There’s a lot of material both on the main Wonkhe site and on our subsite for SUs.
If you’re searching for a subject, the first and best place to look is probably Wonkhe’s general search function via the search button at the top right hand corner of the site. You can also always email us if you want to know if we have something on an issue, or want to know where you might be able to find something either from us or another organisation.
Articles
There are a number of collections of articles, blogs and briefings which are collected by tag. You can find tags to the left hand side of most articles on the site – but some of the most popular ones are:
- Students
- Students’ unions
- Covid-19
- Brexit
- The Post-18 “Augar” review
- Higher education in Wales
- Higher education in Scotland
- Data
- The Teaching Excellence Framework
- Fees and funding
- Race and ethnicity
- Access and widening participation
- The regulation of higher education
We also have archives of:
- The Wonkhe show podcast archive
- Long reads
- Beginner’s guides
- And some box sets of our audio series on the “Hidden History” of higher education.
And for students’ unions:
- An archive of Wonkhe SUs blogs written by and about our SU sector
- An archive of our Friday morning email briefings for SUs
- Blogs on the future of SUs
- An archive of our webinars for SUs
- Learning from the Wonkhe SUs study tour
- An archive of the findings from collective SU research projects
Research on value of SUs
- Do students’ unions make a difference?
- Opportunity Blocked: how student opportunities and SUs relate to student life, belonging and outcomes.
Opportunity blocked summary blogs:
- Students’ unions
- How lonely are students?
- Commuters and London
- The value of SUs
- Student confidence and outcomes
- Getting involved
SUs Briefings index
Every week we publish new briefings for SUs on issues of concern to students and SUs. We update this listing every month or so – for the latest briefings go here.
Cost of living
- The Wonkhe SUs student cost of living resource hub
- How to use the OIA note on cost of living to accelerate efforts to support students
- Here’s the latest data on students and cost of living
- Big Question: What are SUs doing on Cost of Living?
- Here’s what SUs need to know about the new ONS cost of living research
- Some students should be getting money from their landlord
- How to make best use of forthcoming national student cost of living research
- Seven in ten students have thought about dropping out due to money
- Two new studies are out on student cost of living
- Hidden course costs and consumer law
- 300,000 students at risk of hardship – here’s what new universities are doing
- Ten things that MPs won’t know about when it comes to student finance
- Food insecurity and food banks for students
- What are students’ rights if their all-inclusive bills go up?
- Medical students are cutting spending on food
- Here’s what students need to know about the £400 energy bills support scheme
- Mental health has a close relationship to sleep and financial pressures
How policy works
- What are the four classic policy goals?
- (Hear the drummer) get wicked problems
- Understanding equality and equity – the saga of the chocolate cake
- An A-Z of higher education data for student officers and staff that support them
- Understanding organisational politics
- It’s all coming up – 10 things for SUs think about in 2023
- Policy forum report: Advice managers
- Policy forum report: Research, policy, and insights staff
- Policy forum report: Liberation
- Policy forum report: Presidents and UDOs
- Policy forum report: Welfare and Community Officers
- It’s all coming up – 10 things for SUs to prep for in 2022/23
Teaching and learning
- What are creative arts courses?
- How do students see student success differently by subject?
- How to use the blended learning review for change
- Your essential guide to making sense of OfS’ new data dashboards
- What are students telling us about digital learning?
- Do we read worse on screens?
- 1 in 6 university students has admitted to cheating in online exams this year
- Should we punish students that plagiarise?
- How to understand and use OfS’ new definitions of quality
- Should students have to learn how to make arguments- and be assessed on it?
- What is “authentic” assessment – and is it only good for the world of work?
- What do students think about tech and how useful it is on their course?
- What do students really think about trigger warnings
- Working, studying and “first in family” students
- How to respond to DfE’s HE policy statement and reform consultation
- Principles of good assessment and feedback
- What can we learn from the shift to digital delivery?
- Mental health in teaching and learning
- How to close awarding gaps through new assessment methods
- They are consumers, at the end of the day. Or are they?
- This is why the B3 bear and the TEF matters to your SU’s strategy
- What will count as Gold, Silver and Bronze?
- The absolutely fundamental guide to assessing students
- Does having a high EQ improve your grades?
- “It was about us against the system” – how to reduce attainment gaps in higher education
- Is it actually possible to spot a milled essay?
- Students just don’t do the reading. Or do they?
- Seven big takeaways from the 2021 UK Engagement Survey
- What if we viewed student anxiety as an academic issue?
- Things to think about if you’re discussing or debating online proctoring at your uni
- A beginner’s guide to academic workload modelling
- Do students engage when everything is online?
- That synching feeling – exploring student engagement in an online environment
- What should SUs argue for when it comes to digital learning?
- How to speak the new language of learning
- How to respond to OfS’ consultation on quality and standards
- Switching from exams to coursework narrows the Black awarding gap
- Should students get to see Turnitin’s originality reports?
- How higher education staff perceive the impact of policy on students
- Shorter recorded lectures, or long ones – which is best for learning?
- One way to think about post-pandemic “blended” learning
- The psychological impacts of Covid-19 on students
- What if students aren’t happy about lectures moving online in September?
- What makes teaching good – the answers that student reps need to know
- What can students’ unions take from our research on digital literacy and the curriculum?
