Day 1

12 November 2024

Day 2

13 November 2024

  • Main stage
  • Wonks' stage
  • Woburn Suite
  • Senate Room
  • 8:00
  • 8:15
  • 8:30
  • 8:45
  • 09:00
  • 9:15
  • 9:30
  • 9:45
  • 10:00
  • 10:15
  • 10:30
  • 10:45
  • 11:00
  • 11:15
  • 11:30
  • 11:45
  • 12:00
  • 12:15
  • 12:30
  • 12:45
  • 13:00
  • 13:15
  • 13:30
  • 13:45
  • 14:00
  • 14:15
  • 14:30
  • 14:45
  • 15:00
  • 15:15
  • 15:30
  • 15:45
  • 16:00
  • 16:15
  • 16:30
  • 16:45
  • 17:00
  • 17:15
  • 17:30
  • 17:45
  • 18:00
  • 18:15
  • 18:30
  • 18:45
  • 19:00
  • 19:15
  • 19:30
  • 19:45
  • 20:00
  • 20:15
  • 20:30
  • 20:45
  • 21:00
  • 21:15
  • 21:30
  • 21:45
  • 22:00

Festival induction

Woburn Suite | 09:00am - 09:30am

Festival induction

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 09:00 – 09:30
Location: Woburn Suite

If it’s your first time at the festival, you’re new to higher education or just attending alone – grab a coffee and come along and meet the team, and find out how to make the most of your experience.

Speakers

Alistair Jarvis

Pro-Vice Chancellor of Partnerships and Governance

University of London

Debbie McVitty

Editor

Wonkhe

Festival opens

Main stage | 09:45am - 10:00am

Festival opens

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 09:45 – 10:00
Location: Main stage

Workshop in development: libraries

Woburn Suite | 14:15pm - 15:15pm

Workshop in development: libraries

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 14:15 – 15:15
Location: Woburn Suite

Surviving and thriving in HE professional services

Senate Room | 12:15pm - 13:00pm

Surviving and thriving in HE professional services

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 12:15 – 13:00
Location: Senate Room

Newly minted author and longstanding higher education professional Rachel Reeds joins us to share insight from her forthcoming book, Surviving and thriving in higher education professional services: a guide to success. Whether you are new to HE or are wondering how to reignite your motivation this session should give you some practical tools, new ideas, and reassurance that you are not alone.

Speakers

Rachel Reeds

Senior Admissions Manager

Anglia Ruskin University

Secrets and fries: franchising in HE

Wonks' stage | 14:15pm - 15:15pm

Secrets and fries: franchising in HE

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 14:15 – 15:15
Location: Wonks' stage

#notallproviders, right? But concerns over problematic practices in franchised provision of higher education have been expressed this year from the National Audit Office, the Commons Public Accounts Committee, and as a result, the Office for Students. These point to a system that is vulnerable to exploitation by bad actors at the extremes, and even in the ostensibly legitimate end, realising generous profits from exactly the same unit of resource that universities argue no longer comes close to meeting the real costs of teaching. We’ll break down exactly what is going on, and what can be done about it.

Speakers

Nick Braisby

Vice Chancellor

Buckinghamshire New University

A whole university approach

Wonks' stage | 13:30pm - 14:00pm

A whole university approach

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 13:30 – 14:00
Location: Wonks' stage

Every policy agenda for higher education seems to demand a “whole-institution approach” to solving it, but what does that actually look like? Liz Thomas has been researching a whole institution approach to access and participation and will explore what lessons can be learned for other hitherto siloed and orphaned institutional agendas.

Speakers

Liz Thomas

Researcher Department for Education

University of York

The pedagogy of AI

Woburn Suite | 16:30pm - 17:30pm

The pedagogy of AI

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 16:30 – 17:30
Location: Woburn Suite

The hype is easing and we’re learning a bit more about how students and university staff might use AI-assisted technology as part of legitimate learning and teaching activity. Preparing students for the reality of a world that is AI-infused and more likely to be automated, but still fundamentally requiring human intelligence requires understanding what AI makes possible in learning, where the risks are, and how can they best be navigated. How does the availability of AI tools reshape our sense of what learning is and what sort of productive activities contribute to it?

