The Wonkhe Show Podcast: Year ahead, International, Governance
Sep 5, 2025
Anton Muscatelli, Principal at the University of Glasgow, Dani Payne, Head of Education and Social Mobility at the Social Market Foundation, and James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, dive into the pressing challenges facing UK higher education. They discuss potential tuition increases and the tightening immigration landscape for international students. The conversation highlights the impact of financial strains, the need for better governance practices, and the importance of addressing the gap between international students' expectations and reality.
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Keep REF, Remove Excess Complexity
- Pause and align REF changes to avoid over-bureaucratic measures that damage research funding distribution.
- Anton Muscatelli and James Coe advise keeping REF timelines but stripping unnecessary complexity.
PhD Training Is At Risk
- Tighter research funding and mission focus risk reducing PhD training, harming future high-level skills.
- Anton Muscatelli highlights PhD reductions would hurt industry and long-term industrial strategy.
Prepare For Outcome-Based Teaching Scrutiny
- Expect government moves to tie teaching quality and graduate outcomes more tightly to funding or regulation.
- Dani Payne urges institutions to prepare for outcome-linked metrics like graduate earnings in regulation.