Tag: ACT

  • The AI balancing act: universities, innovation and the art of not losing the plot

    The AI balancing act: universities, innovation and the art of not losing the plot

    • By Professor Alejandro Armellini, Dean of Education and Digital Innovation at the University of Portsmouth.

    Universities want to be at the cutting edge of knowledge creation, but many are grappling with a paradox: how to harness the potential of AI while minimising its pitfalls. Done well, generative AI can help institutions run more efficiently, enhance teaching quality and support students in new and exciting ways. Done poorly, it can generate misinformation, introduce bias and make students (and staff) over-reliant on technology they do not fully understand. The challenge is not whether to use AI but how to make it work for human-driven, high-quality education.

    Across the sector, institutions are already putting AI to work in ways that go far beyond administrative efficiencies. At many universities, AI-driven analytics are helping identify students at risk of disengagement before they drop out. By analysing attendance, engagement and performance data, tutors can intervene earlier, offering personalised support before problems escalate. Others have deployed AI-powered feedback systems that provide students with instant formative feedback on their writing. The impact? Students who actually improve before their assignments are due, rather than after they’ve been graded.

    Concerns about the accuracy, transparency and provenance of AI tools have been well documented. Many of them operate as ‘black boxes’, making it difficult to verify outputs or attribute sources. These challenges run counter to academic norms of evidence, citation and rigour. AI tools continue to occupy a liminal space: they promise and deliver a lot, but are not yet fully trusted. AI can get things spectacularly wrong. AI-powered recruitment tools have been found to be biased against women and minority candidates, reinforcing rather than challenging existing inequalities. AI-driven assessment tools have been criticised for amplifying bias, grading students unfairly or making errors that, when left unchallenged, can have serious consequences for academic progression.

    With new applications emerging almost daily, it’s becoming harder to assess their quality, reliability and appropriateness for academic use. Some institutions rush headlong into AI adoption without considering long-term implications, while others hesitate, paralysed by the sheer number of options, risks and potential costs. Indeed, a major barrier to AI adoption at all levels in higher education is fear: fear of the unknown, fear of losing control, fear of job displacement, fear of fostering metacognitive laziness. AI challenges long-held beliefs about authorship, expertise and what constitutes meaningful engagement with learning. Its use can blur the boundaries between legitimate assistance and academic misconduct. Students express concerns about being evaluated by algorithms rather than humans. These fears are not unfounded, but they must be met with institutional transparency, clear communication, ethical guidelines and a commitment to keeping AI as an enabler, not a replacement, for human judgment and interaction. Universities are learning too.

    No discussion on AI in universities would be complete without addressing the notion of ‘future-proofing’. The very idea that we can somehow freeze a moving target is, at best, naive and, at worst, an exercise in expensive futility. Universities drafting AI policies today will likely find them obsolete before the ink has dried. Many have explicitly reversed earlier AI policies. That said, having an AI policy is not without merit: it signals an institutional commitment to ethical AI use, academic integrity and responsible governance. The trick is to focus on agile, principle-based approaches that can adapt as AI continues to develop. Over-regulation risks stifling innovation, while under-regulation may lead to confusion or misuse. A good AI policy should be less about prediction and more about preparation: equipping staff and students with the skills and capabilities to navigate an AI-rich world, while creating a culture that embraces change. Large-scale curriculum and pedagogic redesign is inevitable.

    Where does all this leave us? Universities must approach AI with a mix of enthusiasm and caution, ensuring that innovation does not come at the expense of academic integrity or quality. Investing in AI fluency (not just ‘literacy’) for staff and students is essential, as is institutional clarity on responsible AI use. Universities should focus on how AI can support (not replace) the fundamental principles of good teaching and learning. They must remain committed to the simple but powerful principle of teaching well, consistently well: every student, every session, every time.

