The Wonkhe Show Podcast
1) Budget, R&D, Scotland’s Tertiary Bill
This week on the podcast we examine how Budget 2025 reshapes the university funding model – from the international levy and modest new maintenance grants, to confirmed tuition fee uplifts and changes ...Show More
2) Reform UK, local skills, students at work
This week on the podcast we examine what the rise of Reform UK – and new insight into its prospective voters – might mean for universities, international education, and the wider public legitimacy of ...Show More
3) Access, governance, festival vibes
This week on the podcast, live from our Festival in London, we discuss access and social mobility as the Office for Students reshuffles its leadership, and the Sutton Trust publishes a new report that...Show More
4) Banned algorithms, schools curriculum, Wales student finance
This week on the podcast we examine the Office for Students’ (OfS) renewed scrutiny of degree classification algorithms and what it means for confidence in standards. We explore the balance between in...Show More
5) Public attitudes, housing, employability
This week on the podcast we discuss fresh polling on public attitudes to UK universities, which shows how a widening graduate/non-graduate divide and sharper political splits are fuelling worries abou...Show More
6) Skills White Paper special
This week on the podcast we get across the Westminster government’s post-16 white paper – its headline target of two-thirds of young people in higher-level learning by 25, the plan to index the underg...Show More
7) Wales, Franchising, Graduate Jobs
This week on the podcast we look at Wales’ emerging higher education settlement, as Universities Wales publishes its manifesto for the May 2026 Senedd elections amid polling that points to a potential...Show More
8) Student protest, TNE, Tory conference
This week on the podcast as pro-Palestinian student protests mark the anniversary of October 7, an intervention from Keir Starmer sparks a national debate on campus safety, antisemitism, and free spee...Show More
9) Labour Conference 2025
This week on the podcast, as the dust settles on Labour conference in Liverpool, we unpack what Keir Starmer’s new higher education participation target really means – and whether universities have th...Show More
10) Sexual misconduct, international levy, closures
This week on the podcast we examine the results of the Office for Students’ first sector-wide survey on sexual misconduct. With over 50,000 responses from final-year undergraduates, the data provides ...Show More