Dear colleague,
Welcome to the first APPG monthly update. Once a month we will be adding to the weekly update for members with a message from one of the group’s parliamentary officers’ giving an overview of the most topical issues that month and a reminder of the upcoming meetings of the group.
The big news in the last four weeks has of course been the release of the green paper ‘Fulfilling Our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice’. The paper covers a wide range of subjects including; quality assurance and teaching excellence, TEF assessments, incentives, social mobility and widening participation and the incorporation of the Office of Fair Access and HEFCE. The consultation is open until the 15 January and the Minister will be one of our speakers next week to set out his thoughts on the paper and take some comments and questions from attendees.
Other news from the sector, which will be of interest for institutions and parliamentarians alike, is the establishment of a taskforce by Universities UK looking into violence, harassment and hate crime affecting university campuses. The remit of the taskforce is to look at all forms of violence and harassment affecting students, but with particular focus on violence and sexual harassment against women. The aim will be to bring together students, university experts and external organisations to consider the current evidence and what universities are currently doing to address these issues and what more needs to be done. The taskforce will report its findings for the start of the 2016/17 academic year to the Universities Minister. The APPG will be hearing from Universities UK and the NUS on this issue at its December meeting and I would of course encourage you all to attend.
Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods MP
Chair, All-Party Parliamentary University Group
Full update available in PDF below