    AI is a tool – powerful, perhaps partly flawed, but full of potential. It is the pocket calculator of the 1970s. How universities wield it will determine whether it leads to genuine transformation or a series of expensive (and reputationally risky) missteps. The challenge, then, is to stay in control, keep the focus on successful learning experiences in their multiple manifestations, and never let AI run the show alone. After all, no algorithm has yet mastered the art of handling a seminar full of students who haven’t done the reading.

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  • DfE sets out the detail on the free speech act

    DfE sets out the detail on the free speech act

    In some ways, there’s little that’s new in the Department for Education’s Command Paper on the future of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.

    Over 30 pages or so, it basically puts some meat on the bones of the two announcements made by Secretary of State Bridget Phillipson – the one from last Summer where the act’s implementation was paused, and the one from January which discussed the plan in outline to partially repeal.

    This isn’t the first Command Paper from DfE on the issue – back in 2021, then Secretary of State Gavin Williamson’s effort was a fairly heavily ideological compendium of Telegraph stories and Policy Exchange talking points – picking up everything from cancel culture to students being encouraged “to report others for legal speech”.

    This run at things tends to deftly avoid all of that. It’s about as technical as you can get, with pretty much all of the critique justifying the approach based on workability and burden. Even that “sources close to the Secretary State” quote from last Summer on the Act representing some sort of “hate speech charter” is missing in action here – with the only discussion on harassment surrounding the ban on non-disclosure agreements.

    That’s either savvy politics from a government keen to douse down culture war flames, or a hostage to fortune when OfS’ particular approach to the balancing act between free speech and EDI at some stage comes back to bite – with ministers caught in the middle.

    And we’re off

    We already knew that the government had decided to commence the duties on providers regarding freedom of speech and academic freedom, as set out in Section 1 of the Act. The regulations were made on 28 April 2025, the duties come into force on 1 August 2025, and we got some actual (if controversial) guidance from OfS on 19 June.

    These include requirements for providers to take reasonably practicable steps to secure freedom of speech within the law for staff, members, students, and visiting speakers, as well as protecting academic freedom for academic staff. The Command Paper is keen to point out that the expanded definition of academic freedom will be retained, protecting academic staff from suffering adverse employment consequences solely based on their opinions or ideas.

    Ditto Section 2 of the Act, which covers constituent institutions of providers. DfE says that its decision ensures that constituent institutions such as colleges, schools, or halls within universities (for example, the individual colleges at Oxford and Cambridge) are subject to the same obligations as their parent HE providers.

    It says that the clarification was particularly important to put beyond doubt that these constituent institutions cannot avoid the freedom of speech duties that apply to the main institution – although to the extent to which you see these things as a see-saw, that does mean that Oxbridge Colleges will each be able to maintain their own free speech code of practice, while it’s the central university that will hold a central responsibility for the harassment and sexual misconduct duty as of 1 August.

    Given that Oxbridge colleges tend to be fiercely guarded about their autonomy and independence, that harassment duty and features like its “single source of information” were going to be interesting enough – but given that OfS’ free speech guidance repeatedly mentions harassment considerations when making decisions on free speech, you can see how some astonishing complexity and internal conflict could be coming further down the track.

    It’s also worth noting in passing that while DfE seems keen to put Oxbridge colleges’ direct duties beyond doubt, there’s nothing in here on transnational education – which as we noted in the commentary on OfS’ guidance, is asserted to be outside of the scope of the Act without anything in the way of meaningful justification.

    The other thing in this section is DfE’s pride at extending the non-disclosure agreement ban OfS was already putting in place for harassment and sexual misconduct cases to bullying. It quotes campaigns like “Can’t buy my silence”, but of course doesn’t explain to students why silence can be bought over other types of complaint.

    Yes yous

    The original version of the Bill proposed regulating students’ unions directly – although notably, the SUs of those constituent colleges were to have been exempted on the basis that the college exercises sufficient control.

