Mark Leach
@markmleach
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Founder and Editor in Chief of @Wonkhe . Working at the intersection of politics and policy in UK higher education. MBE. #COYS
London
Joined February 2009
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Those who've known
@wesstreeting
a long time know just how long this moment has been coming, and how much he's worked for and prepared for it. Love to see it.
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So
@Keir_Starmer
selected in Holborn & St Pancras. Surely a future Labour leader and PM. You read it here first.
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Less than an hour until
@paddypower
has to pay out my 800/1 bet on this from 2014 and I can announce my early retirement 🍾🎈🍾🎈🍾
So
@Keir_Starmer
selected in Holborn & St Pancras. Surely a future Labour leader and PM. You read it here first.
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Delighted and humbled to be appointed MBE in the King's Birthday Honours, for services to higher education. I guess this whole
@Wonkhe
thing might have legs after all.
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HE support package coming tomorrow morning. Not quite a full bailout I understand but something.
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Thanks for all the good wishes this morning. Little baby Samuel and mum doing very well indeed. Taking a break from the
#WonkLife
for a bit, back soon.
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Finish seem intent on confusing everyone about their dishwasher tablets. On the high end, the terms "all in 1" "quantum" "infinity shine" "ultimate" all seem to be on random shuffle mode.
They also can't decide if gold, silver or blue is more premium positioning.
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I had an unusual birthday at Windsor Castle yesterday collecting my MBE from the King. He was very friendly, and a lovely day out was had by all. Now the holidays can begin.
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What a stupid, dishonest
#dispatches
- what might have been legitimate concerns buried under selective quotes, misleading links, deliberate conflation of issues. And the fancy dress/straw man university just risible and insulting. Who does this help?
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So
@Georgia_Gould
selected in Queen’s Park & Maida Vale. Surely a future Labour leader and PM. You read it here first.
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It's absolutely crackers. That *this* is a priority for the government now of all times! Settling old scores from their own campus battles back in the day. When SUs have been working so hard in this pandemic. So petty, so unnecessary.
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There’s been a lot of interest in this so to my new followers, you should know I issue a significant prediction every 3rd Friday, as long as Mercury is in retrograde, Labour is tracking higher than 42% and Spurs is higher than 6 in the PL (inc. GD, but not applicable off season)
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My growing conviction is that Andrew Adonis is taking the HE debate backwards in both time and quality.
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The big/major/ but definitely tertiary review is finally here. The Prime Minister is announcing it on Monday in a major speech. Wonks to battle stations. This is not a drill.
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Sammy’s first trip to the
@Wonkhe
office today for the start of his onboarding.
#SamOnCampus
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It’s
#samoncampus
! Family visit to
#wonkfest18
- meet our new editor
@debbie_mcvitty
and her deputy...
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Very heartening to see so many different sorts of people call out this ludicrous Times article that manages to frame it somehow as a bad thing that universities are transforming people's lives every day.
Hundreds of students with the worst A levels are going on to get first-class degrees each year, fuelling fears of grade inflation at universities
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@michelledonelan
There's a lot wrong about this thread but the first thing to grate was how you didn't delete the "STUDENT MESSAGE" part before copying and pasting. Strong "strong message here" vibes!
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Today the meeting room at our new
@Wonkhe
HQ officially became known as “Watson” in memory of the great man. A proper dedication will follow.
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So you look at a day like this and it's hard not to agree with
@xtophercook
that DfE is not fit for purpose (thread)
1) We start the day with a media round on a DfE white paper derailed by schools/Covid and Gavin accidentally announces "two week warning" queue a row about this.
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In all seriousness - this wasn’t a big a call as some people are making out - he wasn’t “just some bloke in his 50’s” as someone has basically said under this Tweet today - he was a major figure in public life, extremely well connected and tentatively a figure in pop culture
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Particular spate of national press ripping off the work of the
@Wonkhe
team atm. You know who you are and I know you are under pressure. But it's sad to see such lack of courtesy. We're always happy to help if you just asked. I know others in trade-focussed media see the same.
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Tomorrow's Augar review is shaping up to be a bit of a beast. I understand its over 200 pages long and 50+ recommendations. We'll be digesting in full on
@Wonkhe
when it lands. If you're not on our daily briefing, now might be a good time to subscribe...
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Probably should have put a trigger warning on that tweet for edu twitter.