- Do students learn as well from e-textbooks as they do from hardcopies?
- How do students react to learning analytics feedback?
- Should SUs worry about class sizes?
- Identifying student subcultures in the unexpected online student cohort
- Here’s what SUs need to know about OfS’ new “proceed” measure
- How students perceive of time at university
- Making the student academic experience more “immersive”
- Why too many recorded lecture videos may be bad for maths students’ learning
- What does Quality mean in the age of coronavirus?
- The “mess, stress and trauma” of student cheating
- OfS has new guidance out on no detriment policies and safety nets
- Module evaluation in a pandemic and beyond
- What (do academics think) is the ideal student?
- Should SUs lobby for better/more training for university teaching staff?
- Ten things for SUs to learn from Jisc’s new digital experience research
- Feeding back to students – does the medium affect the message?
- Disentangling assessment and feedback
- What should SUs push for when it comes to digital teaching and learning?
- Why students cheat
- How does QAA accreditation reflect student experience?
- This is why writing matters for student learning
- What do students really think about how they are assessed?How a year of emergency digitally-enabled learning could get even better
- Is keeping lectures online in September such a great idea after all?
- Is this the secret to improving feedback for students?
- Student retention and feeling part of a community
- Can the curriculum improve student happiness?
- Student enterprise and entrepreneurship
- Weighing up types of teaching in the student interest
- Can we (and should we) measure how much students learn?
- What is “socio-educational well-being” and do university classrooms affect it?
- Learning through successful feedback
- What do students want from assessment feedback?
- Does lecture capture mean fewer students are turning up (and so what if it does?)
- Do learning analytics help us spot students in trouble?
- Could moderation make marking fairer and mean more consistent feedback?
- What the research says about lecture capture
- What do students want from library refurbs?
- Timetabling, soft skills and student support: does the new “football uni” have the answers?
- Can we “nudge” students towards better grades?
- How are degrees calculated – and why does it matter?
- A code for quality
- How many students cheat – and what approaches work?
- Why should I care about QAA and HESA?
- What’s all the fuss about grade inflation?
- Should we manage, meet, or transform student expectations?
- A quick guide to qualitative data
- A look at personal tutoring policies
- Online learning – is it any good?
- Do teaching fellowships improve teaching for students?
University management, strategy and governance
- What to think about when your uni is planning (or not planning) to grow
- A closer look at university finances
- Twelve things for SUs to note from the 2021 OIA annual report
- What can SUs learn from the latest batch of OIA-adjudicated complaints?
- An A-Z of higher education data for student officers and staff that support them
- What does a degree actually cost – for students and for universities?
- What do students value about the student experience?
- How has Covid impacted the student experience – and what do they want in September?
- An A-Z of higher education data for student officers and staff that support them
- How do students decide what to study (and where)?
- The debate over university admissions reform
- This is what SUs need to know about league tables
- How to respond to OfS’ consultation on quality and standards
- It looks like casualisation is a student interest issue
- What are universities doing about climate change?
- How to respond to OfS’ review of admissions (and why SUs should bother)
- UUK has been polling people on what they think about admissions
- The fast way to understand debates about post-Brexit immigration and universities
- Half of universities have made “divestment” commitments. Has yours?
- Higher education, students, and a sense of place
- Make me an offer – how students get recruited to universities and why it matters to SUs
- Are universities a sinister cult, and can you have a “neutral” education?
- It’s all coming up – ten things we think will happen next term
- What (and where) on earth is TNE?
- Data for the terrified- where to find facts, figures and numbers about unis
- An overview of the regulatory framework for England
- Where are we at on student period poverty?
- What is a healthy university – and why does it matter?
- Do students look at the feedback they get?
- Augar is here: what do SUs need to know?
- How much should my VC get paid (and should students have a say?)
- Are university league tables broken?
- A beginner’s guide to HESA data
Freedom of speech
- The essential guide for SUs to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill
- Student attitudes to free speech on campus
- Student views (and student types) on campus free speech
- How to submit evidence on the Freedom of Speech Bill
- How to understand the so-called “culture wars”
- The essential guide for SUs to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill
- How do people feel about the “culture wars”?
- Student views (and student types) on campus free speech
- Should there be new law to protect debate on campus?
- A legal view on “no platform” policies
- What SU trustees need to know about free speech and SUs
- Is there any evidence of cancel culture?
- The Charity Commission and free speech in SUs
- Proposed work on students’ union, association and guild freedom of expression and wider standards
- Back to the future on no platforming
- Policy Exchange proposals on SUs and freedom of speech
Students unions
- The student role in governance and quality assurance
- What are the basics that all higher education SUs should have?
- OfS has released new guidance on the TEF Student Submission
- Can we pay our part time officers (and other related questions)
- Twenty ideas for revitalising welcome week from across Europe
- What does Policy Exchange have to say about SUs and Prevent?
- Can we pay our part time officers (and other related questions)
- Need to know – the law on students’ unions
- Why can’t SUs campaign on whatever they like?
- Five ideas from Europe for building students back higher this Autumn
- The future of student involvement in quality in Wales
- SUs and “pro-life” societies
- Why can’t SUs campaign on whatever they like?
