NEW on Wonkhe: Expanding higher education isn't explicitly on any political party's agenda, but you can't have regional economic regeneration without it, argues Debbie McVitty Debbie McVitty wonkhe.com/blogs/the-link…

An incredible day at Keele University 🐿️ chatting curriculum, student life, global challenges, collective action & everything in between. Really impressive staff, students & projects on the go

I CAN make small talk if I have to but you won’t enjoy it because I’m pretty dreadful at it

NEW on Wonkhe: Drawing on insight from a new Wonkhe/Solutionpath project, Rachel Maxwell and Debbie McVitty explore how universities are approaching the wicked problem of reimagining academic support Dr Rachel Maxwell StREAM by Kortext Debbie McVitty wonkhe.com/blogs/five-asp…

I have exactly one hour free in central Edinburgh on Friday morning 11-12 if anyone wants me to buy them a coffee! Otherwise I guess I’ll just buy something tartan for the kids…

Anyone else start this week with a tightly planned list of objectives only to have things slowly descend into chaos as the week wears on? Or are you all on holidays, you lucky ducks!

NEW on Wonkhe: Debbie McVitty finds the seeds of an emerging consensus around the value of higher education expansion in party manifestos of the post-war years Debbie McVitty wonkhe.com/blogs/higher-e…

NEW on Wonkhe: UCAS has a new tool showing successful students' actual grades on entry to their courses. Debbie McVitty got a sneak preview Debbie McVitty UCAS Corporate wonkhe.com/blogs/a-first-…

An extended case study on why this is a self defeating argument - using Teesside University, which Simon is rightly very proud of.

NEW on Wonkhe: A new book promises to lift the lid on the unvarnished realities of academic life. Debbie McVitty wonders if it really is as bad as all that Debbie McVitty wonkhe.com/blogs/the-secr…

Well! What a brilliant day at University of Leicester - saw lots of cool stuff, beautifully curated for us, obvs, but also just really great clarity of purpose and sense of collective endeavour around doing stuff that has meaning both inside and outside the university.

NEW on Wonkhe: By the end of the eighties the architecture of HE as we know it was in place – but not the funding. Debbie McVitty hunts for solutions in the manifestos of Major, Kinnock, Blair, and Ashdown Debbie McVitty wonkhe.com/blogs/higher-e…

NEW on Wonkhe: This week on the podcast we have new research out on cost of living and its impact on students. With no time, will students get the skills and confidence they were promised? Ed Marsh Paul Greatrix Debbie McVitty wonkhe.com/blogs/podcast-…

NEW on Wonkhe: Labour's manifesto puts teaching quality in the context of a post-16 education review. Debbie McVitty looks over the border to learn what a tertiary quality system could mean Debbie McVitty wonkhe.com/blogs/labours-…

NEW on Wonkhe: This week on our final show before the summer break, Labour is to introduce a Skills England bill - we discuss what might be in it, and everything else in the King’s speech Aaron Porter Mark Leach Debbie McVitty vivienne stern wonkhe.com/blogs/podcast-…

The programme for The Festival of Higher Education dropped today. Two non-stop days, four jammed stages... so much to see and do. We’ll have a major discussion about what a new government means for higher education and, in at least fifty different ways, ask how the sector can