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Just to recap:
The *universities minister* has completely abandoned universities and their staff, doesn't appear to know how tuition fees work, is actively lying to students about their rights and has managed to create a new Twitter meme on top of it all.
Good day's work!
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So the secret's out, we've gone and signed
@AaronPorter
as Partnerships Director at least for the time
@debbie_mcvitty
is off with the new baby. Just made his on stage debut at a
@Wonkhe
event as part of the team
#AccessAllAreas
. Other changes to be announced later this week too
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Tough on universities, tough on the consumers of universities.
STUDENT MESSAGE 1: Universities are responsible for their own fees but the Government has been VERY clear if universities want to continue charging the full fees, they are expected to maintain the quality, quantity and accessibility of tuition.
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Possibly the first ever joint statement from the university mission groups? Truly unprecedented times.
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People often ask me to do things like presentations on current government HE and research policy.
And for the next few months at least, the job is not complicated. There are two slides, both of them graphics made by the government itself.
Easy peasy.
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Positive noises coming out of USS talks today - strikes still on but it’s going to Acas and lines most conciliatory from both sides that I’ve seen so far.
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Don't think I've ever felt this disillusioned by a gov. Since the botched "end" of lockdown, had a creeping sense of living in a failed (or failing) state. Now after so much hardship, we're all being openly laughed at. There has to be trust to govern in both good and bad times.
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Unpopular view: the Cummings job ad gives an unusually honest sense of what it would like to work there which is something other recruiters could learn from, often writing in vague euphemisms and code. As a result, he's more likely to find a better fit from the outset.
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Me and
@debbie_mcvitty
just packed up and decommissioned
@Wonkhe
HQ, possibly, set foot in it for the final time as we were leaving in May anyway in favour of remote working. Felt like an emotional moment though as we mark the start of our isolation.
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For those asking my
#edlecture
from last night is now online in article format - The Enemy Within – why the narrative about universities and students went so wrong
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I think the technical word for this is bollocks.
"The current system would rather our young people get a degree in Harry Potter studies, than in construction," says Higher Education Minister Andrea Jenkyns, who says that universities are feeding students "a diet of critical race theory, anti British history and Social Marxism."
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Universities should probably brace to receive similarly late and untimely guidance.
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This gets worse the more you look at it. I think it means no access to funding for UK students in an EU country, as well as no access for EU students in the UK to loans e.g. the current fee arrangement.
Key para in the draft withdrawal agreement for HE (that I've seen so far), exempts the UK from having to offer student support to EU students in the UK.
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Just when you thought vice chancellors were going out of fashion. The brilliant Mary Stuart wins the big prize for inspiring leader after a public vote at
#GdnUniAwards
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So now we're at the penultimate change of the week.
With
@debbie_mcvitty
heading off with a new baby (see above) our own
@dkernohan
will be stepping in as Acting Editor from about now.
True story, this was actually the face he made when he heard the news👇
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Looks like we’re finally reaching Augar endgame. All the hallmarks of the UK gov trying to do something (publish an advisory panel report in this case) are now there: chaos, confusion, infighting, briefing/counter-briefing, mis/dis information. I think it’s actually happening!
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I guess we're going to hear a bit less about unconditional offers from the government now then.
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It’s been discovered! Full page
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Delighted to be shortlisted for a
@CIPR_EdSkills
education journalism award this year for “editorial excellence”.
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News that NSS is going ahead this year - but pending a review that might scrap it entirely, universities won't have to promote it to students, and the results may never be published making the whole 2021 process completely pointless.
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Our nightmare scenario has been me and/or wife getting it & not being able to care for toddler. Becoz you told us we couldn't go to grandparents for help. How is it ok for advice to apply to some but not all? Don't you understand how angry and disillusioned this will make people?
I know how ill coronavirus makes you. It was entirely right for Dom Cummings to find childcare for his toddler, when both he and his wife were getting ill.
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There's a lot to say about the government's handling of the pandemic, much of it said by more eloquent people than me tonight and other nights. And much will be written in years to come. So for now can I just say to our Prime Minister: will you please just f*ck off? Ok thanks bye
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Ignore Timothy, Adonis and the rest. You worked hard for this moment. A life-changing journey through university awaits.
