I was on leave this week, so no weeknote this week.
Weeknote #385 – 17th July 2026
Category Archives: weeknotes
Electrification – Weeknote #384 – 10th July 2026
This week I was at an (online) event looking at estates. I was chairing the first half of the event and presenting in the second half. The event was entitled Next steps for university estates in the UK.
It was a really interesting online conference with a keynote from the CEO of AUDE, along with panel sessions on a range of topics. There was quite a focus on net zero and decarbonisation. I personally found the discussion on electrification of university campuses really interesting. Something I think I might write a longer blog post about, as the move from oil and gas use to electric in the main for heating and hot water is something that the sector is looking at, as they aim to achieve their net zero ambitions.
My own session was on internationalisation and the impact that this could have on estates and the way they are managed. I spoke about student mobility, what is happening in Europe with the Higher Education Interoperability Framework and the potential synergy and alignment this has with the LLE aspirations in the UK.
With our third heatwave I did head into the office, which is air-conditioned (partly powered by solar panels). I enjoyed reading David Kernohan’s article on keeping cool on campus.
I think this section is something that the sector should take note of.
Direct sunlight heats the structure of a building – bricks, glass, concrete, roof tiles – and these elements heat the inside, often for hours after the direct sunlight has gone. Dense foliage from fast-growing trees is a cheap (far cheaper than altering and adapting the building) and renewable way to cool down, all while lowering pollution. And, with appropriate maintenance, it looks fantastic.
Many of the campuses I have worked on have been very hot in heatwave weather. The cooling functionality was often not sufficient. Having also been involved in many new builds, often the planning restrictions meant that for environmental reasons air conditioning wasn’t allowed to be installed and in many cases would have been quite expensive to run.
I was involved in various consultancy meetings this week. My main role in these are about quality assurance.
Putting pen to paper – Weeknote #383 – 3rd July 2026
Busy week with lots of meetings.
I have done very little travel over the last few months, my last trip was back in April when I was up in Leeds for the AUDE conference. My original plan was to head to TNC in Helsinki in June last month, but didn’t make the cut, as too many people from Jisc wanted to go. Though I enjoyed TNC last year, my main reason for attending, wasn’t in fact attending TNC, I was part of two side meetings on the Monday before TNC. Next year TNC 27 is in Belgium, this should be easier to get to for the side meetings, as I could literally drive there, well and hop on a ferry to get across the channel.
I had considered going to the EUNIS conference in Romania, I was there last year when it was held in Belfast. Last year I was speaking, if I had gone this year it would have been as a delegate. It would have been useful to go, buy I have been asked to cut back on my travel and conference attendance. I have missed a lot of conferences this year, compared to last year, but at most of these there were others from Jisc in attendance.
I did though publish a few things on the blog.
I didn’t write about snow, but I did write about heatwaves and response from schools and colleges.
Following the Met Office weather warning and forecasted high temperatures, we are making some temporary changes to teaching arrangements for the remainder of this week to help ensure the comfort, wellbeing, and safety of learners and staff. Campuses will be closed to curriculum teaching from Wednesday to Friday inclusive.
In another blog post I discussed the importance of discovery in enabling student mobility and some of the issues that would be faced in the UK.
Margo wants to study towards a degree but wants to combine different modules from different courses across Europe. She knows the subjects she is interested in; she also knows which countries where she would like to study. However, she doesn’t know which universities across Europe offer which modules. Discovery would allow Freya to access the course and module catalogues from across a range of universities, compare different offerings and would be able to refine her search based on specific criteria. She would also be sure that the information she finds is up to date.
This was the first in a series of articles where I will be looking at student mobility in the UK. What I mean by student mobility is how a student can choose when and where to study, at a time and place that is suitable for them. It’s about enabling students to take parts of courses from different institutions. This (in theory) is possible now, but was challenging for students from both a financial perspective and administratively.
I wrote about two stories on collaboration.
The first of these was the launch of Universities West. It is a new collaboration between Bath Spa University, the University of Bath, the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England.
Up in Scotland, the staff at Napier and Queen Margaret universities have been told of plans to create a “multi-university” with Scotland’s Rural College.
I was involved in various consultancy meetings this week. My main role in these are about quality assurance.
Next week I am presenting at the Westminster Higher Education Forum policy conference on the next steps for university estates in the UK.
Way too hot – Weeknote #382 – 26th June 2026
I was mainly on leave this week, we also had another heatwave. I made it to the office on those hot days I was working, and the office was a nice cool respite from the heat of the day.