Speakers

Janice Kay

Provost and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor

University of Exeter

Richard Strange

Chief Information Officer

University of the West of England

The business of universities is business

Senate Room | 15:30pm - 16:15pm

The business of universities is business

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 15:30 – 16:15
Location: Senate Room

The secret sauce for lifelong learning

Woburn Suite | 15:30pm - 16:15pm

The secret sauce for lifelong learning

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 15:30 – 16:15
Location: Woburn Suite

As students’ needs change, demographics shift, and policy coalesces around the skills agenda, patterns of provision will also change in many higher education institutions, with a greater focus on meeting the needs of lifelong learners. The Open University has been leading lifelong learning provision across the UK for decades – so what’s the secret of making it work?

Speakers

Ian Pickup

Pro-Vice-Chancellor - Students

The Open University

Back to the Future in the devolution Delorean

Senate Room | 14:15pm - 15:15pm

Back to the Future in the devolution Delorean

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 14:15 – 15:15
Location: Senate Room

Marking 25 years of national devolution in the UK, we look at the lessons from two decades of HE policy difference and divergence, what could be coming up in the 2026 devolved elections, and look ahead to what might happen next in, and across, England.

Chair

Dewi Knight

Director

PolicyWISE

Realising the value of humanities

Senate Room | 11:15am - 12:00pm

Realising the value of humanities

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 11:15 – 12:00
Location: Senate Room

How to write the perfect article on Wonkhe.com

Wonks' stage | 15:30pm - 16:15pm

How to write the perfect article on Wonkhe.com

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 15:30 – 16:15
Location: Wonks' stage

Come and meet the Team Wonkhe people behind the headshots, while we chat through what makes a great article for the site.

Speakers

Michael Salmon

News editor

Wonkhe

Data Futures, redux

Wonks' stage | 11:15am - 12:15pm

Data Futures, redux

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 11:15 – 12:15
Location: Wonks' stage

Speaking to those who have been directly involved, we trace the story of the changes, challenges, and occasional chaos that have befallen the 2022-23 Student data collection. It’s the ultimate insider story, a tale of agency politics, project governance, and data definitions that has had a real and measurable impact on providers and regulation. And Data Futures is here to stay – we examine how sector data can move on from the data present.

Chair

David Kernohan

Deputy editor

Wonkhe

Speakers

Richard Puttock

Head of Business Intelligence and Data Analytics

University of Leeds

Andy Youell

HE data and systems specialist

Gabby McLaren

Head of Data and Insight

Point Blank Music School

In conversation: Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman

Senate Room | 13:15pm - 14:00pm

In conversation: Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 13:15 – 14:00
Location: Senate Room

The authors of Born to Rule: the making and remaking of the British elite will be discussing the role that universities can have in reproducing or, more rarely, disrupting established patterns of social privilege – and what can be done about it.

Chair

Sam Friedman

Professor of Sociology

London School of Economics

Aaron Reeves

Course Director - Evidence-Based Intervention and Policy Evaluation

University of Oxford

The politics of technology: in conversation with Heidi Fraser-Krauss

Wonks' stage | 12:30pm - 13:15pm

The politics of technology: in conversation with Heidi Fraser-Krauss

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 12:30 – 13:15
Location: Wonks' stage

The Jisc CEO joins us to discuss how higher education can make the most of new technologies for education and research, make itself central to the Labour government’s digital agenda, and build digital citizenship in students, while managing spiralling costs, increasing cyber threats, and the incursions into higher education of the technology futures industry.

Speakers

Heidi Fraser Krauss

Chief executive

Jisc

Tackling the Cheems Mindset in higher education

Wonks' stage | 16:30pm - 17:30pm

Tackling the Cheems Mindset in higher education

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 16:30 – 17:30
Location: Wonks' stage

Jeremy Driver joins us to discuss what it is about some professional cultures where nothing seems to progress because the otherwise intelligent people involved claim that every single thing impossible – a phenomenon he has dubbed the “cheems mindset.” Find out more about cheems and why it’s bad in Jeremy’s blog about this: https://normielisation.substack.com/p/cheems-mindset

Chair

Mark Leach

Founder and editor in chief

Wonkhe

Speakers

Jeremy Driver

Head of Campaigns

Britain Remade

Workshop: policy ideas for the new government

Woburn Suite | 12:45pm - 14:00pm

Workshop: policy ideas for the new government

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 12:45 – 14:00
Location: Woburn Suite

Ask not what government can do for higher education but what higher education can do for government policy. This workshop will examine some of the core policy agendas of national governments and convene imaginative thinking about what evidence, bright ideas, and fresh thinking higher education could bring to the table.

Chair

Alistair Jarvis

Pro-Vice Chancellor of Partnerships and Governance

University of London

James Coe

Associate editor

Wonkhe

What should the compact be with higher education staff?

