the route does not first lead to its abolition.” Asia Careers Group SDN BHD AGCAS British Council BUILA Jisc UCAS UKCISA Universities UK International
Lord Willetts is an expert on the HE system, he has a deep understanding in his field and knows what he’s talking about!
Karen Usher, DL
8mo
Without Lord Willetts’ early support and vision, today’s great new providers - including NMITE - would not exist.
Louise Nicol
8mo
Problems with the accelerated MAC review have more to do with the appalling lack of real time or at least up to date HESA / Jisc data on #internationalstudents! The data is available to allow MAC to draw appropriate conclusions & rule on the future of the #graduateroute within the deadline, for the how read our full post. Data which is not available to MAC & should be is robust, representative, benchmarked Non-EU #graduateoutcomes data on the thousands of international students that go on to successful careers with leading companies back in in their home countries. Despite this data being available since 2019 their has a been a wilful reluctance to collectively “invest in international futures,” which has put the entire sector into the precarious financial position it now finds itself in. An investment of just 0.001% of the value of #intled (approx £300,000) seems a small price to pay, particularly if you are the University of Aberdeen University of Brighton Coventry University University of East Anglia The University of Huddersfield University of Kent Northumbria University Queen Mary University of London Sheffield Hallam University Staffordshire University University of Surrey University of Winchester Asia Careers Group SDN BHD
Really love this - lots of different ways to recognise the success of different universities 🙌🏼
Madi Konakbayev
8mo
This is true and Aido Education always provides information to our students about different universities, their speciality and strong sides.
Professor, Women & Gender/ Executive Leadership & Coach | Consultant | Author | Speaker | Enabling women to flourish in their careers | Experienced Higher Education consultancy for transformation and change
8mohmm yes. We should celebrate diversity. And I can support the general point absolutely. But building compassion, care and listening as core features of all universities would, for me, be a desired common feature.