    Pretty much by accident, that did mean that an FE union whose College was on the register and in receipt of OfS funding was going to be expected to bear all of the complex legal duties and issue a Code of Practice – even if it was unincorporated and run entirely by FE (rather than HE) volunteers.

    So entirely sensibly, there’s confirmation that the government has decided to repeal sections 3 and 7 of the act in their entirety, which would have imposed the direct freedom of speech duties and given OfS regulatory powers over them.

    The workaround is the one that’s been in place since 1994 – regulating SUs through their provider. The rationale for repeal centres on concerns that SUs can lack the financial resources, regulatory capacity, and legal expertise to handle complex duties, that monetary penalties or damage awards could severely impact their ability to provide services and support to students, and the government recognised that SUs are already regulated as charities by the Charity Commission, which oversees their compliance with legal duties including furthering educational purposes through enabling discussion and debate.

    So instead of direct regulation, the government has decided to adopt our proposal from 2021 – the government will expect providers to take reasonably practicable steps to ensure their students’ unions follow codes of practice, which is what already happens over a whole range of issues. Some will see that as an attack on autonomy, others a charter for avoidance – sensible people will see this as the approach that will work.

    Or at least it should work, were it not for the fact that OfS seems to be requiring universities (and therefore by proxy their SUs) to adopt an approach to the balance between free speech and harm that is not legally compliant. More on that in our commentary on OfS’ guidance, suffice to say that SUs at the sharp end of some of the tensions may end up resolving that what OfS might have told them to do is not what they actually should do on a given issue.

    Complainants will be able to complain about the reasonably practicable steps thing – DfE civil servants may have forgotten that the Education Act 1994 also sets up some statutory complaints requirements on SUs themselves, which involve provider review. The other odd bit is that DfE’s amendments to the Act will require providers to set out in their Code of Practice how their students’ union will ensure that affiliation is not denied to any student society on the grounds of its lawful policy or objectives, or the lawful ideas or opinions of its members.

    That goes slightly further than the compliance already expected of SUs as charities over protected beliefs, and extends (very slightly) an existing provision in the Education Act 1994 that the procedure for allocating resources to groups or clubs should be fair and should be set down in writing and freely accessible to all students. It’ll cause conflict at the edges – students do expect to be able to vote on things, and votes can be problematic – but overall this all makes sense.

    Tort a lesson

    You might remember the controversy over the statutory tort – the thing that would have allowed staff, students, and external speakers to bring civil claims against HE providers, constituent institutions, or students’ unions for breaches of their freedom of speech duties.

    The government’s rationale for repealing that bit centres on concerns about its potentially harmful effects on the higher education sector – a chilling effect on freedom of speech that might make institutions more risk-averse about inviting challenging or controversial speakers due to fear of litigation. And so given judicial review, employment tribunals, the OIA complaints scheme for students, and the forthcoming enhanced OfS complaints scheme are all alternatives, plus the financial burden of potential legal costs, it’s gone.

    That all pretty much matches Lords speeches opposed to the Tort at the end of 2022 – this we might expect this to re-emerge as a flashpoint when all of this finds its “appropriate legislative vehicle”.

    This section also says that the government is also concerned that the threat of legal proceedings might lead institutions to prioritise protecting hateful or degrading speech over the interests of those who feel harassed or intimidated – an interesting idea given that both hateful and degrading speech can still be within the law, or at least OfS’ interpretation of it.

    Complaints chaos

    As expected, the Office for Students is going to be stripped of the ability to hear complaints from… students over academic freedom and freedom of speech.

    To be fair, the sensible rationale there is that the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) is a well-established route that is recognised and understood by students and providers – and that approach will prevent students being baffled about who to approach, or worse, arbitrary categories that had the potential to take a wide-ranging complaint and insist on it being sliced up.

