David Kernohan
@dkernohan.bsky.social
Him off of @Wonkhe. Sky Cards Rare Master.
Reposted by David Kernohan
NEW on Wonkhe: Debbie McVitty thinks through the various options for responding to lines of questioning that question the legitimacy of particular HE courses buff.ly/armyJT0
January 12, 2026 at 7:05 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: Debbie McVitty thinks through the various options for responding to lines of questioning that question the legitimacy of particular HE courses buff.ly/armyJT0
Reposted by David Kernohan
NEW on Wonkhe: Critiques of the value, validity, and political foundation of degree courses have been with us for generations. David Kernohan searches for the meanings behind "mickey mouse" buff.ly/YvaqTvE
January 12, 2026 at 7:00 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: Critiques of the value, validity, and political foundation of degree courses have been with us for generations. David Kernohan searches for the meanings behind "mickey mouse" buff.ly/YvaqTvE
Reposted by David Kernohan
NEW on Wonkhe: Is Trinity Hall Cambridge really reversing access and participation efforts? David Kernohan looks in to the detail buff.ly/LmgDpjz
January 8, 2026 at 3:00 PM
NEW on Wonkhe: Is Trinity Hall Cambridge really reversing access and participation efforts? David Kernohan looks in to the detail buff.ly/LmgDpjz
That Trinity Hall access story. Here's what is going on: wonkhe.com/blogs/what-i...
What is going on at Trinity Hall?
Is Trinity Hall Cambridge really reversing access and participation efforts? David Kernohan looks in to the detail
wonkhe.com
January 8, 2026 at 2:38 PM
That Trinity Hall access story. Here's what is going on: wonkhe.com/blogs/what-i...
Reposted by David Kernohan
NEW on Wonkhe: What do the outcomes from COP30 mean for higher education? And what role do universities play in addressing and understanding the climate crisis? Simon Meacher finds hope in the work the sector is doing buff.ly/tSLFRrr
January 6, 2026 at 7:05 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: What do the outcomes from COP30 mean for higher education? And what role do universities play in addressing and understanding the climate crisis? Simon Meacher finds hope in the work the sector is doing buff.ly/tSLFRrr
A very good read, unsurprisingly.
I heard what everyone has been clamoring for is 6,000 words on what a simple question about the 1990s comedy My Cousin Vinny can teach us about the capabilities and surprising weaknesses of current LLMs. Well, I hate to disappoint people, so I went and wrote it. open.substack.com/pub/mikecaul...
What a simple question about My Cousin Vinny taught me about LLMs
If you want to see an LLM really malfunction, ask it to reconstruct a story from pieces. Also: Should this be a benchmark?
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 1:43 PM
A very good read, unsurprisingly.
The first of what will be a huge number of great reads from the WonkheSUs tour of Europe over the next week or so.
January 5, 2026 at 11:27 AM
The first of what will be a huge number of great reads from the WonkheSUs tour of Europe over the next week or so.
Worth getting on board with this one.
It's our fourth anniversary at Comment is Freed today and we have a special offer to celebrate.
25% off for your first year.
We don't do these often so if you've been thinking of signing up now is the time
samf.substack.com/p/fourth-ann...
25% off for your first year.
We don't do these often so if you've been thinking of signing up now is the time
samf.substack.com/p/fourth-ann...
Fourth Anniversary Offer: get 25% off for your first year
Plus what we'll be writing about in 2026
samf.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:35 AM
Worth getting on board with this one.
Reposted by David Kernohan
NEW on Wonkhe: Which groups of students are struggling? It's all in the data, and DK has the TEF charts you need buff.ly/Tm66idM
January 5, 2026 at 7:05 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: Which groups of students are struggling? It's all in the data, and DK has the TEF charts you need buff.ly/Tm66idM
Very good to see some honesty about methodology in this league table: www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
Access Restricted
www.telegraph.co.uk
January 4, 2026 at 10:58 AM
Very good to see some honesty about methodology in this league table: www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
Reposted by David Kernohan
The end-of-year podcast is excellent (right to the very end). But again, we come back to the failings of franchising universities to protect the controlled reputational range of the sector in their deals with for-profit providers. Let it stop in 2026.
December 14, 2025 at 3:20 PM
The end-of-year podcast is excellent (right to the very end). But again, we come back to the failings of franchising universities to protect the controlled reputational range of the sector in their deals with for-profit providers. Let it stop in 2026.
So, that Centre for Social Justice thing that suggests that many graduates would be better off having done a higher apprenticeship. Turns out we are comparing a population of hundreds of thousands of graduates to a population of 1,810 L4 apprenticeships.