- Need to know – the law on students’ unions
- How to make student voice more meaningful
- Contractual considerations for students’ unions
- Making statements on political issues
- What should SU trustees learn from the collapse of Kids Company?
- Do clubs and societies make a difference to employability?
- Why activity-oriented focus groups are great for student research
- Revealed: what different types of students think of SUs
- What happened to student activities and opportunities during the pandemic?
- How student activities and opportunities help skills development
- How should SUs respond to DfE’s proposed free speech “standards”?
- The restructuring regime and SUs
- How to make student sport happen under “Step One”
- 120 ways to rebuild student opportunities after the pandemic
- What if only extroverts benefit from student opportunities?
- The Job Retention Scheme (JRS) bonus scheme
- Policy Exchange proposals on SUs and freedom of speech
- Does Ukraine offer lessons for UK students’ union development?
- Do SUs help students pick up the skills that employers need?
- Lessons for SU trustees from the Save the Children harassment investigation
- What are the development needs of sabbs?
- Sports teams and homophobia – still a problem?
- How representative are SU officers?
- SUs as charities and external advertising
- Does Ukraine offer lessons for UK students’ union development?
- The restructuring regime and SUs
- The Job Retention Scheme (JRS) bonus scheme
- What’s the secret to keeping SU staff?
- What is deliberative democracy and why should SUs think about it?
- What can SUs learn from Essex Uni’s antisemitism review?
- Six things to bear in mind about NSS Q26
- The way holiday pay is calculated is changing and it will affect students
- What would an “assertive” partnership with a university look like?
- Why can’t SUs campaign on whatever they like?
- Need to know – the law on students’ unions
- Changes to employment law
- A “can do” approach to clubs and socs during Covid
- What should SU trustees learn from the collapse of Kids Company?
- The Charity Commission and free speech in SUs
- Workplace equality for SUs in the time of coronavirus
- Knowing your DSARs from your elbow: Data subject access requests
Postgraduate students
- Here’s our top five takeaways from PTES 2022
- Four key takeaways for SUs from the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey 2022
- PGRs need more and better space on campus
- How to respond to UKRI’s New Deal for Postgraduate Research consultation
- PGRs may be normalising anxiety and depression – so what should be done to tackle that?
- Top ten takeaways from PTES 2021
- What does PTES 2020 actually tell us?
- The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey 2020
- Ethnicity, the postgraduate experience and what to do about it
- Should there be standards in PGR supervision?
- What is it like being a PGR/PhD student in the UK?
- Improving the relationship between PGR students and their supervisors
- Ethnicity, the postgraduate experience and what to do about it
- A whole bunch of extraordinary facts about postgraduate study in the UK
- What about postgrads that teach?
- What about postgrad student mental health?
- The headlines from the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey 2019
- The headlines you need from the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey 2019
- Why postgraduate taught students are about to move up SUs’ priority list
- PGR students and their supervisors
- The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey 2018
- Charity Commission: Serious incident reporting
- Charity Commission- serious incident reporting
- Understanding and responding to the independent review of the TEF
- Is this a turning point in the campus culture wars?
- What makes a powerful SU officer, team or organisation?
- New freedom of speech guidance – implications for SUs
- Projects that improve PGR mental health
Students and employment
- Students and part time work: here’s what SUs need to know
- Holiday pay for part-year staff should not be pro-rated
- What on earth is “graduate outcomes” data and why should SUs care?
- Students need jobs – but what sort?
- Are graduates hitting the world of work underprepared?
- Students want jobs and Advance HE has a framework for that
- It’s name is LEO
Misconduct and protecting students from harm
- How effective is personal tutoring at your university?
- Providers need to do more to tackle harassment and sexual misconduct, according to a new OfS evaluation
- Understanding sexual assault prevalence is central to tackling the issue
- UUK has new guidance on staff-student sexual misconduct
- Understanding sexual aggression in male students
- Is better local licensing the answer on sexual harassment and assault in the night-time economy?
- Does reputation get in the way of researching student sex work?
- How to get students to admit to cheating
- The government has announced action on sexual harassment in the workplace – here’s why it matters to SUs
- Should universities tell students the outcome of harassment and sexual misconduct complaints?
- Understanding sexual aggression in male students
- How does student activism drive change on campus sexual violence?
- What’s going on with OfS’ consultation on harassment and sexual misconduct – and why SUs should care
- Online harassment – is reputation more important than safeguarding?
- The Draft Building Safety Bill 2020
- Creating conversations about sexual consent on campus
- How to ensure that students disclose sexual misconduct
- Online harassment – is reputation more important than safeguarding?
- Creating conversations about sexual consent on campus
- What are “romantic advances” and why might they harm students?
- Staff sexual misconduct – improving students’ rights
- Ten things to note in UCL’s new policy on staff student relationships
- BUCS is intervening on “problem initiations”
- Here’s what universities are doing about online abuse of students
- What should SUs interrogate when it comes to student data?
- HEPI/Youthsight research on student cybersecurity
- Making staff sexual misconduct more visible
- How much progress has your uni made on “changing the culture”?
- Universities UK guidance on initiations at UK universities
- UUK on tackling online harassment
- How to respond to the Government consultation on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
- Nine big issues for reviews of harassment procedures
- How to use the evaluation of OfS projects on student safeguarding locally
- So your uni’s reviewing disciplinary procedures
- Student disciplinary procedures in focus
- What is Title IX and what have US universities learned?