Main stage | 16:30pm - 17:30pm

What should the compact be with higher education staff?

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 16:30 – 17:30
Location: Main stage

Financial challenge means tougher times, and many higher education institutions are facing difficult decisions about staff structures, roles, and budgets. While national negotiations over pay, terms, and conditions continue, we discuss what is within universities’ control about the working experiences of higher education staff, and whether current higher education staffing arrangements are still fit for purpose.

Speakers

Raj Jethwa

Chief Executive

UCEA

Jessica Wren Butler

Honorary Research Associate

Imperial College London

Kelli Wolfe

Deputy Academic Registrar

University of Roehampton

Arun Verma

Head of Equality & Inclusion

University of London

Workshop: transforming cultural community engagement through creative collaboration

Woburn Suite | 11:15am - 12:30pm

Workshop: transforming cultural community engagement through creative collaboration

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 11:15 – 12:30
Location: Woburn Suite

Katy Shaw, the dynamic director of the AHRC Creative Communities programme leads a participatory workshop to develop your thinking on how to reinvigorate your community engagement.

Speakers

Katy Shaw

Director

AHRC Creative Communities

In conversation: David Behan

Main stage | 15:30pm - 16:15pm

In conversation: David Behan

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 15:30 – 16:15
Location: Main stage

The interim chair of the Office for Students and leader of the government’s review of the regulator “Fit for the Future” joins us to discuss his priorities for higher education regulation.

Speakers

David Behan

Interim Chair

Office for Students

In conversation: MAC chair Brian Bell, followed by panel: resetting the public narrative on international HE

Main stage | 13:45pm - 15:15pm

In conversation: MAC chair Brian Bell, followed by panel: resetting the public narrative on international HE

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 13:45 – 15:15
Location: Main stage

We will talk to Brian Bell, chair of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), diving into immigration policy, data and evidence with the man who chairs the committee responsible for telling the government what the country needs from immigration.

Following on from our discussion with Brian Bell, chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, our panel will explore what universities and government might do together to put international recruitment on a sustainable footing, with political and public support.

Speakers

Brian Bell

Chair

UK Government Migration Advisory Committee

Jess Lister

Associate director, education practice

Public First

Rachel MacSween

Director of Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement

IPD Connect

Cláudia Moreira

Vice-President for Postgraduate and International Experience

Kent Union

Sophie Turnbull

Director of International Recruitment and Admissions

UWE, Bristol

You’re out of touch, they’re out of time – students under pressure

Main stage | 12:30pm - 13:30pm

You’re out of touch, they’re out of time – students under pressure

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 12:30 – 13:30
Location: Main stage

As the cost of living crisis hardens into a “new normal”, the principal impact appears to be on time – and like staff, students are now expected to maximise efficiencies in ways that few understand clearly and in ways that leave little slack. In this session a panel of students will help us to understand the pressures, the weigh-ups and the calls they’re making to pack it all in – with lessons for everyone from module leaders to academic strategists, from employers decoding barebones CVs to those in charge of the UK’s student finance systems.

Are we all tertiary now? The opportunities and challenges of coordinating regional post-18 education provision

Main stage | 11:15am - 12:15pm

Are we all tertiary now? The opportunities and challenges of coordinating regional post-18 education provision

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 11:15 – 12:15
Location: Main stage

In different ways across the UK there have been efforts to make post-18 skills and education provision more coherent, more aligned, and more legible to the students and employers who benefit from it, from funding, to quality, to curricula. But while nobody objects to collaboration and partnership work in principle, the reality can be much messier and involve more compromise than some might see as desirable. Our panel will interrogate the principles of “tertiary” education provision and the practicalities of what is needed to make it work.

Speakers

Julie Lydon

Chair

Medr / Commission for Tertiary Education

Brooke Storer-Church

Chief Executive Officer

GuildHE

Justine Andrew

Head of Education, Skills and Productivity (ESP)

KPMG

Chris Husbands

University leader and education policy adviser

Higher Futures

The decade ahead: how a Labour government could reshape higher education

Main stage | 10:00am - 11:00am

The decade ahead: how a Labour government could reshape higher education

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 10:00 – 11:00
Location: Main stage

There’s a new government, with a new, mission-led policy agenda for higher education in Westminster centred on opportunity and economic growth. How can higher education navigate its way through funding challenges and regulatory reform while also working in partnership with the new government to deliver its national missions?