    That won’t remove the potential problem of students on one end of the see-saw and staff on the other each making complaints about the same issue – or OfS and OIA potentially making different judgements. There’s also the prospect that OfS and OIA will handle things at a different pace, and while OfS was proposing to allow a complaint to roll in without exhausting internal procedures, OIA usually needs a Completion of Procedures letter.

    It’s all very well asking the OIA to look at OfS’ guidance, but presumably there’s some risk that the OIA will look at the way OfS is defining free speech within the law and have representations made to it that disagree. Wales would feel pretty aggrieved if OfS’ particular interpretation was imposed on it via OIA’s dual country coverage, and presumably it would be wild for the OIA to say one thing about an incident in Wales and another in England.

    It all feels like the two bodies are being asked to get in a room and talk – on that, DfE just points at Section 63 of HERA (OfS may co-operate with others where appropriate) and says you two should talk. It might strengthen it if needs be.

    DfE also says that it will ask OfS to consider and then set out in requirements or guidance what fit for purpose internal complaints processes for academic freedom look like, although you could just as easily ask the OIA to build something into its Good Practice Framework.

    The other aspect here is that the legislation will switch from OfS having a power rather than a duty to consider complaints under its scheme. DfE says that will enable it to prioritise, for example, the most serious complaints or complaints on issues affecting the whole sector.

    The expectation is that “OfS and Dr Ahmed” will be transparent, independent and neutral in how they prioritise consideration of those complaints – notwithstanding the position-taking evident in the guidance already, that presumably points to some sort of criteria for folk to fight about.

    Lurking in the background of all that is academic freedom – in its consultation on the complaints scheme, OfS pointed at the Higher Education and Research Act and said “the Act will require us to consider every complaint that is capable of being referred under the scheme. It does not preclude us from considering matters of academic judgement.”.

    The OIA of course can’t look at such matters – and with “duty” switched to “power”, we’re going to need OfS to take a view on whether it will do things for staff and speakers that the OIA won’t be able to do for students.

    Foreign funding

    The one policy area where an announcement was pending was section 9 of the legislation, related to OfS’ monitoring of overseas funding to providers with an eye to assessing the extent to which such funding presents risks to freedom of speech and academic freedom. This measure is not currently in force.

    When Bridget Phillipson updated Parliament on Labour’s plans in January, it was the one area where a decision was not announced:

    I will take more time to consider implementation of the overseas funding measures. I remain fully committed to tackling cases of interference by overseas Governments, and the wider measures in the Act will further strengthen our protections. However, I want to ensure that any new reporting requirements for providers add value without being overly burdensome. We continue to work at pace with the sector on the wider implementation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme. My officials are working across Government and with the sector to review our response, and I will confirm my final decision in due course.

    Now we get a decision of sorts – and that decision is to continue to keep this under review, and introduce “alternative mitigations to support HE providers to improve international due diligence.”

    For a long time under the last government, the response to any and all bugbears that commentators and politicians had with universities’ and students’ relationships with other countries – ranging from overreliance on international students from certain countries, to research collaborations in weapons technology, to transnational repression, to the activities of Confucius Institutes and Chinese student associations – was that this would all be sorted out through the twin approach of the free speech act and the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS). Labour has instead taken the approach that the latter needs to be implemented first.

    FIRS will come into effect on 1 July – we reviewed its implications for the sector back in April – and the policy paper promises to assess what comes out of it. FIRS, we are told, will provide “greater visibility of foreign state influence in the UK,” and information disclosed will be shared with DfE and OfS where relevant, allowing for pattern recognition as well as the prevention of specific threats.

    The alternative – that is, additional – mitigations mentioned above include asking the Office for Students to “consider the value of an explicit regulatory expectation” around due diligence on international partnerships. There’s also work on possible codes of practice and best practice sharing.

    The caveat here is that as FIRS is implemented:

    …it may demonstrate that further reporting on financial or other international arrangements would be beneficial to improve the identification and mitigation of these risks. As a result, we will keep the overseas funding provisions in the act under review in the event that, during FIRS implementation, evidence indicates further transparency reporting is necessary.