- Changing the culture – the UUK taskforce report
Student experience
- Does what students eat get them better outcomes?
- Over a quarter of students have no friends at university
- How to ensure commuter students belong
- Information sharing and student suicide
- For students, the cost of living pressures are really starting to bite
- Comparing the financial help that universities give to students
- Do extra-curricular activities help with employability? Some do
- Understanding “graduate attributes”
- Can students afford to study in 2022?
- Do extra-curricular activities improve grades, completion rates and graduate job prospects?
- Why are students in Scotland facing student poverty?
- Ten top takeaways for SUs from our research on students and belonging
- What is the National Student Accommodation Survey 2022 telling us?
- Drink, drink up
- Horrible housemates and the student experience
- Students are borrowing money to gamble
- How to persuade students to live healthy
- What is the solution to problems faced by student tenants?
- Achieving a fairer private rental sector – what SUs need to know
- What are the big differences between living in private lets and purpose built student accommodation?
- A beginner’s guide to medical education
- What is “student success” and why does it matter to SUs?
- Under the surface – interrogating the student experience at subject level
- Student perceptions of value in 2021
- Here’s what SUs need to know about the Student Futures Commission interim report
- What should SUs argue for when it comes to digital learning?
- Ten issues for SUs to explore as universities prepare to expand
- What have students in Scotland missed out on – and what do they need next year?
- How much space do students have?
- A beginner’s guide to medical education
- A beginner’s guide to academic workload modelling
- The Jisc Digital Experience Insights Survey
- Can artificial intelligence help predict students’ needs?
- Revealed: The big differences in student satisfaction between types of student
- Why are 60s halls the way they are?
- What is the National Student Accommodation Survey 2021 telling us?
- What is it like to be a student at a UK university campus overseas?
- The impacts of purpose-built student accommodation
- It looks like casualisation is a student interest issue
- Understanding Erasmus
- Ten things worth knowing about private student halls in the UK
- Does belonging predict drop out?
- Roll up roll up for the (NSS) National Contentment Survey
- Twenty things that SUs need to know about Phase One of the NSS review
- Five ideas from Europe for building students back higher this Autumn
- What if social isolation makes academic work harder?
- What if only extroverts benefit from student opportunities?
- Some new findings on students and belonging
- What role should academics play when it comes to student mental health?
- How important are friends at university to student mental health?
- Student retention and feeling part of a community
- Can the curriculum improve student happiness?
- The Draft Building Safety Bill 2020
- Has Covid-19 impacted student (and parent) financial confidence?
- Understanding Erasmus
- Have students and graduates lost access to the workplace?
- Ten things worth knowing about private student halls in the UK
- The essential findings in this year’s Student Academic Experience Survey
- A major digital divide is opening up between students
- Can social networks be used as an educational resource?
- Why are we so negative about students “dropping out”?
- Does sleep affect academic performance?
- It’s a myth! Made up things about students and universities FINALLY REVEALED
- How can uni and SUs bridge the gap between school/college and uni?
- Are students turning to private debt to pay rent?
- What about the voices of part time students
- “Inappropriate influence” and the NSS
- What are the benefits to “mixing people up” in halls?
- How do people get on when they study more than one subject at uni?
- Want better grades? Get more sleep
- The type of student accommodation you live in affects your grades
- Closing the gap between student expectations and reality
- Are housemates the key to student wellbeing?
- Ten takeaways from Advance HE’s students statistical report 2019
- Students and tech – Jisc’s digital insights survey
- The new realists: the 2019 HEPI/Unite Students insight report
- Drinking and peer pressure
- What do we know about student living costs?
- Are student homes fit for habitation?
- Do bursaries work?
- What has Plato got to do with student rights and expectations?
- Students are more skint than ever before
- What can London tell us about commuter students?
- What can London tell us about retaining students?
- The 2019 Student Academic Experience Survey on: welfare disclosure
- The 2019 Student Academic Experience Survey on: value for money
- The 2019 Student Academic Experience Survey on: learning and teaching
- How to read (and use) the HEPI survey results
- The hits and misses from the 2019 Student Academic Experience survey
- Mandatory affordability strategies
- Will Hinds beat the cheats?
- What happens to students if there’s “no deal”?
- Students want sustainability skills from their higher educattion
- How to respond to the NSS review consultation
- Business students’ thinking about their studies and future careers
Supporting students and student mental health and wellbeing
- How (and why) to lobby the Lords over the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill
- How to improve safety for students in local pubs and clubs
- Learning the lessons from an evaluation of intersectional student mental health initiatives
- Understanding male students’ sexual aggression
- How to approach discussions on university rent setting
- Almost half of young people are experiencing mental health problems
- Should your university adopt “digital” mental health support?
- There needs to be better support for students with chronic illnesses
- Does active learning improve wellbeing?
- There’s new guidance out on placements, mental health support and preventing student suicide
- University students are hidden targets of county lines drug dealing – new report
- Are “wellbeing analytics” going to solve all our problems?
- Targeting mental health initiatives at those most in need
- A cheat sheet for the key evidence on student mental health
- This is what SUs (in England) need to know about the new Building Safety Act
- Here’s the latest intel on student halls
- Will rental reform help students in halls?
