The long, doleful story of how the University of Kent sank. Can't vouch for all the details, but apparently it took 7yrs, £29m in restructuring and £2m in consultancy to accept the inevitable: effective takeover. My view? You can delay, but not avoid, the inevitable. shepwayvox.org/2026/08/05/u...

University of Kent Financial Crisis: Cuts, Consultants and Merger with Greenwich

For six years the University of Kent cut jobs, closed subjects, sold financial breathing space and promised recovery. It spent £29.4 million restructuring itself and awarded at least £1.9 million o…

shepwayvox.org

This would be bad for everyone, including, believe it or not, those working for the OfS. The vast majority of the time, the processes we have for awarding doctorates are really first rate. That the odd thing 'slips through' is not nearly a good enough reason, & wouldn't be applied elsewhere.

Emma Yeomans@yeomans.bsky.social · 2d ago

Calls for the Office for Students to investigate Liverpool John Moores University, after it passed Jason Arday's PhD thesis despite plagiarism and the thesis being 38,000 words over word count. He says received just one supervision in 2.5 years. www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

I think this is great. I just wanted to note though that I think it *was* a privilege of the professional scholar to 'live without paranoia' and to critique from a 'position of trust'. I think both are under profound threat, right now, and not because of this post's main subject matter either.

Will Davies@will-davies.bsky.social · 3d ago

New post: those wanting Jason Arday to face 'justice' of some kind are not going to get what they want willd10.substack.com/p/how-the-ja...

We've spent our lives, until very recently, reading predominantly human words, human sentences, human text, poetry. What is it doing to us now, emotionally, to have to wade through so much written material which simply isn't written by a person? If you're a big reader, love words, I think it hurts.

Dr Dave Hitchcock@davehitchcock.bsky.social · 2d ago

"If it seems true, we keep reading", and that truth doesn't have to be literal, contained in the sentence itself, but I think it does have to be authorial. This explains to me in no small part why I struggle so hard to even read artificially generated text. To even get through a single sentence.

"Detail is itself a kind of argument and thus, since beauty and elegance in writing derive from economy, a way of making a point without belabouring it." Hell yes. Great piece, it's going straight into the kit for advanced students and when doing writing training.

Royal Historical Society@royalhistsoc.org · 6d ago

"Details, in their singularity and idiosyncrasy, point to the capaciousness of human experience." New today in the Society's journal 'Transactions': Joe Moran 'On Detail in Historical Writing': bit.ly/44UMi8C Now available OA @joemoransblog.bsky.social @massobsarchive.bsky.social #Skystorians 1/2

"Details, in their singularity and idiosyncrasy, point to the capaciousness of human experience." New today in the Society's journal 'Transactions': Joe Moran 'On Detail in Historical Writing': bit.ly/44UMi8C Now available OA @joemoransblog.bsky.social @massobsarchive.bsky.social #Skystorians 1/2

No one thinks that one white man plagiarising means we need to check the work of all white men. That anyone even mildly entertains the inverse thought here does demonstrate how racist many notions of education and intellectual merit still are.

I came through Canadian education. It's not perfect let me tell you, but I was still doing advanced physics and hell I could have done 'shop' class (cars, machines that cut things) in my equivalent of a-levels. Canada has a massive and successful college system (FE). Burnham's DfE should look at it.

Dr Dave Hitchcock@davehitchcock.bsky.social · 3d ago

One of the strongest ameliorations this country could use, but doesn't, is actually *less* specialisation demanded of students so early in their progression. Keeping their year 10, GSCE and AS curricula more broad allow a larger proportion of students to find a niche or subject that works for them.

The sheer scale of the closures and job losses in UK HE are plain today. Departure posts and lifeboats visible across all of HE Linkedin, lots here too. In what is now an annual exercise, I tap the sign, which reads: "This has nothing to do with how 'good' these depts or staff are, or were."

So a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.

So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)

In addition to this very real focus group issue, I think there's a kind of psychological thing about the potential 'availability of good tradespeople' which activates the pleasure centres of the middle class brain. One struggles to get good people to do one's renovations, doesn't one.

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · last wk.

The only reason Russell Group Humanities grads in politics and journalism chuff on and on about 'learning a trade' is the focus groups of hero voters assembled by... Russell Group grads. It's grim.

Is she trying to set a record for shortest ever duration between readmittance to labour and being kicked out again?

