1/ Jo Johnson, former Universities minister and now no longer a Tory MP, has waded into the #Covid19 and UK HE debate with "What will higher education look like after coronavirus?" Let's take a look

TLDR: It's not good
#WeAreTogether #MadeAtUni #LoveHE https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/what-will-higher-education-look-like-after-coronavirus

2/ Jo Johnson has been the "President's Professorial Fellow" since January 2020. People more familiar with the Tories' HE "worldview" will know better than I do how representative Johnson's views are with respect to the Tories' UK HE "endgame" https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/jo-johnson-to-join-kings-college-london-as-presidents-professorial-fellow

3/ The basic facts should now be familiar. International students will tank (50%? 75%? 100%) for UK HE in 2020-21. Johnson: the government will choose between "costly bailouts" and "disorderly failure".

4/ Russell Group innit

5/ Access to OfS stabilisation fund will be subject to strict conditions e.g. "phased closure of poor-quality and low-value courses under teach-out arrangements to ensure that students can complete their studies". Nice.

6/ The "Johnson cap" seems different from the "UUK cap". "UUK cap" was: 2020-1 forecast + 5% increase. "Johnson cap": 2019 student levels + "say 5 to 10% increase". Neither of these are "caps" in any meaningful sense.

7/ Jo Johnson suggests that if the government thinks you are a "weaker institution", then you can go fuck yourselves. Also Johnson seems to be hinting that "weaker institutions" (as opposed to RG institutions?) have been lobbying for sector-wide student number controls.

8/ Johnson: if the government thinks your university is "offering poorer quality and outcomes" and is "further down the reputational, quality and outcomes pecking order", then you can get fucked--"it is certainly not in the student interest".

9/ The usual Tory line that student number controls were a "cap on aspiration"

10/ Jo Johnson's "Crisis into an opportunity": "online, distance-learning and blended courses" baby! There's some other stuff that Johnson said about "intra-regional study" which I couldn't be bothered to analyse myself.

11/11 *Headdesk*
You can read the full thing for yourself here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/what-will-higher-education-look-like-after-coronavirus

BONUS/ and as a colleague has just reminded me, "this is all going according to plan; we've just brought the timetable forward" #Covid19