- What can SUs do to end homelessness?
- Is perfectionism an important part of the student mental health crisis?
- What works to tackle mental health inequalities in higher education?
- How did the lockdowns impact students’ mental health?
- Anxious students are more likely to struggle both socially and academically
- How to stop students from burning out
- Accommodation environments and student mental health
- What if student wellbeing is dependent on trust?
- Want to improve student mental health? It’s all about connections
- Who are the UK’s loneliest students?
- Student satisfaction? It’s all about interaction
- What is the actual impact of Instagram on student wellbeing?
- What are the factors influencing students’ sense of belonging?
- Alcohol is becoming more common in sexual assault among students
- How to reduce drug-related harms amongst students
- There’s a new “student happiness” index – but what does it tell us?
- We can’t ignore money when it comes to student mental health
- Student mental health was hit hard during the pandemic – what should happen now?
- Freshers need extra help with social connections
- Student relationships, sex and sexual health
- What if social isolation makes academic work harder?
- Should students consider becoming sober-curious?
- How to reduce and prevent student bullying
- What if only extroverts benefit from student opportunities?
- The latest on students and sex and drugs
- Should we build mindfulness into the timetable for students?
- A quarter of students have no friends, says new study
- How many students are in rent debt?
- Is there a link between money and student mental health?
- How to spend DfE’s £50m for student hardship
- Mental health and the next generation of students
- Should universities build wellbeing education into the timetable?
- Is academic credit for wellbeing classes an answer to the student mental health crisis?
- How to support international students in financial hardship
- Should students consider becoming sober-curious?
- What is London Weighting and why should it matter to students?
- The state of play on Covid hardship support
- How to reduce and prevent student bullying
- What difference do “personal tutors” make – and how?
- Does “mindfulness” training help with exams?
- Almost half of students have had “a serious psychological issue”
- Wellbeing and burnout: is it worse for medical students?
- How to tackle student loneliness before term starts
- Guess what: there’s a link between the academic experience and mental health
- The essential guide to the Student Minds University Mental Health Charter (Part 2)
- The essential guide to the Student Minds University Mental Health Charter (Part 1)
- Are some subjects worse than others for student mental health?
- How to embed mental health in the curriculum
- How to close the student mental health attainment gap
- Norman Lamb has stats on uni mental health services
- Where should we start on student mental health?
- What role do teaching and academic staff play in mental health strategies?
- Co-producing mental health strategies with students
- How do students think about student loans?
- How do they support student mental health in Finland?
- How important are friends at university to student mental health?
- Student retention and feeling part of a community
- Can the curriculum improve student happiness?
- What role should academics play when it comes to student mental health?
- Student loans don’t cover students’ costs
- Three in five students have seen a direct impact on their income as a result of Covid-19
- Some new findings on students and belonging
- Amending mental health services in light of the pandemic
Inclusion, liberation and equality
- How to argue for an inclusive curriculum
- The results of Europe’s largest survey on gender-based violence in academia
- Students and pregnancy
- Gender based violence, SUs and jurisdiction in complaints procedures
- Pregnancy, parenthood and childcare rights for students
- There’s more to do to eradicate ethnicity awarding gaps
- What is Critical Race Theory and what has it got to do with universities?
- How to speed up improvements for Disabled students
- Students with caring responsibilities face significant challenges
- How to ensure disabled students can access their education post-pandemic
- Why are we ingraining inequality in student communities?
- Race and racism in student halls
- How to make post-pandemic HE work for disabled students
- A desire to belong – ethnic minority students’ lived experience of being a PGR
- How do mature students make the transition into HE?
- How do students understand and talk about gender-based violence on campus?
- More student or faculty diversity on campus leads to lower racial gaps in graduation rates
- Scholarships make a big difference for care-experienced and estranged students
- Gypsy, traveller, roma, showman and boater students in higher education
- What should SUs worry about when it comes to internationally mobile LGBTQ+ students?
- Student voice and Muslim students
- How to help students with ADHD to succeed
- How to get it right for disabled students
- Next steps in the LGBT+ student experience
- Addressing the issues faced by deaf higher education students post-pandemic
- Poorer and BAME students feel left behind during pandemic
- Developing your understanding and approach around decolonising
- What was the impact of the pandemic on Disabled students?
- What’s it like being a Black student at a predominantly white university?
- Dyslexia and remote learning – students have struggled
- What’s it like being a woman in higher education?
- SUs need to do more to enable disabled students to access the full student experience
- Racism on campus and social norming
- Decolonising in UK universities
- What it’s like being a muslim student in the UK (and what students think about Islam)
- Tackling racial harassment in higher education
- What is Critical Race Theory and what has it got to do with universities?
- Does student engagement work engage BAME students? (not really)
- How to ensure blind students can access remote exams
- How to tackle islamophobia on campus
- Decolonising in UK universities
- What it’s like being a muslim student in the UK (and what students think about Islam)
- Racism on campus and social norming
- What happens when you ask students themselves about “inclusion”?
- OfS has uncovered more gaps in getting in and getting on
- You think Oxbridge, you think privilege
- Mental health among transgender students
- Students these days are so “super complex”
- How can students feel safe and not safe all at the same time?