    But it feels that the government has come down on the side of listening to the sector about avoiding burden and duplication and, as the paper says, “minimising diversion of resources away from teaching and research.”

    There’s an interesting table on pages 24 and 25 of the command paper, perhaps anticipating criticism over the wait-and-see approach. The table lists all the different measures (ATAS, export controls, harassment duties, financial monitoring, national security act powers) that are already in place to mitigate against “foreign interference”, even without implementing OfS’ new powers.

    (In this context it’s worth briefly noting that Monday’s industrial strategy announced that the government will consult on updating the definitions of the 17 areas of the economy subject to mandatory notification under the National Security and Investment Act, to ensure that they remain “targeted and proportionate”. This could – potentially – see a slight loosening of the areas of research collaboration where higher education institutions need to notify and get approval from the government.)

    Equality impacts

    Finally, there’s a very odd section at the end of the command paper that describes and comments on an Equality Impact Assessment that DfE has, for some mysterious reason, not actually published.

    One of the sections might give us a clue as to why:

    Expanding these duties may lead to more open expression of views which could have a negative impact on those who currently face elevated levels of lawful but offensive comments related to their protected characteristics. They could also potentially lead to increased unlawful harassment against groups with specific protected characteristics.

    It’s almost as if DfE doesn’t want to publish a document that makes the legislation Phillipson is progressing sound like a “Tory hate charter” after all.

    It all partly depends on how OfS plays its duty – again, see the article on the meaning of free speech within the law – but you’d also have to assume that the detail is pretty bleak, and/or offers up all of the remaining fine lines and rhetorical contradictions being dumped on universities to navigate. The tort might be gone, but all of that complexity very much remains.

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  • Coaching can be a strategic act of research culture

    Coaching can be a strategic act of research culture

    In higher education institutions, we often speak of “developing talent,” “building capacity,” or “supporting our people.” But what do those phrases really mean when you’re a researcher navigating uncertainty, precarity, or a system that too often assumes resilience, but offers limited resources?

    With the renewed focus of REF 2029 on people, culture and environment, and the momentum of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, there’s a growing imperative to evidence not only what support is offered, but how it’s experienced.

    That’s where I believe that coaching comes in – as a strategic, systemic tool for transforming research culture from the inside out.

    At a time when UK higher education is facing significant financial pressures, widespread restructuring, and the real threat of job losses across institutions, it may seem counterintuitive to invest in individuals’ development. But it is precisely because of this instability that our commitment to people must be more visible and deliberate than ever. In moments of systemic strain, the values we choose to protect speak volumes. Coaching offers one way to show – through action, not just intention – that our researchers matter, that their growth is not optional, and that culture isn’t a casualty of crisis, but a lever for recovery.

    By coaching, I mean a structured, confidential, and non-directive process that empowers individuals to reflect, identify goals and navigate challenges. Unlike mentoring, which often involves sharing advice or experience, coaching creates a thinking space led by the individual, where the coach supports them to surface their own insights, unpick the unspoken dynamics of academia, build confidence in their agency, and cultivate their personal narrative of progress.

    Coaching is not just development – it’s disruption

    We tend to associate coaching with senior leadership, performance management, or executive transition. But over the last seven years, I’ve championed coaching for researchers – especially early career researchers – as a means of shifting the developmental paradigm from “this is what you need to know” to “what do you need, and how can we co-create that space?”

    When coaching is designed well – thoughtfully matched, intentionally scaffolded, and thoughtfully led – it becomes a quiet form of disruption. It gives researchers the confidence to think through difficult questions. And it models a research culture where vulnerability is not weakness but wisdom.

    This is especially powerful for those who feel marginalised in academic environments – whether due to career stage, background, identity or circumstance. One early career researcher recently told me that coaching “helped me stop asking whether I belonged in academia and start asking how I could shape it. For the first time, I felt like I didn’t have to shrink myself to fit in.” That’s the kind of feedback you won’t find in most institutional KPIs – but it says a lot about the culture we’re building.

