This month, with the 2023 local elections outside London returning significant losses for the Government, interest is certainly beginning to pique in the Labour Party’s position on higher education and, in particular, its thinking on the future of fees and funding. As leader of His Majesty’s Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer has already rolled back on Labour’s pledge to introduce free fees, but is yet to provide any detail on how Labour would reform the current funding system were it to win the next General Election. I’ve spoken to both The Guardian and Times Higher Education about the possible direction of travel for Labour in the months ahead and highlighted some key changes that could be made by any Party serious about making higher education in England sustainable for both institutions and students. 

Other media comments and appearances this month include my participation in a Times Higher Education/EY webinar on financial sustainability in higher education and an interview with University World News on the importance of preventing and responding to student suicide in advance of a parliamentary debate on the issue on 05 June. 

In recent weeks, I’ve also been pleased to get out and about again visiting members, including speaking to the University of Roehampton’s Council about our recent HEPI report on the London student experience and setting the scene for St George’s, University of London’s Council Away Day with the main issues facing “London HE”. I was also pleased that my colleague Dr Richard Boffey and I were able to join Professor Julie Sanders and her team at Royal Holloway, University of London to share thoughts about access, inclusion and success for students, as well as discuss industry, innovation and civic collaborations.  

Finally, as we look to relaunch the #WeAreInternational campaign tomorrow to celebrate the important contribution that international students make to our great city and beyond, my colleague Anna Zvagule and I have taken a deep-dive into the latest findings from HEPI, UUKi and Kaplan International Pathways to reveal the picture for London when it comes to the economic gains from international education. The results are strong for every London constituency and you can read our full analysis on our website. 

“London HE” has certainly proved itself a vital asset in achieving the UK’s international export ambitions and I look forward to seeing our members flying the flag for ‘Brand London’ through our cross-sector campaign in the weeks ahead! 

After a few months in the role now, I feel it is time to look further ahead and start laying the groundwork for the upcoming elections. We have a mayoral election next year and general election not far behind – or perhaps before? With the support of the Policy Network we plan to create a short manifesto for London higher education. On a local level, the cost of living and the impact this is having on London’s students has been suggested as an area to explore. Related to this it seems Keir Starmer has stamped out Sadiq Khan’s requested for powers to cap rents. Nationally, there is some careful defensive positioning needed to be done to ensure levelling-up does not level down London.  

Freedom of Speech is now an Act of Parliament. I was a little surprised that this passed through the House of Lords relatively unscathed. The Cambridge academic, Arif Ahmed, a supporter of the Bill (and now Act) is leading contender to take on the new role of ”free speech tsar,” although nothing has been confirmed yet.

In terms of external engagements, I attended the Local Skills Improvement Plan Board. Good progress with clear actions for business, government and education providers. 

Also on skills, I visited LSBU for a roundtable on apprenticeships with Lord Blunkett. A great cast and an excellent discussion. Interestingly, Lord Blunkett has already distanced himself from the Labour Party plans for a skills levy. It was interesting to hear the various views, but a key takeaway was that we should not forget some of the recent successes in the current system – Degree Apprenticeships being one of those successes.  

Finally, I took a trip across the fens from my newly adopted home of Lincolnshire, to the bustling metropolis of Cambridge for a discussion on HE funding. Organized by the Centre for Science and Policy, it is seems to be a good time for the sector to make its views known and fill the void on funding reform. There was a real appetite for the sector to come together. Whilst there isn’t necessarily a consensus, the process of debate and discussion will be interesting and will draw out the issues. An increasing concern is that even without student number controls, in practical terms institutions will have finite places – will we reach a point where international students could begin to displace home students? In other news, the OfS has published a document on the Financial sustainability of higher education providers in England.

The various bank holiday weekends have provided welcome respite for the London Higher policy team amid an April and May marked by consultation responses, external stakeholder meetings and engagement, and of course – network meetings.  

With three meetings under our belt and seven more on the horizon, Term 3 has been a wonderful chance for the team to take stock of the latest developments and members’ priorities for the 2023-24 academic year and beyond. 

The meeting on 25 April of the Civic network was an example of just this – with a fantastic session dedicated to group discussion on potential avenues for collaboration, reflections on the network’s contributions to creating a strong London civic narrative (for example through the London Higher Civic Map, which was cited in a UNESCO report!), and thoughts on working with external stakeholders such as the GLA and local councils.  

The Planners network convened on 11 May and welcomed John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation at the OfS, to speak on the OfS’ new risk-based approach to access and participation plans. Following an overview provided by London Higher, the network discussed the OfS’ consultation on the approach to publication of results of the National Student Survey. This meeting may have set a new record for one of our Planners meetings, with 44 attendees in total! 

Finally, the Policy network was delighted to be hosted at City, University of London on 16 May, where the team provided a mammoth update of the latest policy developments that affect the sector, including OfS consultations and inquiries, the Lifelong Loan Entitlement, freedom of speech, international students and visas, the NSS and more. We were then very pleased to hear from Robert Renfree from Mills & Reeve, who provided a brilliant overview of legal and regulatory aspects of dealing with Chat GPT and generative AI, before the group considered wider implications of this technology on higher education teaching, learning, assessment and experience. 