#AlevelResults2017
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So this happened last night. One of the most surreal things I've witnessed at an HE event. (Text from this morning's Wonkhe Daily)
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Forcing struggling universities to charge lower fees to poorer students – and therefore have less money to spend on their retention, learning, facilities and other real value for money indicators, could simply entrench a cycle of poverty. Guardian -
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I wrote a thing: How to loose friends and alienate politicians. Four rules I learnt while being lobbied by universities:
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So why shouldn't it exist? It's totally improbable that so much good will, great ideas, logistical talent and brilliant people have all lined up to make it happen. But it has and it's quite a thing. Have an amazing
#Wonkfest
everyone. 16/16
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Don’t normally go for green bench turnout hysteria… But it is looking rather thin for
#HEBill
debate today.
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A few people have been in touch to say in the Q&A after his speech last night at KCL, Michael Barber suggested we at
@Wonkhe
should focus a bit less on the detail of policy and more on the "big picture" or words to that effect.
We're taking it under advisement.
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End of an amazing era.
EXCLUSIVE:
The University of Lincoln Vice Chancellor
Prof. Mary Stuart is to retire at the end of the year.
She’s been there 12 years, overseen a huge growth in the campus, & helped establish Lincolnshire’s first medical school.
More in our news at 4:
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UK2020 on universities report starts as you’d expect. It's based on chatter around the dinner table…. Slow hand clap.
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Rhetoric over USS getting uncessarily vile and personal. I understand that feelings run high in an industrial dispute, but its likely that better outcomes for all sides can be secured focussing on fact & evidence, policies, power structures and ideas rather than individuals.
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As the festival kicks off this morning, I'm reminded that one of the things I love about
#Wonkfest
is that it almost certainly shouldn't exist. Let me explain.... 1/16
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Excitement building for our first event since before the pandemic.
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In normal times there would be no
@Wonkhe
Daily on Good Friday, but there are major developments this morning as UUK goes to government with a bailout package to stave off disaster. In your inboxes shortly.
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For connoisseurs of being concerned that HE would get lost when it moved back in to the Department for Education - well we now no longer have a universities or higher education minister at all. Just a "Minister for Skills"
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Tweet of the day
@NeilDotObrien
@AlexProudfootUK
LEO data about as useful an indicator of value as the size of an MP's majority
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So
@Jacqui_Smith1
is the new HE, FE & Skills Minister. I think a brilliant appointment - experienced and politically savvy - going to be able to need to navigate a tough inheritance. Another sign the new government takes the challenges facing the sector(s) extremely seriously.
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Now
@JoJohnsonUK
has rail tickets in his brief, how long do we have to wait before a Ticketing Excellence Framework - or TEF if you will - is created?
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New for tonight: Eight category mistakes in the debate around the funding review. My take on the debate so far, ineptly attempting to channel David Watson:
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For anyone wondering where it is, today is one of the few days a year we don't send a
@Wonkhe
Daily so that the team can take the full bank holiday (majority of work happens day before).
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Farewell massive
#Wonkfest17
banner, the festival is over. Thanks SO much everyone that made such an awesome event possible, been amazing.
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@DPJHodges
Really don’t get this at all. Did they think they’d have a better chance in January? Never looked very winnable and Sunak played literally only advantage card he had which was the surprise
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@Will_Tanner
It's more complicated than this implies. There have been big improvements in attainment and teaching quality over the last ten years which is what universities were asked to prioritise. Also social mobility. Also norm-referencing of A levels...
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I don't think we've ever seen a universities minister that appears to hate universities and students so much.
It's really rather sad.
The intolerant woke bullies have had their brief period in the sun, but it is now over.
Under our Bill, universities and student unions will face fines for supporting cancel culture.
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It’s been a long time coming but our first podcast series at
@Wonkhe
launches tomorrow - The University Show.
So stoked that tomorrow is the day this project drops. 🙂🎙️🎧🔊🎓
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Strong rumours today that DMU VC Dominic Shellard has gone. The university is officially “not commenting” so there’s clearly something going on.
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Universities minister compares decolonisation of history to "Soviet Union-style" censorship and so is unsurprisingly accused of "talking out of her arse" by historians and [spoiler alert] tomorrow's
@Wonkhe
Mondays briefing.
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A new article on Wonkhe: With different universities going their own way with plans for the next academic year, Mark Leach argues that a nationally-coordinated approach is now needed to safeguard students and the future of the sector.
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Good call by
@bphillipsonMP
to halt the free speech bill and probably repeal it. It was a real mess and won't be missed by almost anyone in the sector
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May’s student deportation programme in tatters as legal appeal falls apart - Something almost approaching good news
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