- How to improve diversity on campus
- Guess what. There’s a religion and belief attainment gap too
- Why are LGBT+ students dropping out of uni?
- Revealed: The big differences in student satisfaction between types of student
- Revealed: what different types of students think of SUs
- Are parts of HE turning a blind eye to racism?
- This is why men do better when they appeal
- How to make a difference for disabled students
- Straight white men and diversity projects
- Racial harassment at UK universities – summarising the report
- Racism on campus – the role of SUs
- Understanding the BME attainment gap
- Are unis doing enough for disabled students?
- Disabled students and living up to the “hype”
- Ten takeaways from Trendence research on LGBT+ students
- How co-creation can support underrepresented students and equitable practices
- How to run research projects on gender-based violence
- Decolonising the curriculum means decolonising the library too
- Why are my lecturers so white?
- Closing the gap: the UUK/NUS attainment report
- Is it possible to “liberate the curriculum”?
- Ensuring discrimination, harassment and non-reporting policies work for all students
Student representation and voice
- TEF Student Submission Catch Up #4
- Report from TEF student submission catch up #3
- OfS has released new guidance on the TEF Student Submission
- How to respond to OIA’s consultation on its Good Practice Framework for complaints
- Student involvement in disciplinary processes
- Report from TEF student submission catch up #2
- The dangerous “difference” between student partnership and student representation
- Report from the TEF student submission catch up
- Student governors – what do they do and what should they do?
- Identifying the educational development needs of elected sabbatical officers with a remit for supporting teaching and learning
- Student engagement in quality assurance reviews
- The (new) regulation that surrounds student engagement in England
- What SUs need to know about student voice in the new TEF
- What factors make student representatives more effective?
- Here’s how universities are being advised to support student engagement
- Voice and representation work in SUs in the Scandis
- This is what SUs need to know about the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill
- Can artificial intelligence replace student representation?
- Student governors face major potential conflicts of interest
- Should we make students “participate” or just survey them for student voice?
- Does participation in university governance add value to a student’s academic experience?
- Is this the secret to improving feedback for students?
- How to make student voice more meaningful
- Does your university need a student consultation framework?
- Lip service and bottlenecks – what is it like being a student representative?
- Student-staff co-creation in higher education
- Responding to student voice: insights into international practice
- Unbiased, reliable, and valid student evaluations can still be unfair
- Ten ways to improve institution-level student representation
- Partnerships that support student led projects
- How to respond to OfS’ consultation on student consultation
- Where does student voice go?
Student rights and protections
- Here’s what the implementation of the Renting Homes (Wales) Bill means for students and SUs
- What SUs need to know about changes to OIA’s Good Practice Framework
- How to respond to the consultation on new standards for rented homes
- UUK has published new guidance on sharing personal data in harassment cases
- Zero tolerance doesn’t stop drug use
- How to advise students on their prospects of success in appeals and complaints
- Petitions on tuition fees are going to be debated in the commons. Again.
- Understanding potential changes to student loans
- Student renters need to know their rights
- Here’s what OIA says is important as we approach the new academic year
- What can SUs learn from batch 3 of Covid complaints?
- This is what SUs (in England) need to know about the new Building Safety Bill
- Fifteen reasons why students could complain over Covid – so their rights become much clearer
- So what can students complain about?
- What can SUs learn from a new batch of complaint case studies?
- How the national codes protect students in accommodation
- How to advise students on their prospects of success in appeals and complaints
- What can SUs learn from batch 2 of Covid complaints?
- Understanding OfS’ consumer protection reviews
- Mitigating or extenuating circumstances gets a major overhaul
- How to respond to OIA’s consultation on a new chapter of its Good Practice Framework
- Is it time to review your university’s student protection plan?
- Ten things to note from OIA’s annual report
- What do students think about the so-called “value for money” agenda?
- The Consumer Rights Act 2015 and Industrial Action
- How are SUs handling term two of strike action?
- How much profit does your university make out of students?
- How to respond to the OfS consultation on harassment and sexual misconduct
- How to respond to OIA’s extenuating circumstances consultation
- How to tell students where their tuition fees go
- Fitness to practise – case studies from OIA
- How to respond to OIA’s consultation on a new chapter of its Good Practice Framework
- Understanding “fitness to practise”
- Should students who owe their university money be able to graduate?
- Fitness to practice and unsual academic regs
- Essential welfare intervention or surveillance state?
- Attendance monitoring at university
- Hidden course costs and consumer law
- Student consumer rights and refunds under Covid-19
International students
- International students, hardship and money-lending scams
- International students are having a positive experience on the new graduate route (if they can get onto it)
- International students, hardship and money-lending scams
- What causes international students to feel satisfied?
- How to respond to the call for evidence on the inspection of the immigration system
- International students’ social values and backgrounds can influence their mental health
- What are prospective international students saying about September?
- International students are facing racism on campus
- Ten things to remember about temporary changes to immigration rules for international students
- Do we need an international students integration index?
- How can we promote international integration on campus?
- Do international students think Britain is drunk?
Strikes and industrial action
- What’s going on with the UCU industrial action?
- Here’s what SUs need to know about UCU’s action short of a strike
- What are this week’s strikes all about?