From now until the Summer Solstice, the policy team is thrilled to convene our International, Sustainability, Mental Health & Wellbeing, Operations, Civic, Research Excellence, and Teaching & Learning networks as we hurtle towards the end of the academic year! We will be joined by more high-profile external speakers and stakeholders, and cannot wait to discuss priorities, concerns, challenges and opportunities with colleagues from across the membership. The vibrancy of London Higher’s networks means we are constantly reminded of how powerful they are in convening colleagues, sharing good practice, and building a community of HE professionals across our wonderful capital. 

This month, AccessHE has wound up its third round of forum meetings for this academic year and we are excited by the range of topics we have been able to cover with our members across in person, hybrid and online meetings. We have discussed everything from support for students seeking ADHD diagnoses to First Star’s work with care experienced students during their degrees to what student ambassador managers can learn from We Belong’s volunteering model supporting young migrants in the UK. We are already hard at work again with planning for our fourth and final round of meetings, which will be taking place in June and July of this year before we break for the summer.  

We have also submitted a consultation response and accompanying statement for the ‘Children’s Social Care: Stable Homes, Built on Love’ consultation, sharing the view from London’s higher education sector on the future of the care experience and access to higher education.  

Our discussion for members on the lessons that have emerged so far from supporting students during the cost of living crisis took place at the end of April. We heard from Unite Students and UCL’s Students’ Union on the impact the cost of living has had on their students and what interventions have made the most difference so far. If you would like to hear more on how the event went and what we will be discussing at the summer term event following this up, you can read it in the full writeup.  

This month Uni Connect has been delivering its programme for young people in Barnet, building public speaking and research skills to culminate in participants writing and delivering a lecture on social trends and issues in Barnet today. We are looking forward to the final event of this programme where the young people will share their lectures with the local community. We invite colleagues to attend the final event – you can sign up via Eventbrite.

It’s a busy period of planning also; we are delighted to be collaborating with Creative Futures once more, and are planning a week of creativity for a group of Looked-After Children in the Summer holidays. The programme will include spoken word, visual art, and graphic design. 

Our July Extra Time programme with UEL will host students from Havering, introducing them to career pathways through sport. Students will have the chance to visit the iconic riverside Docklands campus in Stratford, meet current UEL students, and take part in wheelchair basketball. 

In July we will host Havering Futures Week – a week of IAG activity for year 10 students. Students will develop interview and assessment centre skills, and will explore a range of post-16 options including what’s on offer locally. The week is delivered in collaboration with Havering Local Authority, AccessHE HEIs, and local partners. 

It has been an exciting and busy time.   

We are sponsors of the prestigious Student Nursing Times Awards. On Friday 28 April, several LHEG representatives attended the event held in London, with the Chair of LHEG, Kathy Curtis from Kingston University, announcing Andrew Bland from Huddersfield University as the winner of the University Educator of the Year category.  It was a spectacular day which recognised the significant and important contributions made by those in the sector. 

London Higher has also written to The Times Health Commission this month, following a call for evidence earlier in the year. It is considering the future of health and social care in England in the light of the pandemic, the growing pressure on budgets and other issues. We submitted evidence on degree level qualifications, apprenticeships, cross-profession engagement, technology and social care. We argue that you cannot understand the national picture without looking closely at London. You can read our response in full on our website.

The LHEG meeting in April focused on several issues. This included the issue of qualifications, also transitional arrangements around NHSE and quality assurance, attention and attrition.

The LMED May meeting focused on Medical School Places as well as other topical issues.

International student roundtable, held in partnership with Middlesex University London 

20 June 2023

London Higher and Middlesex University London will be hosting a roundtable for international students on decision making in universities. We are still on the lookout for students to come and share their opinions, so we urge you to share the below copy with your student networks. 

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Want to talk about how international students can be more involved in decision making in universities? 

Come share your opinion and discuss with other international students!

We are looking for international student participants from a variety of countries, universities and degrees. Discussions from the event will be fed back in to the International Higher Education Commission via London Higher CEO, Dr Diana Beech, and Middlesex University London Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nic Beech (both IHEC Commissioners) and will be written up and shared with the wide HE community. 

Location: Middlesex University London 
Date: 20 June 2023
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Should you have a student who would be interested in sharing their views and discussing this with other London international students or if you have any questions, please contact Chief Operations Officer Jenny Wetherill on jenny.wetherill@londonhigher.ac.uk. 

The #WeAreInternational campaign is back! 

Ten years after the campaign was first launched, we are rebooting it to celebrate the contributions – economic, cultural, social, civic – that international students make to the UK. 

This cross-sector campaign aims to improve the perceptions of how welcoming the UK is for prospective and current international students, and increase positive sentiment towards international students among UK politicians and media.  

The campaign has been developed by Universities UK International (UUKi), UKCISA, BUILA, London Higher, British Council: Study UK and other sector bodies. 

Many of you will be familiar with the campaign and we hope that this will be helpful in terms of getting involved. We would like this to be a collective campaign – one by the sector, for the sector. 

How can my university get involved? 

On Tuesday 23 May, we would like your university to help us launch the campaign.  

You can do this by using this campaign toolkit to develop and publish content on 23 May, using the campaign hashtag across your digital channels, aligned with the objectives and key messages of the campaign.