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Prof Debby Cotton

@profdcotton.bsky.social
3.5K followers 757 following 902 posts

Professor of Higher Education at Plymouth Marjon University, UK. Interested in all things HE. Sustainability education and behaviour change researcher. Accidental AI expert. NTF.

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Reposted by Prof Debby Cotton
Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm quoted in (and provide the headline for) this @timeshighered.bsky.social university story today. To be honest the news and messages coming from across UK Higher Ed are now so desperate, pressing and upsetting that I've stepped away a bit. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/tiered-...
timeshighereducation.com
Tiered English tuition fee system ‘would denude rest of sector’
Fallout over differential university fees suggestion continues, amid suggestions that the Russell Group head is saying the quiet part out loud
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Unofficial Guardian (UK) Bot @guardian-uk-rss.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Edinburgh joins UK universities heading for strikes as cuts spread through entire sector
theguardian.com
Edinburgh joins UK universities heading for strikes as cuts spread through entire sector
Students at Edinburgh, Dundee and Nottingham face a term without any teaching as sector struggles with rising financial uncertainty
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Reposted by Prof Debby Cotton
Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The problem isn't rogue #AI models, it's *negligent companies*. If a biomedical firm put their product in public water supply because they wanted to test it 'in the real world', they'd be treated as criminal at corporate & individual level. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
OpenAI halts training of latest models as reports mount of AI agents going rogue
Decision follows disclosures that OpenAI agents searching government websites had acted in unexpected ways
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Reposted by Prof Debby Cotton
Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026
I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This just keeps getting bigger.
bbc.co.uk
OpenAI bots meddled with US government agencies, including SEC and Census
OpenAI said its bots accessed public data from a range of institutions during test exercises.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
'The director of the new mission group for “research-led” UK universities outside the Russell Group has said its members will not support any proposals for minimum entry standards to access student loans.'
timeshighereducation.com
ResearchPlus at odds with Russell Group on minimum entry standards
Head of new mission group for smaller ‘research-led’ universities rejects minimum tariff and differential fee plans endorsed by larger institutions
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Prof Debby Cotton @profdcotton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Timeline cleanse. My favourite buddy…
Beautiful tabby cat relaxing in a sunny spot on a light brown rug
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Reposted by Prof Debby Cotton
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
One of the misunderstandings about the 'excessive cost' of UK university is their comparative efficiency (both relative to apprenticeships and relative to other universities internationally) of getting 89% or so of students through their degrees in a timely manner.
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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
“People are working 12 to 13 hours a day just to press enter.”
voxium 
@vOxium
X.com
I am done with this shit. It is over. The state of engineering right now is horrible. It has been half a month since I started a new role at a big company.
Nobody knows anything here. The specs, code, tests, PRDs, tickets, resolution of those tickets, reports, etc., everything is made by Claude Code.
Nobody on my team likes this. They are being forced to ship as much as they can. I have heard multiple times from higher management that pushing code is not a bottleneck, so why are we slow?People are working 12 to 13 hours a day just to press enter. Nobody is reading anything. Humans in corporate are doing nothing on their own. Everyone, literally everyone, from an L1 to an L7 engineer here is doing the same thing.
Talk to Claude. There is no sense of victory. Nobody is resolving bugs. In reality, nobody is thinking anymore.
Everything is done by LLMs. It is so soul-sucking. I would not mind it, to be honest, if we were at least given the time to check out the code and see what is going where. But no, the goal is to just ship. No matter what happens.
11:17 PM • 9/19/26 • 1.4M Views
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Reposted by Prof Debby Cotton
Ronald Hartz @ronaldhartz.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“as public funding for universities falls, there is a real danger that billionaire and corporate money begins to shape academia” (Prof Lyla Mehta, Head of the climate, environment and sustainability department at the University of Sussex) #HigherEd #UKHE www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Backlash as Indian oil heir made professor of sustainability by Newcastle University
Role for Anant Ambani, son of India’s richest person, who also runs a controversial mega-zoo, met with incredulity
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Alexander Kasprzyk @amkasprzyk.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
#AI “triaging” of UKRI grants. Yikes. I completely appreciate the struggle they have finding timely reviewers, but surely there’s a better way than this? #UKHE
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Ben 🏔️🏃‍♂️🇫🇷 @beninchamonix.eurosky.social · 22/09/2026
“National news” being the problem. 90% driven by right-wing ideologues looking to push their latest culture war issue - in this case for the oil & gas / climate change sceptic lobby. Totally at odds with public opinion on the fossil fuel vs renewables debate.
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Caroline Dodds Pennock @carolinepennock.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Ditto 30,000 roles in universities in the past three years.
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Santanu Vasant PFHEA @santanuvasant.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Small White Fluffy Clouds across a Dawn Sky #Autumn #Sunrise #London #Surrey
Dawn Sky Small Fluffy White Clouds in Autumn
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🌳🌿Lover of Trees🌿🌳 @gwtreelover.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The Lone Tree at Rydal in is so iconic and beautifully captured here by Lake District photographer Natasha Roberts. My #treeoftheday definitely, do repost of it is yours too! #trees #nature #photography
Single tree rising from a tiny island in the middle of the lake, rolling hills behind. Soft, magical light. Reflection of the tree trunk in the calm still water
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Michael Eades @drmichaeleades.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This is so depressing to read. Raising fees (yet again) is not going to save #UKHE. Particularly not as a bogus ‘quality’ marker. Sorry to be boring but the answer to the problem lies in good old fashioned state investment in education… #academicsky www.timeshighereducation.com/news/russell...
timeshighereducation.com
Russell Group backs higher fees as £3,000 loss per student revealed
Chief executive Libby Hackett says top universities should charge more as scale of teaching deficit is revealed
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Hardeep Matharu @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The story of Jason Arday is the story of James Orr. Of the ideology which has found a foothold in Cambridge University, fostering the sorts of ideas that formed the undercurrents – sometimes explicit; sometimes unconscious – against Arday. I returned to my alma mater for an in-depth exploration 👇
bylinetimes.com
The Two Professors and a ‘War On Ideas’