- Here’s what SUs need to know about UCU’s industrial action
- The ultimate guide to student rights when there’s industrial action
- Nursing strikes and students
- Here’s what SUs need to know about UCU’s marking and assessment boycott
- The ultimate guide to student rights when there’s industrial action
- Industrial action latest statements
- Here’s what SUs need to know about the UCU ballot for industrial action
- Why could industrial action be coming to UK campuses in the coming year?
- Industrial action latest statements
- Thorny issues to think through in the run up to industrial action
- Student rights and industrial action
- Implications for SUs of summaries of strike complaints
- Compensation and industrial action
Access and participation
- How to respond to the OfS consultation on a new access and participation regime
- Why do distance education students drop out?
- Disabled students need more information on the support universities can offer
- Understanding and influencing Access and Participation plan “variations”
- November and December in decol
- October in decol
- Did SUs make a difference on access and participation?
- What role do SUs have in Access and Participation Plans?
- How and why to feed in on your uni’s access and participation plan and progress
- What’s it like to be both mature and first in family to university?
- How and why to feed in on your uni’s access and participation plan and progress
- Understanding the HE journey of care experienced learners
- What role do SUs have in Access and Participation Plans?
- So did universities build student engagement into access and participation plans?
- Access and participation to… postgrad study?
- Plums on the tree – what’s going on with social mobility?
- What helps first in the family students to succeed?
- Helping under-represented students navigate academic culture
- Revealed: how to stop WP students from dropping out
- What do published access and participation strategies say about SU and student involvement?
- What’s the Sutton Trust saying about prospective students?
- Contextual admissions – a quick explainer
- What’s all the fuss about unconditional offers?
General election 2019
- The Wonkhe SUs 2019 general election student policy guide
- There’s a new “ranking” out on voter registration
- Update from the Cabinet Office on electoral registration and NI numbers
- SUs, elections and charity law: nothing to worry about
- The electoral commission has clarified some things for charities
- Getting students registered to vote is an urgent priority
- General election 2019 manifesto watch: Plaid Cymru
- General election 2019 manifesto watch: The Conservative Party
- General election 2019 manifesto watch: The Brexit Party
- General election 2019 manifesto watch: The Labour Party
- General election 2019 manifesto watch: The Liberal Democrats
- General election 2019 manifesto watch: The Green Party
Covid-19
- Next academic year and the “structure of learning”
- Inducting, socialising and engaging students in the “new normal”
- Places and spaces on a socially distant campus
- Student inclusion and reopening
- What does Quality mean in the age of coronavirus?
- Why did some students ignore Covid rules?
- Five important factors when supporting Covid generation freshers
- Implications for students and SUs of “Plan B” vaccine passports in England
- Are “student compacts” an answer to some of the September student questions?
- What can you do in Step 3 from Monday?
- Learning lessons from part one of the pandemic
- What restrictions might remain on students and universities after “freedom day”?
- What should concern us re university applicants enrolling this September?
- Young people in the time of Covid-19: a fear and hope study of 16-24 year olds
- Are students getting the “absolute clarity” they were promised?
- Has Covid-19 impacted student (and parent) financial confidence?
- Have students and graduates lost access to the workplace?
- Student inclusion and reopening
- Twenty six challenges to universities over disabled students and Covid-19
- What will social distancing look like for students in the autumn?
- What do students say about uni efforts to minimise the spread of Covid-19?
- What do students say if you ask for their ideas on September and social distancing?
- Changes to courses and the issue of “consent”
- Places and spaces on a socially distant campus
- Do students want to “return” after Easter?
- What could be done to help/compensate the Class of Covid?
- OfS has new guidance out on no detriment policies and safety nets
- QAA has published advice on practical components and placements
- QAA has published advice on “safety net” and “no detriment” policies
- Student caregivers during the pandemic
- What should (or could) be in a new no detriment or safety net policy for this year?
- Which universities are offering rent rebates for Christmas?
- Majority of university students want refund on first term
- Students’ views on the impact of Coronavirus
- So what can students complain about?
- Fifteen reasons why students could complain over Covid – so their rights become much clearer
- Now students are concerned about access to staff and facilities
- How should universities be supporting international arrivals?
- How do the rules on socialising and gatherings affect student groups?
- Students are worried about local lockdowns
- Applicants are worried about grades and what uni life will be like
- Amending mental health services in light of the pandemic
- Should we worry about students and money this September?
- Where will students get their work done?
- Young people in the time of Covid-19: a fear and hope study of 16-24 year olds
- Are students getting the “absolute clarity” they were promised?
- Twenty six challenges to universities over disabled students and Covid-19
- What will social distancing look like for students in the autumn?
- What do students say about uni efforts to minimise the spread of Covid-19?
- What do students say if you ask for their ideas on September and social distancing?
- Changes to courses and the issue of “consent”
- Student views on Covid-19 and implications for SUs
- Ten important findings about young people and education from ONS research into the impact of Covid-19
- Students are keen to come back – with caveats
- What are universities planning and are students still coming?
- Bolton or Cambridge? Announcements on lifting lockdown tested
- Will students defer or switch if September is socially distant?
- How is Covid-19 impacting disabled students?
- Is the penny starting to drop for students re September?
- What sort of impact is the pandemic having on PGRs?
- What should universities be doing for PGR students during the pandemic?
- Would students be happy if next term was online?