    Why coaching belongs in your research strategy

    Coaching still suffers from being seen as peripheral – a nice-to-have, often under-resourced and siloed from mainstream provision. Worse, it’s sometimes positioned as remedial, offered only when things go wrong.

    As someone who assesses UK institutions for the European Commission-recognised HR Excellence in Research Award, I’ve seen first-hand how embedding coaching as a core element of researcher support isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s strategically smart. Coaching complements and strengthens the implementation of institutional actions for the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, by centring the individual researcher experience – not just a tick-box approach to the principles.

    What’s striking is how coaching aligns with the broader institutional goals we often hear in strategy documents: autonomy, impact, innovation, wellbeing, inclusion. These are not incidental outcomes; they’re the foundations of a healthy research pipeline, and coaching delivers on these – but only if we treat it as a central thread of our culture, not a side offer.

    Crucially, coaching is evidence of how we live our values. It offers a clear, intentional method for demonstrating how people and culture are not just statements but structures – designed, delivered, and experienced.

    In REF 2029 institutions will be asked to evidence the kind of environment where research happens. Coaching offers one of the most meaningful, tangible ways to demonstrate that such an environment exists through the lived experiences of the people working within it.

    Culture is personal – and coaching recognises that

    In higher education, we often talk about culture as though it’s something we can declare or design. But real culture – the kind that shapes whether researchers thrive or withdraw – is co-created, day by day, through dialogue, trust, and reflection.

    Culture lives in the everyday, unrecorded interactions: the invisible labour of masking uncertainty while trying to appear “resilient enough” to succeed; the internal negotiation before speaking up in a lab meeting; or the emotional weight carried by researchers who feel like they don’t belong.

    Coaching transforms those invisible moments into deliberate acts of empowerment. It creates intentional, reflective spaces where researchers – regardless of role or background – are supported to define their own path, voice their challenges, and recognise their value. It’s in these conversations that inclusion is no longer an aspiration but a lived reality where researchers explore their purpose, surface their barriers, and recognise their value.

    This is especially needed in environments where pressure to perform is high, and space to reflect is minimal. Coaching doesn’t remove the pressures of academia. But it builds capacity to navigate them with intention – and that’s culture work at its core.

    Embedding a coaching culture as part of researcher development shouldn’t be a fringe benefit or pilot project – it should be an institutional expectation. We need more trained internal coaches who understand the realities of academic life and more visibly supported coaching opportunities aligned with the Researcher Development Concordat. The latter encourages a minimum of ten days’ (pro rata) professional development for research staff per year. Coaching is one of the most impactful ways those days can be used – not just to develop researchers, but to transform the culture they inhabit.

    A call to embed – not bolt on

    If we’re serious about inclusive, people-centred research environments, then coaching should be treated as core business. It should not be underfunded, siloed, or left to goodwill. It must be valued, supported, and embedded – reflected in institutional KPIs, Researcher Development Concordat and Research Culture Action Plans, and REF narratives alike.

    And in a sector currently under intense financial pressure, we should double down on culture as a lived commitment to those we ask to do difficult, meaningful work during difficult, uncertain times. Coaching is a strategic lever for equity, integrity, and excellence.

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  • ED Pressures Accreditor to Act on Columbia

    ED Pressures Accreditor to Act on Columbia

    The Department of Education has publicly called on Columbia University’s accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, to take action against the university’s alleged noncompliance with federal nondiscrimination laws.

    In a Wednesday news release, officials wrote that Columbia was found to have acted “with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students, thereby violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Officials said, “Columbia failed to meaningfully protect Jewish students against severe and pervasive harassment on Columbia’s campus and consequently denied these students’ equal access to educational opportunities to which they are entitled under the law.” As a result of that finding, ED called on MSCHE to take action on the matter.

