Professor Madeleine Atkins is Chief Executive of HEFCE. Her presentation at #RLUK14 provided an overview of current trends and developments in higher education, and discussed some of the key forthcoming challenges in the sector.

1. Trends and
developments in
higher education
RLUK Conference 2014
12 November 2014
Professor Madeleine Atkins

2. • Undergraduate education
• Postgraduate education
• Knowledge exchange and
economic growth
• Research policy evidence
gathering
• Regulation
Introduction

3. • Social mobility and
outcomes
• Advanced level skills
• Teaching excellence
HEFCE’s priorities for
undergraduate education

4. • Return on investment
• Student Opportunity outcomes framework
• Degree outcomes
• Disability support
Social mobility

5. • Technical education
• Progression to higher level skills
• Catalyst call
Advanced level skills
Copyright

6. • Encouraging greater innovation in teaching
• Capturing excellent educational outcomes
• Refining existing indicators of students’ learning experiences and
of their progression to employment or further study
• Measuring learning gain, social capital/agency
Teaching excellence

7. • Postgraduate Support Scheme
• Review of finance for
postgraduate education
• Postgraduate research
HEFCE’s priorities for postgraduate
education

8. Emerging findings
• £25 million supporting
20 pilot projects in over
40 institutions
• Finance important but
strategies to support
progression also needed
• £50 million to support
postgraduate progression
in 2015-16
Postgraduate Support Scheme

9. Postgraduate research students

10. Recent findings
• Demand for PGR will decline?
• International recruitment
remains critical
• Marketing/recruitment for PGR
programmes
• Diversity of recruitment
processes frustrating to students
• A funding solution for PGT
critical for pipeline to PGR
Recruitment and selection of
PGR students

11. • Engagement with LEPs
• Innovation funding
• Developing the role of universities as ‘anchors’
HEFCE’s priorities for knowledge
exchange and economic growth

12. Higher education and LEPs
• Supporting HEIs from the bottom up to
build their contribution to local growth
• ESIF: positioning as critical element
within HE national policies and wider
funding opportunities
• Working in partnership with:
̶ UUK
̶ BIS and DCLG
̶ NCUB
̶ Innovate UK and RCUK

13. • Engagement with local schools
• Local skills agenda
• Local economic growth
• Social innovation and social
enterprise
• HEFCE Catalyst call
Universities as ‘anchors’

14. • Understanding research performance
• Evaluation of REF 2014
• Independent Review of Metrics and Research Assessment
• Exploration of potential REF internationalisation
HEFCE’s priorities for research
policy evidence gathering

15. • Quality assessment
• Register of higher education providers
• Student protection
• Future legislation
HEFCE’s priorities for regulation

16. Thank you for listening
m.atkins@hefce.ac.uk