- How many students are already locked into accommodation contracts next year?
- What impact is Covid-19 having on students (and what do they think of their university’s handling of it)
- How confident is the Covid cohort when it comes to finding a job?
- It looks like international students are desperate to defer
- What are prospective students saying about universities and student support?
- Digging into research on student views on Covid-19 handling
- Covid-19 mitigations and deaf students
- What can SUs learn from batch 1 of Covid complaints?
- The new legal restrictions in Wales for after the firebreak
- The new legal restrictions in England for the November lockdown
- A quick guide for SUs to new measures in the Chancellor’s “Plan for Jobs”
- Students this year are lonely – but quite activisty
- Tiers, gatherings and exemptions – a quick guide for SUs
- The Job Support Scheme expansion for closed business premises
- Three new tiers for England
- Can universities expel students over Covid?
- Evidence is emerging on students in lockdown
- What support should be put in place when students are self-isolating in halls?
- New laws in England that SUs need to know about
- What SUs need to know about the Winter Economy Plan 2020
- How are students feeling about return to campus?
- What does social distancing do to student mental health?
- How do the rules on socialising and gatherings affect student groups?
- Do both modules? Here’s £500. Or maybe £1,000.
- Communicating to students about Covid-19
- Covid-19 and clubs, societies and campus facilities
- Covid-19, student discipline and student opportunities
- Face coverings rules in universities
- Now students are concerned about access to staff and facilities
- How should universities be supporting international arrivals?
- Students are worried about local lockdowns
- Applicants are worried about grades and what uni life will be like
- Should we worry about students and money this September?
- Where will students get their work done?
Wider Covid-19 policy issues
- Are “student compacts” an answer to some of the September student questions?
- Students, spring break, science and September
- Are students worried about their uni going bankrupt?
- There’s a briefing out on mental health and Covid-19
- How to reopen universities in September
- NHS Test and Trace and the major questions for students
- The practicalities of a socially distant campus
- What can we do about the graduate unemployment crisis that’s coming?
- What bespoke support should be in place for disadvantaged students during the crisis?
- It’s a small world – how contagious are university campuses?
- Preparing to discuss your university’s finances
- Holding meetings during the Covid-19 lockdown
- As everything moves online, do you know your data rights?
- What you need to know about the furloughed workers scheme
- How should SUs manage risk in the current climate?Changes being made to teaching and assessment have to last beyond the lockdown
Guidance for universities on Covid-19
- OIA has new guidance out on how it will approach Covid complaints
- Students need detail about September – but is that possible?
- DfE has published guidance on reopening universities in the autumn
- QAA has guidance out on courses and assessment next year
- UUK has published some principles and considerations on emerging from lockdown
- QAA has published briefings on years abroad and placements
- What are FE colleges being told about opening – and why might it matter for HE?
- There is new guidance on student (and staff) mental health and wellbeing
- QAA has guidance out on placements, years abroad and apprenticeships
- QAA has guidance out on practice and lab-based assessment
- QAA has guidance out on academic standards and supporting student achievement
- OfS publishes guidance on teaching, assessment, student support and consumer rights during Covid-19
- Key points from QAA’s guidance on Covid-19 and the student learning experience
- Student rights and Covid-19: OIA on complaints during the pandemic
- Coronavirus and protecting students’ interests
- What are universities being advised about coronavirus and what are the implications for SUs?
- Complaints, compensation and Covid-19
Misc
- How to make a difference for students on public transport
- Student opinions and understanding of sustainability
- This is why some people don’t Likert the NSS
- How to respond to the consultation on the NSS
- Academic stress is a key contributor to poor student mental health
- How England plans to cut back ‘low value’ degrees so it can reap more student loan repayments
- The TEF and B3 consultation responses are out. Here’s what SUs need to know
- How to respond to the consultation on renter’s reform
- Understanding equality and equity – the saga of the chocolate cake
- Why aren’t we giving student reps the data they need?
- Student views on cost of living and politics
- Who is James Wharton and why is he in the news?
- The REF, and why it matters to universities
- Generation Alpha is coming – here’s what you need to know
- Scanditour 2022: Norway
- Scanditour 2022: Sweden
- Scanditour 2022: Denmark
- 2022 local elections are coming – here’s what SUs need to know
- How to respond to OfS’ consultations on outcomes and excellence
- Has student politics disappeared with marketisation?
- This is what SUs (in England) need to know about IfS’ new social mobility stats
- Do fees have an impact on student satisfaction?
- What happened to the health and wellbeing of staff during Covid?
- How to follow a Bill through Parliament
- The generation game – or why are boomers are so clueless?
- What is London Weighting and why should it matter to students?
- The state of play on Covid hardship support
- How to respond to OfS’ 2021/22 funding consultation
- What is the secret for students to getting things done?
- Is helping students to focus a killer “key skill” we should be supporting?
- Students are more concerned about climate change than any other issue
- Sunday 21 March (Census day) is the most important day of the year
- Do students need to develop “civic skills” now?
- A huge set of elections is coming up and SUs need to act fast
- Mind the gender pay gap
- Are students destined to live with their parents until their 30s?
- Students not as apathetic as policy-makers like to think
- What does a campus mean?
- Student enterprise and entrepreneurship
- Do student voters make much difference at elections?