    Education Secretary Linda McMahon accused the university of failing to protect Jewish students on campus in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, arguing that such a lapse “is not only immoral, but also unlawful.”

    McMahon added that accreditors are obligated to ensure members abide by their standards and called on MSCHE to inform the department of compliance actions taken against Columbia. ED indicated that MSCHE should require Columbia to develop a plan to ensure compliance.

    “We are aware of the press release issued today by the United States Department of Education (USDE) regarding Columbia University and can confirm that we received a letter regarding this matter this afternoon,” MSCHE president Heather Perfetti said in a statement. “This letter is part of the commitment reflected within the Executive Order to promptly provide to accreditors any noncompliance findings relating to member institutions issued after an investigation conducted by the Office of [sic] Civil Rights. Consistent with our Commission’s management of investigative findings, we will process these in accordance with our policies and procedures.”

    The call for MSCHE to take action on Columbia is the latest effort by the Trump administration to force further changes at an institution that has been in its crosshairs over how it handled a pro-Palestinian student encampment and related demonstrations in the aftermath of Oct. 7.

    Columbia has already yielded to the Trump administration’s call for sweeping changes, agreeing in March to revise disciplinary processes, hire campus police officers with the authority to make arrests and appoint a new senior vice provost to oversee academic programs focused on the Middle East, among other changes—despite concerns around academic freedom. However, university officials appear to have rejected the administration’s desire for a consent decree.

    The Trump administration has also frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding, an effort that has continued even after university officials agreed to various demands.

    Columbia officials acknowledged the exchange between ED and MSCHE in a statement.

    “Columbia is aware of the concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights today to our accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and we have addressed those concerns directly with Middle States. Columbia is deeply committed to combatting antisemitism on our campus. We take this issue seriously and are continuing to work with the federal government to address it,” university officials wrote in a statement posted online.

    Wednesday’s news sparked confusion (and celebrations from some critics) online, as many social media users incorrectly interpreted the news to mean Columbia had lost accreditation. However, the federal government does not have the power to strip accreditation. Only accreditors can determine if universities are out of compliance, as experts have previously noted.

    (This article has been updated to add statements from MSCHE and Columbia.)

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  • EHRC is consulting on sex in the Equality Act. Universities should too

    EHRC is consulting on sex in the Equality Act. Universities should too

    24 hours after it promised to, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has launched a consultation on updates to its statutory Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations, following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the meaning of “woman” in the Equality Act.

    As a reminder, the kernel of the ruling was that the definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 (the Act) should be interpreted as “biological” sex only. This means that, for the purposes of that Act, a person’s legal sex is the one that was recorded at their birth.

    That’s different to the previous interpretation adopted by the courts, which was that the definition of sex also includes people who have obtained a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). According to the new ruling, obtaining a GRC does not change your legal sex for Equality Act purposes.

    In this limbo period, the pressure from one side of the debate has been calling for X or Y to change now, and from another side arguing that it’s the Codes of Practice that matter.

    Designed to help individuals, employers, and service providers understand and comply with equality laws, they cover areas like employment, services, education, and public functions – and while they are not legally binding, courts and tribunals often take them into account in discrimination cases.

    Given the pressure, consultation was going to be rapid – open for two weeks – but EHRC has now announced that it will run until 30 June 2025. Once the consultation is done, it will review responses, make amendments to the Code of Practice, and it will then be submitted to the Minister for Women and Equalities for approval and laying in Parliament.

    The consultation specifically focuses on sections of the Code of Practice that need to be updated following the judgment – the rest was consulted on between October 2024 and January 2025.

    The idea is to gather views on whether its proposed updates clearly articulate the practical implications of the judgment and enable those who will use the Code to understand, and comply with, the Equality Act 2010. The EHRC is at pains to point out that the Supreme Court made the legal position on the definition of sex clear, so the EHRC is not seeking views on those legal aspects.