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
Why we need to treat statistics about higher apprentices five years on with caution
Another Sunday, another think tank all over the Sunday papers
wonkhe.com
December 14, 2025 at 1:01 PM
So, that Centre for Social Justice thing that suggests that many graduates would be better off having done a higher apprenticeship. Turns out we are comparing a population of hundreds of thousands of graduates to a population of 1,810 L4 apprenticeships.
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
Reposted by David Kernohan
NEW on Wonkhe: Posh? Exceeded your A level expectations? You are less likely to go to university bit.ly/3MtZRWC
December 11, 2025 at 3:00 PM
NEW on Wonkhe: Posh? Exceeded your A level expectations? You are less likely to go to university bit.ly/3MtZRWC
Pretty much what the article title says.
James Coe has been through the REF detail: wonkhe.com/blogs/everyt...
Everything you need to know about REF 2029
James Coe has all the details on the big REF 2029 announcements
wonkhe.com
December 10, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Pretty much what the article title says.
Reposted by David Kernohan
NEW on Wonkhe: Steven Hill sets out what Research England has been up to during the REF 2029 pause buff.ly/11zncPw
December 10, 2025 at 12:00 PM
NEW on Wonkhe: Steven Hill sets out what Research England has been up to during the REF 2029 pause buff.ly/11zncPw
Reposted by David Kernohan
NEW on Wonkhe: There is another quality assurance system in England: it has little to do with outcomes metrics, and a lot to do with meeting immediate needs. David Kernohan lifts the lid. buff.ly/isIq0kU
December 8, 2025 at 7:05 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: There is another quality assurance system in England: it has little to do with outcomes metrics, and a lot to do with meeting immediate needs. David Kernohan lifts the lid. buff.ly/isIq0kU
Reposted by David Kernohan
NEW on Wonkhe: Ticking boxes misses the point bit.ly/3Mp9upo
December 8, 2025 at 6:10 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: Ticking boxes misses the point bit.ly/3Mp9upo
Reposted by David Kernohan
NEW on Wonkhe: The external examiner system is respected, popular, and widespread. Vicki Stott asks how we can build on these strengths to improve the quality of provision further - across the UK and beyond buff.ly/MiPMIeZ
December 8, 2025 at 7:10 AM
NEW on Wonkhe: The external examiner system is respected, popular, and widespread. Vicki Stott asks how we can build on these strengths to improve the quality of provision further - across the UK and beyond buff.ly/MiPMIeZ
Reposted by David Kernohan
This week on Wonkhe: Seventeen years after its hopeful launch, Southend’s university campus is closing. Jim Dickinson examines what this tells us about the failure of place-based planning in UK higher education
Whatever happened to the New Universities Challenge?
Seventeen years after its hopeful launch, Southend’s university campus is closing. Jim Dickinson examines what this tells us about the failure of place-based planning in UK higher education
buff.ly
December 6, 2025 at 8:00 PM
This week on Wonkhe: Seventeen years after its hopeful launch, Southend’s university campus is closing. Jim Dickinson examines what this tells us about the failure of place-based planning in UK higher education
Big question for me on this is why has it taken OfS so long to open a formal investigation?@manchestermill.bsky.social made the allegations in March, and the police started their investigation in May and intensified it in July? www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-an...
December 4, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Big question for me on this is why has it taken OfS so long to open a formal investigation?@manchestermill.bsky.social made the allegations in March, and the police started their investigation in May and intensified it in July? www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-an...
Charts, innit?
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
December 3, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Charts, innit?
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
Love this on part time work and creative graduates.
NEW on Wonkhe: For Orian Brook, having multiple jobs isn't a sign of a failure to get a career in the creative economy but a key component of making such roles livable buff.ly/K1x4B3q
December 3, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Love this on part time work and creative graduates.
Hearing that EIS-ULA also failed to meet the statutory 50 per cent threshold.
Writing up the results here: wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
Writing up the results here: wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
UCU pay ballot fails to meet threshold
No industrial action expected from UCU on the 2025-26 New Jnches pay round
wonkhe.com
December 2, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Hearing that EIS-ULA also failed to meet the statutory 50 per cent threshold.
Writing up the results here: wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
Writing up the results here: wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
UCU ballot on industrial action over pay and pay-related: turnout 39%, meaning there will be no national industrial action on these issues by UCU.
Still waiting for Unison and EIS-ULA results.
Still waiting for Unison and EIS-ULA results.
December 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
UCU ballot on industrial action over pay and pay-related: turnout 39%, meaning there will be no national industrial action on these issues by UCU.
Still waiting for Unison and EIS-ULA results.
Still waiting for Unison and EIS-ULA results.