Lots of schools and quite a few colleges closed because of the heat. Reminded me of all the snow days. However, I was a little surprised to see that some schools and colleges were moving learning online. If the college buildings are too hot, then I can’t see how a learners’ home would be any cooler.
Didn’t notice much from the higher education sector, but it is close to the end of term for most universities.
Stuck in the mud – Weeknote #381 – 19th June 2026
A busy week with lots of meetings, research, and responding to emails and questions.
I have been reflecting on the challenges that the higher education sector are facing and how difficult it appears to be for the sector to respond to these challenges.
Looking back over my blog posts, back in August 2024, I wrote about how hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I wrote then
There are lots of examples of how organisations and companies did not respond to changes and trends. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as you can ask, why didn’t they change, they could see the challenge, they could have changed, they could have adapted. The problem often is that though internally the organisation may know it needs to change, the current situation means they are unable to change.
Higher Education knows that they are facing challenges, and that they need to change. They know this. However a deeper question is not the one that Higher Education needs to be told they need to change, they know that, but they are actually unable to change and so the question is how do we change a sector, that knows it needs to change, but actually can’t make that change.
Two year after writing that post on the need for change, I am not seeing significant change or transformational change. There have been at most two mergers, but not a huge amount of collaboration either.
Where we have seen significant change has been in job losses across the sector. This week I wrote a post about the implications of the current round of redundancies at the University of Dundee.
It is been reported that the University of Dundee is looking to cut an additional 190 jobs. Despite already cutting about 675 jobs through voluntary redundancies, the university said it still needed to make annual savings of about £20m.
They are not alone in needing to make savings and job cuts.
One of the unanswered questions is how will all this impact on the student experience.
Helsinki isn’t all that bad – Weeknote #380 – 12th June 2026
Linus Torvalds, the Finnish software engineer and creator of Linux, famously captured the essence of his hometown with this quote:
“Helsinki isn’t all that bad. It’s a very nice city, and it’s cold really only in wintertime.”
I was in Helsinki in February 2025 when a workshop was held to see what potential there was for NRENs to collaborate and work together to deliver on the potential of student mobility.
I was not in Helsinki this week for TNC 2026. For a variety of reasons not attending TNC this year, which is taking place in Helsinki in Finland. One of the side meetings is the inaugural meeting of the new GÉANT Education Digital Infrastructure and Interoperability Coordination Group which is essentially an evolution of the NRENS4Education group. I was, though, able to join remotely. I had also recorded a video in case the remote connection failed.
I had bought some accessories for my iPhone for shooting the video, a Mini Wireless Lavalier Microphone, a 128 LED Rechargeable Portable Selfie Light and a YZNT tripod mount. I liked the fact the microphone came with some windproof heads for using the mics outside. I have been thinking about rebooting the elearning stuff podcast.
One gadget I had back around 2010 was the Edirol R-09HR 24bit 96kHz Wave/MP3 Recorder which was an audio recorder, which was great for recording audio files direct to an SD card. You could use it to record mp3 and WAV files. This is now a retired product, I am not sure what products are out there that would fulfil the use cases that the Edirol did. Not sure if the iPhone is an adequate replacement, but it’s being a while since I looked at audio stuff.
Watched the WWDC keynote from Apple about their work on Apple Intelligence. I realise that in the world of AI, I am way behind in this space and this was one thing I was doing as part of my personal development to update my understanding.
Spent much of the rest of the week supporting staff.
Friday I made my way to the Bristol office. Nice to have a change in pace, location and routine.
EDII are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay, EDII? – Weeknote #379 – 5th June 2026
Full week in the office, well one day in the office, full week of working.
The weather turned after last week’s heatwave and we went back to the usual British weather of grey cloud and rain.
I had a busy week with stuff, which for confidentiality reasons I can’t disclose here. However, it entailed lots of reading, meetings, conversations and discussion.
I also spent time planning the TNC side meetings next week, I am for a variety of reasons not attending TNC this year, which is taking place in Helsinki in Finland. One of the side meetings is the inaugural meeting of the new GÉANT Education Digital Infrastructure and Interoperability Coordination Group which is essentially an evolution of the NRENS4Education group.
I have been working with the consultancy team at Jisc on various aspects of current projects and possible projects.
HOT! – Weeknote #378 – 29th May 2026
Most of this week I was on leave or it was a bank holiday, so was in the office for just two days. With soaring temperatures I actually went into the office, as it does have air conditioning and was a nicer environment for working in.