Chair

Debbie McVitty

Editor

Wonkhe

Speakers

Sally Mapstone

Principal and Vice-Chancellor

University of St Andrews

Shitij Kapur

Vice-Chancellor and President

King’s College London

Stian Westlake

Executive Chair

ESRC

Andy Westwood

Professor of government practice

University of Manchester

Wonkhe after hours – 10th birthday party – join us ’til late

18:30pm - 21:00pm

Wonkhe after hours – 10th birthday party – join us ’til late

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 18:30 – 21:00
Location:

We’d love you to join the Wonkhe and University of London teams at The Marquis Cornwallis pub in Bloomsbury for drinks (on us), proper food, more entertainment and special guests till late.

We’ll also be celebrating 10 years of Wonkhe.

Food will be available from 7.30pm
Find it on Google Maps (a 5-10 minute walk from Senate House)

Drinks reception sponsored by Saxton Bampfylde

17:30pm - 18:30pm

Drinks reception sponsored by Saxton Bampfylde

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 17:30 – 18:30
Location:

Join us for some drinks and refreshments in Crush Hall

My imaginary university

Senate Room | 16:30pm - 17:30pm

My imaginary university

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 16:30 – 17:30
Location: Senate Room

Aficionados will be avid listeners to My Imaginary University – the podcast where University of Nottingham registrar Paul Greatrix challenges his guests to describe their ideal university.

Chair

Paul Greatrix

Registrar

University of Nottingham

Registration and refreshments

08:30am - 09:45am

Registration and refreshments

Date: November 12, 2024
Time: 08:30 – 09:45
Location:

  • Main stage
  • Wonks' stage
  • Woburn Suite
  • Senate Room
  • 8:00
  • 8:15
  • 8:30
  • 8:45
  • 09:00
  • 9:15
  • 9:30
  • 9:45
  • 10:00
  • 10:15
  • 10:30
  • 10:45
  • 11:00
  • 11:15
  • 11:30
  • 11:45
  • 12:00
  • 12:15
  • 12:30
  • 12:45
  • 13:00
  • 13:15
  • 13:30
  • 13:45
  • 14:00
  • 14:15
  • 14:30
  • 14:45
  • 15:00
  • 15:15
  • 15:30
  • 15:45
  • 16:00
  • 16:15
  • 16:30
  • 16:45
  • 17:00
  • 17:15
  • 17:30
  • 17:45
  • 18:00
  • 18:15
  • 18:30
  • 18:45
  • 19:00
  • 19:15
  • 19:30
  • 19:45
  • 20:00
  • 20:15
  • 20:30
  • 20:45
  • 21:00
  • 21:15
  • 21:30
  • 21:45
  • 22:00

Campus clashes and culture wars – what now for free speech?

Woburn Suite | 12:00pm - 12:45pm

Campus clashes and culture wars – what now for free speech?

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 12:00 – 12:45
Location: Woburn Suite

Just because planned regulation on free speech has been paused doesn’t mean that tensions on campus are reduced or that the complexity of the issues driving those tensions is any less. One person’s free speech is another’s threatening environment, and higher education institutions will continue to come under fire for being perceived to be drawing the lines in the wrong places. We’ll assess the situation and look at practical options for managing the unmanageable.

Session in development: tbc

Senate Room | 13:30pm - 14:15pm

Session in development: tbc

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 13:30 – 14:15
Location: Senate Room

In conversation with: David Sweeney

Senate Room | 12:30pm - 13:15pm

In conversation with: David Sweeney

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 12:30 – 13:15
Location: Senate Room

A chance to hear from higher education legend David Sweeney about his career in HE policymaking and leadership.

Speakers

David Sweeney

Professor of Research Policy

University of Birmingham

In conversation with: Mary Curnock Cook

Senate Room | 14:30pm - 15:15pm

In conversation with: Mary Curnock Cook

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 14:30 – 15:15
Location: Senate Room

Chair of the Dyson Institute and Pearson Education, former UCAS chief executive, serial NED and friend of the show Mary Curnock Cook pulls up a chair for a chat about what she’s learned from her various experiences in and outside higher education, and what it all means for the future of the sector.