The different stories of the Cambridge academics Jason Arday and James Orr reveal the wider cultural and ideological forces around hierarchies and structural power – and who gets to belong in our inst...
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
“UK university management teams have so far struggled to take a principled position on AI, often embracing the technology uncritically and seeking to ‘partner’ with AI providers rather than consider its longer-term impact on pedagogy." (Steve Jones, University of Manchester)
timeshighereducation.com
Are device-free classrooms the way forward?
US universities embrace laptop and phone bans, but professor suggests policies may be more about political positioning than pedagogy
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Theodore Alysandratos @thalysandratos.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The government made enrolling at UK universities less desirable for international students. International students responded to (dis-)incentives by...enrolling less at UK universities. One would expect quite a bit of satisfaction at a successful -on its own terms- policy. Own it or reverse it.
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Alexander Kasprzyk @amkasprzyk.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I love this aspect of the UK university system. Pick basically any university with a maths department, and there will be world-class researchers there. Which is great for students. It’s a big mistake to imagine that top research is all concentrated in a few high-prestige centres of excellence.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
From October, methods 'include “exploring the safe use of AI-assisted assessment, supported by appropriate controls and safeguards, starting with a retrospective trial with the UK Metascience Unit to compare what AI would have concluded from past applications against the decisions that were made”.'
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Emi @emiphemera.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I am still furious about this, so let's go: my abortion story aka why I am not dead yet. I intentionally got pregnant in 2015. I was so excited to be a mom, took extra care with nutrition and safety (I had a heavy-duty job at the time). Normal first-trimester nausea and tiredness, nothing crazy.
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Peter Whitewood @pwhitewood.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Why is the answer to employers wanting more work ready graduates always that universities should provide more workplace training, rather than employers providing more training in the workplace?
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Can a cat be knighted?
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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
There have been so many impeachable offenses, but lying about how you were a hero on a day that 2,753 people died in NYC in the 9/11 disaster—when you were on the other side of town, safely calling local media to brag about how you now had the tallest downtown building—is such a despicable one
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 09/09/2026
Also, why is this basically written up as "quirky crowd make an embarrassing mistake" and not "violent racists form mob because Asian people use hotel"?
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Alexander Kasprzyk @amkasprzyk.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Woke up to find 57 submissions to the journal overnight. I haven’t looked, but I expect approx. 56 will be AI-written slop. To put these numbers in perspective, we publish 40 papers per year. The volume of garbage is getting unmanageable. #MathSky
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New PISA data out England is now top ten in all three areas (reading, maths, science) and the second highest performing country outside of east Asia (after Estonia). This is a huge public policy success.
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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I'm not corrupt. I'm completely incompetent. And corrupt. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
‘I wasn’t even listening,’ Farage says of donations scandal meeting
Reform UK leader maintains innocence in overseas funding controversy on last day of party conference
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Looking at the stars @lookingatthestars.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
In her Reform conference speech, Suella Braverman said that under a Reform government, schoolchildren will be obliged to sing the national anthem and “our great hymns”. I cannot imagine that this anything but a net vote loser.
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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Masked men, blockading a port & roads, & apparently refusing to speak to anyone don’t get arrested. Climate protesters, after the summer we’ve had, chatty, non-threatening, visible & open, politely explaining their cause & reason are treated as terrorists. Where the hell are we going with this?
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Andy Lewis @andylewis.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Were I the prime minister, right now the chief constable and police & crime commissioner for Kent would be in my office having a meeting strictly without tea or biscuits, and this evening I’d be doing a broadcast reassuring the nation that fascist mobs will not be tolerated on our streets.
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
THREAD. A collection of charismatic scarecrows I have met and photographed on walks in the countryside over the last 17 years. You will find the all-important caption to each photo in the alt text.
A scarecrow who was actually quite together and sexy around the age of 38 but whose appearance took a dramatic turn for the worse over the next four years, due to a combination of alcohol abuse and internalised rage.
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
<opens wikipedia to check on this 'Global University Systems' thingy that's so keen to absorb UK universities in distress> Excellent work by the UK government. Very wise to get tuition fees neatly flow out of the country instead of reforming the system that puts unis in distress in the first place.
Etingen established Global University Systems in 2013.[7] Its UK business model relied on access to state-funded loans for student tuition fees, which since 2010 was a model for privatizing English higher education.[8] GUS was incorporated in the Netherlands as a Besloten vennootschap (or BV) and in turn became the owner of the LSBF Group institutions and St Patrick's College through Dutch holding companies. While BVs are required to produce financial statements and file them with the Dutch KvK, the Netherlands has a favourable tax regime compared to the UK.
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Prof Katherine Schofield 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇪🇺 @katherineschof8.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Fantastic piece @carolecadwalla.bsky.social This stuck out for me: "Any [UK worker] has the right to minimum health & safety protections in the workplace." Universities are _atrociously bad_ at protecting staff mental H&S and staff with mental health disabilities 1/2 substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
A Digital Lynching
A practical guide for individuals and organisations when the mobs gather
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Ben Griffin @historygriffin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Always keep a file of the nice things that people say about your work: it’s basic self-care in a profession in which everyone is incentivised to find fault.
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Alistair King @alistairking.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Struggling to work out why Jenrick would single out these three Commonwealth countries rather than, say, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, whose citizens have exactly the same rights. It’s a head-scratcher.
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This was from 2024 but I did the exact same thing two weeks ago because I never learn
[In the style of tent instructions booklet]