I took the time to finish off some mandatory training that needed to be done. These were two year refresher renewal modules that needed to be done. I have a strategy that when these come in, I prioritise them to get then done and dusted. In the past, like many other people, I would know that I needed to get them done, but then other stuff needed doing, so they were left. Then the deadline would arrive and it was all hands to the deck to get them done. Sometimes this would impact on other deadlines. So, despite sometimes the lack of urgency (initially) with mandatory training, it is important, so I devote time to going through the modules and passing the tests.
For a variety of reasons I won’t be attending TNC this year, which is taking place in Helsinki in Finland. My first (and only) TNC was last year in Brighton. In reality I was less interested in the conference (which is interesting) but was looking forward to attending some side meetings about education. However, I have been helping in the planning and the organisation of these said meetings.
Defining credit – Weeknote #377 – 22nd May 2026
One of the interesting things for me this week was the WonkHE analysis on the three draft statutory instruments which herald the end game of the biggest change in the student finance system since 2011.
The article notes that…
…arguably the most interesting point in these regulations is section 9(2)(b) which puts into English law for the first time the idea that a single academic credit is equivalent to ten notional learning hours.
This equivalency is important for LLE as it means a student can stack credits for a qualification from different institutions and times. This in itself creates another headache. Does a credit from one institution now mean it is equivalent to a credit from another? Will that be accepted by all institutions. Another question that I saw at a recent event was how long is a credit viable for, will it lose its validity over time, and does that matter, or if it does which subjects would need this.
I did my Economics degree back in the 1980s, and much of what I learnt then hasn’t changed much, to be honest it hadn’t changed much in the previous forty years, let alone the last forty years. Some units I did are probably out of date, thinking about that unit I did on the Economics of European Community. Whilst others, such as that module on Economic and Social History probably hasn’t aged.
One of the other interesting things for me this week was the WonkHE analysis on who gets to offer LLE modules?
You might think that – given past failures to attract learners – that the government would want to spread the net as far as possible as regards lifelong learning entitlement (LLE) provision.
You would be wrong.
There are just 130 providers who have registered for LLE provision. Does this mean anything, will it result in a no one caring about LLE, or is this just the beginning.
I attended a webinar about open education early in the week. It reminded me of many discussions I have had about open over the years. Listening in to the conversations I did pitch in that we have to sometimes think open is the solution, not a problem in itself to be solved. Sometimes I think when we start talking about open, we are trying to solve the open problem, how do we ensure education is open, how do we publish open educational resources, etc… As with my recent post on bridge building, we have to remember that open is a solution. A solution to another problem. What we have to do sometimes is remind ourselves on what problem open is trying to solve.
Is unbookable a word? – Weeknote #376 – 15th May 2026
A quiet week for me, though there were a few events running this week, including Jisc’s Connect More. I did get to the Bristol office for one day.
I finished writing my blog post on bookable and unbookable desks, PCs, and sun loungers following a couple of BBC News articles.
Reminds me why I never used PC booking software when running my libraries. Students would reserve PCs with their “towels” and then never turn up. The PC was unused and unavailable for others to use.
News of another higher education merger hit the headlines, with KCL and Cranfield planning to merge next year. I suspect we will hear about more mergers over the next couple of years. I also suspect we might see some higher education institutions close after the OfS and HESA published financial information about the sector, and in some cases the optimism of the sector, which if doesn’t come to pass may see places close. The Office for Students says that there is widespread and persistent over-optimism about sector finances. What this means is that if plans don’t come to fruition then the only choice might be closure (or forced merger).
The WonkHE analysis (as usual) was excellent.
David Kernohan digests this year’s OfS summary of annual financial returns, and the parallel release of HESA finance data
The priority will be the students.
In LLE news we saw 130 providers approved for LLE provision.
These providers will be able to offer short courses with a January 2027 start date that are fundable (pro rata to academic credit) via the LLE.
So not quite the broad range of providers that the promise of LLE said would happen.
I was doing some planning for TNC 26 even though I am not attending the conference.
I was editing a post on the blog from May 2019 (there was an issue with one of the images) when I read this.
…it was an earlier start than normal as I had a meeting with some European colleagues about a workshop we’re running at TNC in June in Tallinn in Estonia.
Now I know I didn’t attend TNC 19 in Estonia, so when I did some digging into my email archive and saw that there was quite a bit of chat and conversations. The core of which was the creation of GÉANT’s TF-EDU (Task Force Education) including a draft proposal for the group. I didn’t realise (well didn’t remember) that I was involved back then. Getting old!