Ombudsman report says students treated unfairly and changes to exams since pandemic created uncertainty
Universities have been reprimanded over unfair treatment of students accused of academic misconduct in a report by the higher education ombudsman for England and Wales.
The Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) said changes to assessments, accelerated by the Covid pandemic when university examinations moved online, had led to uncertainty among students about what is and is not allowed.
Continue reading...Black Mountains College in Wales aims to prepare students for life during a planetary emergency
The lecture theatre was once a cowshed, the study centre is an old farmhouse living room and the classrooms are mostly outdoors: welcome to the newest higher educational college in Britain.
The former farm that is Black Mountains College campus is a core part of an insurgent institution that is the first entirely dedicated to adapting to the climate emergency.
Continue reading...University leaders urge ministers to provide bridging finance to keep projects running when EU support ends this year
Universities in Wales face more than 1,000 skilled jobs being lost because of the withdrawal of EU structural funds, with leaders saying that the replacement finance promised by ministers will not match the lost support.
Since 2014 Welsh universities have received about ยฃ370m in research projects from EU structural funds but, after the UKโs withdrawal, its support for 60 ongoing projects will end this year.
Continue reading...Guest post by Kevin Gatter
On the night of October 30, 1995, Canadians held their collective breath as the votes in Quebecโs independence referendum were counted. In the end, the pro-independence camp lost the referendum by a figurative eyelash: 49.42 percent of voters supported independence, while 50.58 percent voted to remain part of Canada. Quebecโs political status continued to be a delicate issue in the years following the referendum.
In March 2022, I was in Quebec City, a hotbed of Quรฉbรฉcois nationalism in the 1990s. But apart from the omnipresent blue-and-white Fleurdelisรฉ (flag of Quebec), I saw little evidence that this had been the center of a passionate pro-independence movement just a few decades prior. On the train to Montreal, I asked my seatmate, a student in their 20s, about Quebec independence. The response was a confused โQuoi?โ and then a timid, โOh, thatโs not really a thing anymore.โ
The case of Quebec illustrates a challenge facing many secessionist movements, which seek to detach a region from a country and make a new country out of that region. These movements often ebb and flow: they go through periods where they are more active and others where they recede into the background. The secessionist movements in the headlines have varied quite a bit over the past few decades: it was the Basques in the 1980s, Quebec in the 1990s, and Scotland in the 2010s.ย
Some of these movements are currently on the downswing, like in Quebec. The Parti Quรฉbรฉcoisโthe main party advocating independenceโcurrently holds 3 out of 125 seats in Quebecโs National Assembly. In Catalonia, a region in eastern Spain, the independence movement has held massive rallies since 2010. But while the pro-independence Estelada flag is still a common sight on the balconies of Barcelona, opinion polls have shown a decline in support for independence since 2018.
In other regions, secessionist movements are gaining momentum. The pro-independence Scottish National Party has had the majority in Scotlandโs parliament since 2011. Since 2014, when 45 percent of voters backed independence in a referendum, support for independence has climbed to 54 percent. And in nearby Wales, 10,000 people marched in Cardiff in support of independence in October 2022.
Why do these movements go through periods of higher and lower activity? There are a variety of reasons that can account for these swings. Sometimes a violent government response to calls for secession intimidates would-be supporters. In Catalonia, the Spanish governmentโs jailing of pro-independence leaders and violence against participants in the 2017 referendum created a sense of apprehension. Catalan nationalist organizations have since complained of government surveillance and harassment. In other cases, would-be supporters feel they have received satisfactory concessions. In Quebec, the younger generation has come of age in a time in which French speakers can manage companies, there are laws strengthening the public use of French, and immigrants are required to enroll their children in French-speaking schools. The French language in Quebec is in a more secure position than it was a few decades ago, alleviating a major concern of independence supporters.
But government actions can also fuel secessionism. The Brexit vote played a major role in strengthening the independence movement in Scotland and, to a lesser degree, in Wales. Many people in both regions believe that independence would allow them to rejoin the EU. For many people in Scotland in particular, the Brexit vote was taken as evidence of the difference in values between Scotland and the rest of the UK. Recently, the UK government has indicated that it will block Scotlandโs Gender Recognition Reform Bill, further contributing to the deadlock between Scotland and Westminster.
Even the COVID-19 pandemic has played a role in secessionism. In Wales and Scotland, there is a sense that the governments of these regions handled the pandemic better than the UK government in London did. This has given people a sense of confidence in the ability of the Scottish and Welsh to manage their own affairs, leading to a reevaluation of these regionsโ ability to govern themselves as independent nations.
It is hard to predict what the future will hold for secessionist movements. Movements that seem unstoppable at one point can suddenly go stagnant, as in Quebec. Independence might have the upper hand in Scotland, but the movement risks becoming divided over disagreements on how to react to the UK governmentโs refusal to sanction a second independence referendum. In Wales, traditionally anything but a hotbed of secessionist activity, support for independence is rapidly growing. As we continue to grapple with a pandemic, the war in Ukraine, challenges to democracy around the world, and the climate crisis, we will have to see how secessionist movements adapt to these new realities.
Kevin Gatter is a Ph.D. candidate at UC Los Angelesโ Department of Political Science. He is also a dissertation fellow at the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.
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Labour says inflation may force more students to drop out, as those in England get just ยฃ200 more on average
Students from Wales will get ยฃ1,000 more to help with the cost of living crisis while those in England get just ยฃ200 on average, as Labour MPs said inflation may force more students to drop out of university.
The Welsh government said maintenance loans and grants for its students would rise by 9.4% from September, with support for full-time students increasing from ยฃ10,710 to ยฃ11,720 on average. Students in England will get a rise of just 2.8% in the next academic year after the Westminster governmentโs announcement last week, with the average maintenance loan increasing by about ยฃ200.
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