Was in London this week for a workshop looking at a standardised student data model. It linked into my work on E in NREN and LLE. This ideal of a student data model isn’t new, nor is it just about the data. There are cultural and planning issues that need to be addressed.

I have been talking to SURF in the Netherlands about lots of different things, including the data model work. However, this week I also had a constructive meeting about their OOAPI specification and hub.

Had a really interesting discussion with Lawrie about the government white paper on higher education. I was reminded of what I wrote back in October.

Could we see a paradigm shift in young people going to university? There is no longer talk about 50% of young people going to university, this has been swapped with the two-thirds under-25 participation in higher-level learning.

Another thing I wrote was:

There was much discussion about collaboration and sharing by providers, as well as a focus on specialisation.

What was more challenging was not necessarily coming up with ideas or solutions to the challenges set out in the white paper, but what was the role of Jisc in all this.

Of course the underlying challenge that the sector is facing is one of financial sustainability.