University fees: paying for promises

Journalist Kevin Carey (@kevincarey1) has put together an interesting social media thread on the conflict between universities and students in the US. Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, ponders what lessons UK higher education leaders could and should learn

Earth Day in strange times

It’s Earth Day this week, and according to CarbonBrief the first three months of 2020 were the second warmest on record. With COVID-19 understandably distracting the world from conversations about environmental degradation and #climatecrisis, Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, discusses the huge potential for the greening of the economy post-COVID

Coronavirus: Will job losses see another rise in the Boomerang Generation?

With social media forums filled with young freelancers starting to lose their livelihoods and worried about paying their rent, Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, looks at the wider implications should the government choose not to help young renters beyond lifting the threat of eviction

IF Manifesto Audit 2: Education

With less than a week to go until the 2019 General Election, Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, gives a whistle-stop tour of what the different parties are offering on education – from pre-school childcare through to further and higher education finance

Vice-chancellors still haven’t learned

Vice-chancellor pay is in the news again. Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, investigates the latest research from the University College Union (UCU) on the flagrant disregard of calls for greater propriety over pay

University vice-chancellor pay: still a scandal

Are governing bodies demonstrating that they are heeding calls for pay restraint in the higher education sector? Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, investigates

For welfare, carrots are better than sticks

“No shit, Sherlock!”: making welfare benefits conditional on satisfying increasingly stringent stipulations is largely ineffective in getting people back into work, concludes a new report. Liz Emerson, IF co-founder, investigates

Vice-chancellors are still making hay

The pay of vice-chancellors in universities is currently under scrutiny. Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, looks at a new report by the House of Commons Library

Rigged: How the oil and gas industry is undermining future generations

The Prime Minister has just met the boss of Toshiba to discuss a likely high strike price for producing nuclear energy for the UK. Angus Hanton, IF Co-founder, looks at another huge energy bill likely to land on our children’s shoulders, this time from North Sea oil and gas decommissioning.