Speakers

Mary Curnock Cook

Chair

The Dyson Institute

Making the most of student feedback

Senate Room | 11:30am - 12:15pm

Making the most of student feedback

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 11:30 – 12:15
Location: Senate Room

Speakers

Helena Lim

Academic Lead and Head of Opportunities

evasys Surveys & Evaluation

David Gilani

Head of Student Engagement and Advocacy

Middlesex University

Solve for student engagement: making sense of quality, teaching excellence and education gain

Wonks' stage | 14:15pm - 15:15pm

Solve for student engagement: making sense of quality, teaching excellence and education gain

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 14:15 – 15:15
Location: Wonks' stage

Speakers

Mark Peace

Professor of Innovation in Education & Academic

Kings College London

Vicky Stott

Chief Executive

QAA

Practical innovation and education change

Woburn Suite | 13:00pm - 13:45pm

Practical innovation and education change

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 13:00 – 13:45
Location: Woburn Suite

Redesigning the research funding system

Senate Room | 10:30am - 11:15am

Redesigning the research funding system

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 10:30 – 11:15
Location: Senate Room

Jonathan Grant hosts an expert discussion testing received wisdom on all the sacred cows of research: peer review, full economic costing, bureaucracy, and innovation infrastructure

Chair

Jonathan Grant

Founding director

Different Angles Ltd

Speakers

Molly Morgan Jones

Director of Policy

The British Academy

Workshop: improving higher education

Woburn Suite | 14:00pm - 15:15pm

Workshop: improving higher education

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 14:00 – 15:15
Location: Woburn Suite

Back by popular demand: the hard-thinking and straight-talking Selena Bolingbroke and Joe Cooper help you work up your best ideas for making higher education better and pitch against your peers for an investment of Wonkhebucks.

Speakers

Selena Bolingbroke

Principal

Building Crafts College

Joe Cooper

Director of people and culture

University of East London

Workshop: live consultancy with Wonkhe & Counterculture

Woburn Suite | 09:15am - 10:30am

Workshop: live consultancy with Wonkhe & Counterculture

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 09:15 – 10:30
Location: Woburn Suite

How universities can influence the Labour government: in conversation with Marc Stears

Wonks' stage | 11:15am - 12:00pm

How universities can influence the Labour government: in conversation with Marc Stears

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 11:15 – 12:00
Location: Wonks' stage

The director of the UCL Policy Lab, political strategist and speechwriter joins us to discuss how universities can use their research and insight more strategically to shape government thinking.

Chair

Mark Leach

Founder and editor in chief

Wonkhe

Speakers

Marc Stears

Director

UCL Policy Lab

The future of universities in their places – insight from the Kerslake Collection

Wonks' stage | 13:00pm - 14:00pm

The future of universities in their places – insight from the Kerslake Collection

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 13:00 – 14:00
Location: Wonks' stage

The UPP Foundation has recently published a collection of essays in memory of former Sheffield Hallam University chair and public servant Bob Kerslake. UPP Foundation executive chair Richard Brabner will be joined by contributors to the collection to assess Bob’s legacy and new ideas from the essays.

Chair

Richard Brabner

Director of ESG for UPP and Director of the UPP Foundation

What the UK can learn from Canadian (and global) HE, with Alex Usher

Senate Room | 09:15am - 10:15am

What the UK can learn from Canadian (and global) HE, with Alex Usher

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 09:15 – 10:15
Location: Senate Room

It’s often said that UK HE promotes itself with North American stylings of student experience – but on European budgets and quality expectations. Drawing on his detailed knowledge both of Canadian and wider global HE, in this session we’ll be around the fireside with Alex Usher, who runs Canada’s Higher Education Strategy Associates, to learn lessons, swap observations and generally chew the strategy and politics fat.

Speakers

Alex Usher

President

Higher Education Strategy Associates

Belong: the latest trends from our student insight panel

Wonks' stage | 10:30am - 11:00am

Belong: the latest trends from our student insight panel

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 10:30 – 11:00
Location: Wonks' stage

Chair

Jim Dickinson

Associate editor

Wonkhe

How to read higher education news

Wonks' stage | 12:15pm - 12:45pm

How to read higher education news

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 12:15 – 12:45
Location: Wonks' stage

Team Wonkhe digests the biggest stories of the moment and how the HE news ecosystem works.

Chair

Michael Salmon

News editor

Wonkhe

UCAS: ask us anything

Wonks' stage | 09:15am - 10:15am

UCAS: ask us anything

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 09:15 – 10:15
Location: Wonks' stage

The wonks of UCAS break out their spreadsheets to answer your questions about demand for HE, admissions trends, applicant demographics and experiences, and whatever else you can come up with. Send your questions to events@wonkhe.com.

