The week in higher education – 7 July 2022

Here we go again, then – the UK’s University and College Union has announced that fresh ballots for industrial action will be held later in the summer, with strikes pencilled in for November. For the first time in the long-running disputes over pay, pensions and working conditions, the vote will be aggregated, meaning the union will have to secure a nationwide turnout of more than 50 per cent so that every one of its branches can take part in the action. With 80,000 members at 149 universities, getting over the line will be no mean feat, especially as the most recent branch-by-branch ballots would have fallen just short if turnout had been totted up on a nationwide basis. But union leaders will be hoping that concerns over the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and frustration over the modelling behind the Universities Superannuation Scheme will bring members out in force, potentially causing widespread disruption well into the next academic year.

For most, the idea of having to take university entrance exams year after year is the stuff of nightmares, especially in China where the tests are known to be particularly long and gruelling. But high school student Quan Xuanyu seems to have developed quite a taste for it; his name has cropped up in lists of high achievers since 2020. Classmates said he was fixated on getting on to a particular business school programme, but others have suggested that the estimated ¥2.3 million (£280,000) he may have earned in rewards was more of an incentive, The Times reported. China’s schools often offer generous scholarships to students accepted by top universities, and Quan was offered places at the prestigious Peking University on at least two occasions. The money earned, some have pointed out, is far higher than the average salary Quan may earn after actually going through higher education.

Universities are known to be very particular about their names but The Ohio State University has gone to some lengths to prove it is truly the one and only. The Wall Street Journal reported it has successfully trademarked the word “THE” for use on T-shirts, baseball caps and hats. Despite one of its near neighbours in Ohio being named – confusingly for all – Miami University, Ohio State has long emphasised the “THE” at the start of its moniker as a way of emphasising its perceived role as the region’s leading educational institution. The three-letter article has become a rallying cry for its sports teams and wider community, and a spokesman said it has now been registered to protect the university’s brand. Quite what this means for this publication’s own planned range of novelty baseball caps remains to be seen.

Universities rarely hesitate to praise the fruits of student enterprises, but the Royal Agricultural University is falling over itself to proselytise for a student-made white wine that won bronze at the WineGB Awards. Martin Fowke, an RAU alumnus and production director at the Three Choirs Vineyard, which helped make it, said that the “youthful exuberance” of students “comes through” in the Cotswold Hills Ortega. Enthusiastic learners apply their vivacity working at the six-acre vineyard near Cirencester, although Mr Fowke was hazy on whether their thirst to sample supply chain management matched their interest in actual drinking. Whatever alchemy is employed, the Gloucestershire white is going down well, also winning bronze at the Independent English Wine Awards. The RAU said that takings from the 1,000-bottle run will be poured back into student enterprise.

The UK government has made ministerial engagement with the sector a major plank of its swashbuckling international education strategy. Proof of that dedication has come from The Guardian, which found former education secretary Gavin Williamson has taken on a £50,000 second job at RTC Education, providing “general strategic advice to the company on its international expansion” for 80 hours a year. The UK’s watchdog on post-ministerial jobs suggested that Mr Williamson may have been party to sensitive information that could be relevant but concluded that the vicissitudes of education policy in the eight months since he was sacked meant it would “no longer be sufficiently up to date to be of use”. After he was fired, Mr Williamson said that he was “particularly proud” of his achievements on post-16 education, presumably including the fiasco over exam grading during the Covid-19 pandemic. Hopefully, RTC, which has reportedly given more than £165,000 to the Conservatives, is just as satisfied with the wisdom Mr Williamson brings to his new role.