Graduate visas: potentially significant that the govt asked MAC to complete its 'rapid review' of the route by 14 May - nine days before the net migration figures for year to Dec 2023 are due out. timeshighereducation.com/news/conservat…

Wonder where Times got their idea for a splash using uni accounts to show how much fee income Russell Group draws from overseas students? Times Higher Education did the exact same thing (with a rather more nuanced explanation of driving factors) - a month ago. timeshighereducation.com/news/russell-g…

Migration Advisory Committee chair talks about graduate visa review, sounds more independent minded than his predecessor: abuse of the route means 'breach of immigration rules' (not people getting wrong kind of jobs, as govt thinks). timeshighereducation.com/news/mac-visa-…

“The biggest probability for universities is they are part of the election campaign in a way they do not want… all eyes will be on you very, very fast.” Rachel Wolf warns to be ready for culture war tactics. John Morgan reports. timeshighereducation.com/news/tory-cult… via Times Higher Education

University of Kent previously announced course/job cut plans: now its accounts reveal £12m underlying deficit last year, forecast £31m deficit this year. timeshighereducation.com/news/kent-post…

Universities may be “part of election campaign in a way they do not want” if Tories use campus culture wars to split Labour vote, according to last Tory manifesto's author, Rachel Wolf - who said “everyone hates the Conservatives for the same reasons”. timeshighereducation.com/news/tory-cult…

University of Kent forecasts £31m deficit for the current year - £12m underlying deficit for 22-23 reported in recently published accounts - as university funding crisis continues to bite. timeshighereducation.com/news/kent-post…

Interviewed outgoing University of Oxford chancellor Lord Patten: boost govt funding 'or lose university world power status'; 'I was chairman of the Tory party when there was one'; hating the culture wars and what he learned from his Marxist, atheist Oxford tutor. timeshighereducation.com/news/patten-bo…

I wonder how the Charity Commission will get on with its pressure on Oxford colleges to reform how they run themselves - interesting that public benefit is said to be among the commission's concerns. timeshighereducation.com/news/charity-w…

Universities must make flexible working “the default”, including at higher salary levels, to truly tackle gender pay gaps, says Higher Education Policy Institute report that asks: “How long will it be until we see the first job-share vice-chancellor?” timeshighereducation.com/news/job-share… via John Morgan

HE&Me: Lucy Noakes 💙, historian at University of Essex and president-elect of Royal Historical Society, tells John Morgan about studying the 20th-century experience of war, remembrance and grief and the importance of history beyond Oxbridge
bit.ly/48SUeH0

Chair of govt's Migration Advisory Committee tells James Cleverly his request for (very) rapid review of graduate visa route sets timescales 'much shorter than normal', which will 'substantially limit the quality and quantity of evidence'. timeshighereducation.com/news/speed-req…

Charity Commission tells Oxford colleges to change and modernise how they run themselves, Times Higher Education learns, after one college's costly battle to oust its former dean and another's response to a rape allegation raised concerns about governing bodies. timeshighereducation.com/news/charity-w…

Michelle Donelan apologises for tweeting letter to UKRI. Claim that tweet was 'never motivated by any political desire' may raise eyebrows (she is a politician, after all). Story from John Morgan timeshighereducation.com/news/donelan-a… via Times Higher Education

Donelan apologises for tweeting letter to UKRI - concedes she could have written 'in confidence'. timeshighereducation.com/news/donelan-a…

Does a recent paper suggest university research is 'failing to boost economic growth', as reported by The Economist? That's 'overly dramatic' - big companies' lack of capacity to absorb university research is a key part of the picture, says lead author, timeshighereducation.com/news/universit…

.Universities UK survey shows 44% fall in overseas taught postgrad enrolments across 73 unis after dependents visa change took effect in Jan - so no need for further restrictions on graduate visas, it argues. timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-intern…

Case of Prof Jo Phoenix exposed 'shocking failure of leadership' in universities, Professor Alice Sullivan tells Higher Education Policy Institute event - Adam Habib agrees, saying it was an 'astonishing indictment of British HE' timeshighereducation.com/news/v-c-jo-ph… via John Morgan