Universities Secretary urges VCs to go back to school

by Conor Ryan
Much stronger engagement between universities and schools must be a crucial part of the widening participation agenda in the future, universities secretary John Denham told delegates at Warwick today.
Mr Denham had trailed his appearance at Warwick well, with news of a shake-up of Aim Higher to fund 5,500 new student ambassadors at the [...]

Youthful charm and energy wins out over statesmanlike experience

by Donald MacLeod
Youthful charm and energy narrowly won out over statesmanlike experience when the Dragons’ Den came to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) today. [Monday]
As one of five “contestants” trying to sell their ideas for investment to an audience of sceptical vice-chancellors, Gemma Tumelty, president of the National Union of Students got [...]

Dragons Den (1)

The conference is nothing if not politically topical. Outgoing National Union Of Students’ President, Gemma Tumelty won the ‘Dragon’s Den’ session with her proposal for a short pilot on mapping the level and impact of student engagement taking place within institutions. Perhaps it was the low cost, high impact approach she took to selling the [...]

Student leader triumphs in Dragons’ Den

by Conor Ryan
Student leader Gemma Tumelty emerged triumphant when HEFCE staged its version of the hit TV series Dragons’ Den at its annual conference in Warwick University today.
Ms Tumelty, who as President of the National Union of Students had just presided over her organisation’s national conference in Blackpool last week, won the support of vice-chancellors, [...]

Physics boost as conference gets underway

by Conor Ryan
Physics had seemed to be losing its popularity among students – not just at university, but also in school – over the last few decades.
But take-up at A level has started to stabilise and physics applications to HE rose last year, not least as a result of stronger outreach by HE into schools [...]

Whats happening at HEFCE 2008

This year’s conference aims to explore how we can realise the full potential of higher education to the benefit of society and the economy – a theme inspired by the title of John Denham’s speech to the Universities UK conference last September.  It is also the first annual conference for HEFCE’s new chair Tim Melville-Ross.
Speeches, [...]