Speakers

Ben Jordan

Head of policy

UCAS

Opportunity for all

Main stage | 15:30pm - 16:30pm

Opportunity for all

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 15:30 – 16:30
Location: Main stage

Higher education retains a deep power to transform lives. But there are limits to university influence in conquering cultural prejudice and redressing systemic economic inequities, particularly as the UK continues to suffer from regional economic inequality and lagging productivity. The new Labour government has adopted “opportunity” as one of its five core missions and the structuring theme of its education policy. But as students struggle with meeting the costs of study and with their mental health, we’ll interrogate the existing assumptions around what education opportunity means across the nations and regions of the UK and think through how higher education can continue to deliver it.

Speakers

John Blake

Director for Fair Access and Participation

Office for Students

Jo Saxton

Chief Executive

UCAS

Amira Campbell

President

NUS UK

Jonathan Simons

Partner and Head of the Education Practice,

Public First

Turning knowledge into economic growth

Main stage | 14:15pm - 15:15pm

Turning knowledge into economic growth

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 14:15 – 15:15
Location: Main stage

Economic growth is the centrepiece of Labour’s mission-led approach to government, and much of that growth will depend on the UK’s ability to realise the benefits of the knowledge capital developed in universities. How can higher education, research and innovation be more joined up with regional and national industrial and public services strategies to convert aspiration into reality?

Speakers

Wendy Thompson

Vice-Chancellor

University of London

The Wonkhe Show: Live recording

Main stage | 13:00pm - 14:00pm

The Wonkhe Show: Live recording

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 13:00 – 14:00
Location: Main stage

Join us for a festival tradition – a live recording of our weekly higher education podcast: The Wonkhe Show. Bring your lunch!

Chair

Jim Dickinson

Associate editor

Wonkhe

Leadership and governance to steward HE through challenging times

Main stage | 11:45am - 12:45pm

Leadership and governance to steward HE through challenging times

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 11:45 – 12:45
Location: Main stage

The difficult decisions that institutional leaders and governors are making right now will determine the future shape and activity of the higher education sector including what courses are on offer, and what research is prioritised. Their ability to oversee change, build organisational capability, sustain external partnerships, and maintain the morale and motivation of their staff will determine whether the sector continues to thrive or whether it flounders in the years ahead. Our panel will assess whether the sector’s decision-makers have the right mix of skills, evidence, and values to make the best possible calls in challenging times.

Speakers

Philippa Pickford

Director of Regulation

Office for Students

Mark Smith

Vice-Chancellor

University of Southampton

At the geopolitical front line: university knowledge diplomacy in action

Main stage | 10:30am - 11:30am

At the geopolitical front line: university knowledge diplomacy in action

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 10:30 – 11:30
Location: Main stage

As international geopolitics gets trickier and the world more dangerous the knowledge capital generated by UK universities has the potential to aid or hinder the furthering of international relations and global stability. Universities need to be well-informed of the risks of international collaboration, as well as being equipped to tackle global challenges in the context of political change. What kind of diplomatic capability do universities need and how can they best acquire it?

Speakers

Phil Allmendinger

Professor of Land Economy and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education)

University of London

Alex Favier

Founder and Director

Xavier Ltd

Workshop: Design thinking for higher education inclusion

Woburn Suite | 10:45am - 11:45am

Workshop: Design thinking for higher education inclusion

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 10:45 – 11:45
Location: Woburn Suite

How to fix higher education’s financial woes

Main stage | 09:15am - 10:15am

How to fix higher education’s financial woes

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 09:15 – 10:15
Location: Main stage

There are no easy answers on higher education funding, for students or institutions. There is little political consensus on the value of public funding, fees are also contentious, alternatives are niche and non-existent. The very real threat of an institution going bust has to be weighed against the moral hazard of a public programme of government bailouts. By the end of this session, the answers will be clear.*

*not guaranteed

Speakers

Sarah Seed

Partner

Mills & Reeve LLP

Shahid Omer

Director of Policy

Universities UK

Festival closes

Main stage | 16:30pm - 16:45pm

Festival closes

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 16:30 – 16:45
Location: Main stage

Registration and refreshments

08:30am - 09:45am

Registration and refreshments

Date: November 13, 2024
Time: 08:30 – 09:45
Location:

Day 1

November 12, 2024

Day 2

November 13, 2024

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  • Main stage
  • Wonks' stage
  • Woburn Suite
  • Senate Room
  • VIEW ALL
  • Main stage
  • Wonks' stage
  • Woburn Suite
  • Senate Room