David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 13hSome Sunday reading: wonkhe.com/blogs/autono...wonkhe.comAutonomy for the peopleUK universities are protective over their autonomy. But what is autonomy, why is it so important, and what does it mean in practice? David Kernohan asks the questions. 010
Reposted by David KernohanAndy Brockman @andybrockman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026"It is outrageous that a mandatory submission platform can change their terms and propose using our hard work to train their AI models… This is not what we signed up to, nor do we consent to this." Justine Pedussel: President NUS Scotland WONKHE on the ownership & use of Student's IP in #AI LLM's.wonkhe.comA supplier shouldn’t be able to rewrite who owns students’ essaysSam Dickinson looks at Turnitin’s paused plan to put student essays to work on AI – and finds that neither anonymisation nor university regulations answer the copyright question 025
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/... The tale of the first ever academic redundancy process to take place in England. In 1988. Just thirty-eight years ago. Even after Kylie released "I should be so lucky".wonkhe.comAcademic redundancy and the University CommissionersThe first ever academic redundancy happend as recently as 1988 010
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026What's notable about this is how it represents a significant break from the ways security services usually do this kind of thing: wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...wonkhe.comEspionage alert sees MI5 take an interest in Chinese research collaborationThe security services put links between the China General Technology Research Institution and Chinese espionage into the public domain 002
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...wonkhe.comBurnham’s quiet pledgeWas there something more substantial in the PM’s big speech for the sector? 012
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Healey just announced it. It's a good thing. Here's why. 011
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026For whatever reason, this 2018 Emile Sande remix really hits right this morning: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U_K...youtube.comBreathing Underwater (Matrix & Futurebound Remix)YouTube video by Emeli Sandé - Topic 000
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...wonkhe.comGraduates now cover 84 per cent of the cost of a degreeThe effects of little-noticed threshold freezes 002
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026The Union Learning Fund seems to be returning. A sensible, cheap, and proven investment in supporting mid-career reskilling or upskilling - and the thing that might make the LLE work properly. wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...wonkhe.comA reinstated Unionlearn might be the missing piece of the LLE puzzleIt turns out that the people that advocate for workers rights might also be good at advocating for worker reskilling. 010
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026The latest from the Napier/SRUC/Queen Margaret collaboration. 001
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026If you are thinking the government will move on HE finance this is the clearest clue yet on what might need to be done. 011
Reposted by David KernohanWonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Last week on Wonkhe: It is the Treasury that gets to decide on any changes to sector funding, and it is the state of public finances that determines that there will be no major rethink. David Kernohan has been listening to the chancellorbuff.lyHigher education finances are "under review" - but what does that mean?It is the Treasury that gets to decide on any changes to sector funding, and it is the state of public finances that determines that there will be no major rethink. David Kernohan has been listening to... 002
Reposted by David KernohanWonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026NEW on Wonkhe: How does our market based higher education system in England work - as a market? David Kernohan gets into the detail buff.ly/vGhAwdY 003
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Our protagonist is getting support from his branch of UCU, as I understand it. 020
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026This has progressed from a cack-handed and insensitive process to what looks like a full on breach of employment law. You should not have had to put up with any of this. If they are unable to get their shit together at this point get a really good employment lawyer and give them hell. 160
Reposted by David KernohanWonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 18/09/2026NEW on Wonkhe: Last seen around the time of the Augar review, KPMG has updated work on the costs of teaching. DK finds evidence of cost cutting everywhere buff.ly/D0cu2Xu 014
Reposted by David KernohanBen Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 17/09/2026"OpenAI could soon be selling young people a one-stop-shop for learning, credentials and a job, all heavily dependent on its tools." www.theguardian.com/technology/2...theguardian.comBig AI is trying to own the pathway to work. Universities shouldn’t play along | Ella HafermalzUniversities need protect their position in education so that students have an independent pathway to employment. 1127
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Yeah, so that OfS dashboard: wonkhe.com/blogs/can-a-...wonkhe.comCan a dashboard solve higher education planning?OfS has built one dashboard to rule them all - DK has thoughts 000
Reposted by David KernohanWonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 14/09/2026NEW on Wonkhe: Debbie McVitty was at the annual gathering of university vice chancellors and finds a sector eager to prove its value – but are ministers on the same page? buff.ly/fSyxK9Z 101
