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Mike Larkin, retired from Queen's University Belfast after 37 years teaching Microbiology, Biochemistry and Genetics. He has served on the Senate and Finance and planning committee of a Russell Group University.

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Students working in term-time: Commuter students and their working patterns

This article and analysis shows that commuter students are more likely to be employed in term time and also more likely to work longer hours. Two recent studies of commuter students ( one a quantitative and the other a qualitative analysis ) attending six universities in the London area revealed that commuter students were at a disadvantage in terms of outcome when compared to their peers. There is an urgent need for institutions to consider the actual time that their students have to study as the main measure. This is a way to integrate the time pressures of other activities such as commuting and employment that all add up to less time for studying. The general conclusion of the two studies was that “travel time remained a significant predictor of student progression or continuation for UK-domiciled full time undergraduates at three of the six London institutions”. This is perhaps not surprising for someone who spends much of the day travelling and the recommendation is that ...

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Post Qualification Admissions and DfE Consultation… Consultation… Consultation!

It seems the Department for Education (DfE) is governing by a process of endless consultations as a smoke screen to hide underlying strategy. The latest on Post Qualification Admissions has already decided to cease teachers’ grade predictions as part of the university admission system and offers only two options in a Hobsons choice. Its purpose appears to be making the process fairer for less advantaged students but might make matters worse. Many well-informed observers are getting very concerned. The decision is predicated on two assumptions. Firstly, that teachers tend to under predict the grades for disadvantaged students who may go onto get higher grades and miss out on courses at university with higher entry requirements. Secondly, that the examination grades are an accurate reflection of a student’s ability and teachers are simply getting it wrong. Neither are strictly correct, and this post is a longer one as it examines some of the flaws in the decision making by the DfE, led b...

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