Dr Anna Hájková@ankahajkova.bsky.social · 5d ago

Diane Abbott’s naming of the Russian full scale war in Ukraine as “NATO campaign against Russia” is a disgrace. m.youtube.com/watch?v=SMBj...

I have to assume the legal threats from a certain litigious billionaire risked the entire org going under; otherwise this grovelling and snivelling apology from Amnesty, a charity which has stood up to literal dictators in its time, makes no sense?

Lee Hurley@hleehurley.com · 6d ago

Amnesty have issued an apology to JK Rowling and the rest. Adjust your expectations, and donations, accordingly www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/an-ap...

Host the anti-world cup in Avignon, you cowards.

Sky News@news.sky.com · 6d ago

European nations agree to boycott World Cup if FIFA goes ahead with World Cup sell-off

Oooh! This is a great prompt! Archaeologists, what say you? Fwiw i teach a ton of things wish by archaeosky folks, so it would be interesting to see if you know what's being taught... For me, the obvious answer is my minigraph archaeology as history - intentionally written as an intro text

Archaeology as History

Cambridge Core - Global History - Archaeology as History

cambridge.org

Dr Dave Hitchcock@davehitchcock.bsky.social · 2w ago

My fellow historians, which single academic article of yours do you think 'teaches best', i.e. for both staff and students it's doing work that leads to a strong class discussion + students remember it? I am interested in how people see their own work. I'll go first. Hit reply and link your pick!

"And I’ve thought about this, and the answer is yes. I will still be a historian. Because being a historian is about how you engage with the world, it’s about being curious about the people and the environment around you, and asking questions about it'. 3/

My fellow historians, which single academic article of yours do you think 'teaches best', i.e. for both staff and students it's doing work that leads to a strong class discussion + students remember it? I am interested in how people see their own work. I'll go first. Hit reply and link your pick!

I was hearing about this in some detail recently at a union thing. It's hideous. 'Nuclear' is the right description, seeing as it is going to nuke this entire university from orbit.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2w ago

'A restructure at London South Bank University that is dividing staff into teaching and research tracks could become a “test bed” for the wider sector, staff claim.' New staff to be employed by a subsidiary, and won't have access to TPS. 1/4

1. The new Trump / Kratsios plan for US science appears explicitly designed to destroy US universities. Diverting money to tech donors is probably just a bonus. Gift link.

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

nytimes.com

Not reassured by the drift in scholarship on History / "AI" towards, in effect, 'hey this is your little buddy historian who will do little tasky-waskies for you'. Case in point see the TOC of this latest elements entry. 'Problems' are then discussed inside this framework, which minimises them.

History and Artificial Intelligence

Cambridge Core - Global History - History and Artificial Intelligence

cambridge.org

It's probably important that UK political discourse makes room for a simple reality, which is that older people can also lie, indeed, many of them have a LOT of practice at it.

Ash@queerash.bsky.social · 2w ago

Elaine in this article "can't remember the last time she used her oven" but also spends £200 a month on petrol (so driving probably ~50 miles a day?) (she's also a professional old person; she was on Good Morning Britain last year, and then also at the Nov budget, and the year before lmao)

Historian friend was reading a civil war era letter in an archive, the letter said “In this envelope I include my smallpox scabs” and sure enough there they were. Had to call CDC for a hazmat team.

climate change is real. all costs of beating climate change must be born by other people, who produce emissions purely for fun, unlike the emissions I produce, which are all life or death necessities

Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰@urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 2w ago

In 2026 the modal center left opinion is: Climate change is real! But the actuarial risk posed by climate change? Fake news spread by usurious financial institutions.

Enlightenment and (In)equality 17th International Congress for Eighteenth-Century Studies Zaragoza, Spain 12-16 July 2027 The submission period for for thematic sessions and roundtables is now open! All the information is available on the Congress website: www.isecs-zaragoza2027.net/en/

The government rejects the education committee report recommendations more or less tout court, and uses the same fallacious reasoning about 'provider independence'about 8 times. Lovely.

Dr Matt Lodder@mattlodder.com · 2w ago

In which the government tells the entire UK university system to die in a fire.

This is the right answer tho, sorry. #Odyssey #HadesII

Hades II - I Am Gonna Claw (Out Your Eyes then Drown You to Death)

YouTube video by Supergiant Games

youtu.be

Becky Tyler@beckytylerart.bsky.social · 2w ago

What song did the Sirens sing in The Odyssey? Wrong answers only.