Reposted by David KernohanWonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 14/09/2026NEW on Wonkhe: It is the Treasury that gets to decide on any changes to sector funding, and it is the state of public finances that determines that there will be no major rethink. David Kernohan has been listening to the chancellor buff.ly/mYf3n3e 021
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026All in all a good preseason run out for the new squad. A 50 point margin against an under-strength Reading no surprise, but clearly a lot of potential for the Flyers to build on. 000
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026So I asked the OfS chat bot to write me a Petrarchan sonnet about TEF. I mean, it's a very average sonnet, but better than any I've managed to get out of formal OfS channels. 050
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026do ask it to restate your answer in Old English. Ic eom ænlich to healdanne sprecunga be þam Office for Students ond be hēan lārunga on Engliscum 100
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Yeah, honestly if I wanted errors and outdated information I could just read the rest of the site... 130
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Yeah, it appears to be broken almost immediately. 110
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026A great idea that will absolutely definitely never cause any problems whatsoever. 371
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026There's various ways of naming universities - I ranked them once: wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/... 251
Reposted by David KernohanWonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 10/09/2026NEW on Wonkhe: Will a graduate jobs roadmap show us the right way? buff.ly/h7zKJYt 011
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Dunno who needs to hear this but the AI alignment discourse is largely marketing. 040
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Which neatly demonstrates that intensively teaching knowledge-rich curricula towards high-stakes tests is a great way to ensure your country does well on PISA. 071
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026From our "why didn't this happen when the conflict of interest became apparent" correspondent, Matt Clifford has resigned as Chair of ARIA. 040
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Tell me somebody is an early career researcher without telling me somebody is an early career researcher. 000
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Healey now writing to all ministers about regulation. In brief: too many pointless consultations, too much time spent on minimising legal risk, too many judicial reviews. www.gov.uk/government/p... It's difficult not to think of one regulator in particular here...gov.ukThe Simplification and Agency of Government - Letter to all ministers 110
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 07/09/2026John Healey just announced a cut in the green book discount rate, from 3.5 per cent to 3.0 per cent. This slants the cost/benefits matrix more towards future benefits. Here's why that's a big deal for HE: wonkhe.com/blogs/discou... 043
Reposted by David KernohanMichael Salmon @michaelsalmon0.bsky.social · 07/09/2026We've launched a new site this morning: Research Agenda. It's a new publication from the team behind Wonkhe which will cover news across the whole of the UK research system. Let us know what you think: www.researchagenda.newsresearchagenda.newsResearch Agenda – research policy, news & intelligenceResearch policy · News · Intelligence – original reporting, analysis and trackers for the people who make UK research happen. From the team behind Wonkhe. 035
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 04/09/2026www.theguardian.com/politics/202...theguardian.comCambridge University examines conduct of academic suspended by Reform UKJames Orr, an associate professor, was shown in Channel 4 News footage apparently trying to sidestep electoral law 021
Reposted by David KernohanWonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 04/09/2026NEW on Wonkhe: The Office for Students had a lot to learn from the recent high court judgement. David Kernohan looks at how it is trying to start that buff.ly/t7BEncC 001
Reposted by David KernohanHK @hkesvani.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Are we going to get the 200 articles on James Orr then? Maybe read and interrogate the footnotes of his doctoral thesis? Is Cambridge going to have to issue out statements about its hiring standards? 12815252
Reposted by David KernohanCount Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Can't get a moment's peace on this bloody planet. 1426891889
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 01/09/2026If you are missing silly season on this first day of September, I did a thing on why REF is a lot like competive brass band playing over the weekend - in honour of one of Chris McDonald's impressively niche hobbies. wonkhe.com/blogs/what-b... 110
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 30/08/2026I'm not a brass player to my shame. For some reason I know loads, but not in the sector. 100
Reposted by David KernohanWonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 30/08/2026NEW on Wonkhe: New science minister Chris McDonald loves brass bands. Will he grow to love the REF in the same way? buff.ly/CMrX5Db 044
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 28/08/2026I endorse this. Also: write a proper report, don't just send out a press release promising one (looking at you, Taxpayers Alliance!) 011
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 26/08/2026That Meta climbdown is unexpected, unprecedented, and enormous. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cy... It undoes (for children, at least) about a decade of dark-pattern social media orthodoxy. 210
David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · 24/08/2026They were very helpful to me too: wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/... 110