INSTRUCTIONS FOR REPACKING YOUR
B-STARD 3000

Your
B-STARD 3000
tent
uses an innovative and mysterious technology which makes it 4x harder to repack than it was to put up.

1.
Start by making the mistake of thinking it will be as easy to repack as it was to put up.

2.
Leave it till an hour before check out time.


3.
Take it down and fold it in half.

4.
Realise that's not right and fold it into thirds.


5.
Have an argument in front of the other families about how to repack your tent.


6.
Look up a video on YouTube of a cheerful German person repacking a completely different model of tent.

7.
Gaze covetously at the air tent next door.

8.
Roll the tent into an infinitesimally small sausage while wiping it off as you go.


9.
Marvel at how it is still Somehow three times too big for the bag.

10.
Jam the rest in the car because it's bloody raining now youve taken so
long.

11.
Spend the next two days drying it out at home.

[Ends]
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 30/08/2026
Men will suggest "vassalage for young people" before making the case for "broad based tax rises".
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Prof Debby Cotton @profdcotton.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
This will never not be funny!
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Jon Phillips @jowiph.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Academic freedom is when a foreign government dictates how and even whether a university investigates misconduct
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Dr David S Anderson @dsaarchaeology.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Original Tweet from @Mantia: What’s something that seems obvious within your profession, but the general public seems to misunderstand?

Quote tweet from @hwitteman: That $35 that scientific journals charge you to read a paper goes 100% to the publisher, 0% to the authors. If you just email us to ask for our papers, we are allowed to send them to you for free, and we will be genuinely delighted to do so.
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Pascal Jacquemain @jacquep.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
BEIJING: Tesla and eight other automakers said on Friday (Aug 21) they will recall a total of about 4.3 million vehicles in China over concerns that doors may be difficult to open in an emergency, marking the country's largest automotive recall. www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/ch...
channelnewsasia.com
Tesla and others begin record vehicle recall in China
China has said it will ban concealed door handles from 2027, making it the first country to phase out a design popularised by Tesla and widely adopted by domestic Chinese EV makers.
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Ronald Hartz @ronaldhartz.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
“It cannot be said too often that the prime business of a university is teaching research […] It follows that the most important task of governance, among many, is to provide the conditions in which good academic work can thrive" (Shattock/Horvath 2020: 167). A great read. #HigherEd #UKHE
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Paolo Sandro @paolosandro.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Btw, with the imminent start of the new academic year, has any UK university bothered to consider whether the pervert glasses are compatible with teaching in a classroom?
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Prof Debby Cotton @profdcotton.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
A bit ironic that this guy would suggest that other people have a chip on their shoulder…
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Prof Debby Cotton @profdcotton.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I actually didn’t know this. Interesting thread..
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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
If you falsely but strongly believe that your students' intelligence is based on race and gender you will be unable to treat or grade them fairly. This includes giving white and male students too high grades as well as giving Black and female students too low ones
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Natasha Loder @natashaloder.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I wrote earlier this year that the shingles vaccine is the best-evidenced longevity intervention. New 2026 data: 24% dementia risk reduction. overmatter.substack.com/p/your-anti-...
overmatter.substack.com
Your anti-ageing stack should include this injectable
The shingles vaccine seems to reduce the risk of dementia. There is speculation that it might slow down ageing
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Sian Berry MP @sianberry.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Southern Water was fined £20m for lying in 2008; in 2021 £90m for deliberately pumping raw sewage into the sea. Now a fraud case. Why trust any private company with our precious water? Put them in public hands! www.brightonandhovenews.org/2026/07/22/s...
brightonandhovenews.org
Southern Water boss charged with water quality fraud
A former chief executive of Southern Water has been charged with conspiracy to defraud during his time in charge of
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