National Students' Survey 2018-19
88.2% of Worcester final year students have said that they are satisfied overall. Worcester has been ranked 8th out of all English non-specialist Universities and is 16th out of all 152 University institutions in the UK for overall satisfaction. The University sits comfortably above the national average satisfaction rating of 83.49%.
Nine courses at Worcester recieved 100% satisfaction scores. These were: Primary Initial Teacher Education: Early Years, Primary and Outdoor Education, Biochemistry, Creative Digital Media, Game Art, Graphic Design and Multimedia, Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations, Computing HND, and Early Years FDA.
Worcester's Law degree, which launched in 2016, recieved a 96% satisfaction rating from its very first cohort of graduating students, putting it as one of the top ranked Universities nationally for Law.
Worcester Students' Union also scored above the national average with 61.4% of students agreeing that the Students' Union was effective in academic representation compared to 55.7% nationally. President, Harry Lonsdale, said "We are really pleased that students feel they are well represented at Worcester. As a Union we are committed to listening to our students and providing a first class service which helps them to make the most of their time at University. Seeing a 2.8% increase on last year's score shows a continuous development of what we offer to students at Worcester."
Brexit and the Implications on Higher Education Research
What will withdrawing from the European Union so quickly do for the competitiveness and standing of the UK's research sector?
Both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have conveyed that they want to secure Brexit by Halloween this year, October 31st. For Johnson, this is a 'do or die' commitment and Hunt has set an even earlier no-deal deadline of September 30th.
A bit of context...
Horizon Europe is a planned 7-year European Union scientific research initiative meant to succeed the current Horizon 2020 programme. The European Commission drafted and approved a plan for the Horizon Europe to raise EU science spending levels by 50% over the years 2021-2027. As of April 2019, the Commission proposes 94.1 billion euroes for Horizon Europe (due to launch 2021) up from 77 billion for the current Horizon 2020.
When responding to a question about the UK's future association to the scheme, Universities Minister Chris Skidmore only went as far as expressing an interest 'in the option' to fully associate to the Horizon Europe programme. This is perceived by many as a weak commitment and reflects poorly on a government that is characterised as being unsure of what it is doing to secure a Europe-wide collaboration beyond Brexit.
Vivienne Stern, Director of UUK International, lamented the rapidly declining UK share in total Horizon 2020 funding. From a peak of 15.7% in February 2017, the UK's part fell to 14.5% at September 2018 and currently stands at 13.4%. This drop of 2.4% in total funding is equivelant to a loss of 1.8 billion euros in lost funding for the UK research base.
Even in the case of a no-deal situation, it is still possible for the UK to associate with Horizon Europe as a 'third country' from 2021. A third country association will undoubtedly come with a high price tag, but it is still considered preferable to anything that could be developed as a domestic alternative or the UK having no involvement in EU funded research activity. 16 associated countries including Norway, Switerzerland and Turkey have already set a precedent for how these interactions can occur successfully.
Given that Horizon Europe legislation within the European Commission is still the subject of live debate, and unlikely to be adopted until next year, the UK rhetoric needs to shift towards a deeper desire to work with European partners and negotiation efforts need to be ramped up to ensure that the UK can benefit from future EU framework programmes.
Close to £6 billion has been invested through the Horizon Europe programme since 2014, but researchers have expressed that ties to their European colleagues and academic centres go far deeper than an exchange of funds. The nature of research requires academics to collaborate across disciplines, perspectives and contexts. Something that many researchers in the UK feel could be comprimised post-Brexit.
Religion and Community within University
Religion or belief issues are often presented by the media as a source of division and a problem to be overcome. Religion and differing beliefs should instead be celebrated and be seen as the heart of a community.
YouGov polling shows that 29% of people think that Islamic extremism is common on campuses, rising to over 1/3 of people aged over 55. These incidents are at the heart of the public's moral panic about freedom of speech in Higher Education, with 52% thinking free speech is under threat in UK universities.
These narratives are challenged by major new research from Theos, the religion and society think tank, in partnership with Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University. A new report, "Faith and Belief on Campus: Division and Cohesion", focuses on faith and belief-related student societies (Christian Unions, Islamic Societies, Humanist Societies, etc.) and sheds new light on how religion or belief issues play out on the ground in Higher Education. It is the largest study of these societies so far, combining quanititive analysis of the spread of societies nationally with qualitative research in 6 universities.
There are at least 888 faith and belief student societies in UK campuses, with an average of 6.3 such societies in each institution. An estimate of 18,000+ students are members of faith and belief societies nationally.
Concerningly, the study found that a significant minority of Jewish and Muslim students feel vulnerable to antisemitic and Islamophobic abuse. A lot of these were isolated incidents but it still shows that Universities have more work to do to ensure that all students and staff feel safe on campus.
The report shows that faith and belief societies are making enormous, often overlooked, contributions to campus life. They play key roles in building community and supporting students pastorally and spiritually. But it is also clear that their capacity to foster cohesion and build bridges between groups, particularly through interfaith activities, is limited. They need better resources and institutional support from universities and Students' Unions if they are to meet their potential of being key sources of cohesion on campus.
More widely, while tensions over beliefs and religious issues do sometimes arise on campus, in general these are rare. Students live in a hyper-diverse, multicultural environment where religion or belief identities are often expressed publically - and contrary to public perceptions of students, by and large they are comfortable in this situation, living amicably alongside people they may disagree with strongly. Far from being special millenial snowflakes, they are often much better at handling differences and disagreements than people outside campus. Perhaps our politicans can learn a little something from our students!
Opinion Pieces of Note:
What on earth is student representation for? - WonkHE
Black academics 'can't fight race inequality alone' - The Guardian
Professor Blackadder and the Cunning Higher Education Plan - WonkHE
Knowledge is power: the purpose of quality teaching - Paul Ashwin