    Thus far, my conversations around the sector indicate a “we’re waiting for the guidance” approach before anyone does anything – though there has been at least one case where a university has had to backtrack and apologise having taken a decision that anticipated the interpretation of the new ruling.

    And that does create both some “race against time” pressure for universities (and SUs) intending to wait for the final guidance given the proximity to Welcome Weeks, and on the expectations people will have for what happens next, which I’ve explained below.

    Enforcement

    One of the major controversies has been about what we might call “enforcement” in a single-sex space, facility or service.

    In other words, if a toilet is marked up as “women”, will those operating said toilet be able to, or even expected to find some way of checking on someone’s biological birth sex?

    In the EHRC draft, asking someone about their birth sex publicly, or in a tone that is rude or combative, could amount to unlawful discrimination or harassment. Policies that apply different questioning standards to different people – for example, asking only those who “don’t look like they belong” in a particular space – also risk breaching indirect discrimination provisions, unless there is clear and justifiable reasoning behind them.

    The draft guidance also stresses that verifying someone’s birth sex – or requesting documents like a birth certificate – is a step that should be taken only in rare cases, and even then with great care. As such, the ability to enforce a single-sex policy by removing someone is more limited than it may initially appear, particularly for those on one side of the debate.

    If a trans person declines to answer a question about birth sex, or answers in a way that is later contested, a provider cannot simply demand proof unless they have a clear, lawful basis for doing so. And even then, their request must be framed within a structured policy that minimises legal risk and respects privacy. The idea that someone can simply be turned away on the basis of an appearance-based suspicion is not really viable under this framework.

    Another complication is that direct discrimination by perception applies to sex, even if the person doesn’t legally hold that characteristic under the Equality Act. The draft confirms that a trans woman, though not considered a woman in law, could still claim sex discrimination if they were treated less favourably because they are perceived to be a woman.

    This widens protection in practice – it confirms that discriminatory treatment based on how someone is seen, not just what they are, can still breach the Act – even where legal definitions of sex or gender reassignment wouldn’t otherwise apply.

    On maternity, protection from pregnancy and maternity discrimination now clearly rests on biological sex – the previous reliance on case law to justify protection for trans men with a GRC has been removed, because under the clarified interpretation, their legal sex remains female for Equality Act purposes.

    This simplifies the legal basis – trans men who are pregnant are now protected as women in law, not by exception or interpretation. It reinforces the Act’s grounding in biological sex across all protected characteristics, aligning pregnancy and maternity provisions with the rest of the guidance.

    Objective discrimination

    Changes to section 5 of the code mean that in EHRC’s view, the Equality Act’s provisions on indirect discrimination now more clearly include people who don’t share a particular protected characteristic but experience the same disadvantage as those who do. This reflects the “same disadvantage” principle that is more commonly understood re race or disability, and applies it explicitly to sex and gender reassignment.

    A case study shows how a trans woman can claim indirect sex discrimination if they are disadvantaged in the same way as women – because of a shared experience with women of feeling unsafe. The protection doesn’t depend on whether they are legally female under the Act, nor on any formal association with women – it just depends on whether they face substantively the same disadvantage from the same policy.

    This extends legal protection in practice – it allows a broader group of individuals to challenge policies that disproportionately harm one group, even if their own legal status differs. It also reinforces the role of objective justification – so organisations must be able to show that their decisions are fair, necessary, and proportionate, or risk breaching the Act.

    Harassment

    Section 8 explains the general test for harassment under the Equality Act, and the change here is that harassment based on perception is now explicitly covered in the context of sex and gender reassignment. A new example involves a trans woman – showing that even if someone is wrongly perceived to have a protected characteristic, such as being biologically female, they are still protected under the Equality Act if they face unwanted conduct related to that perception.

    That broadens the scope of protection for trans people and others facing abuse based on assumptions, and it further clarifies that intent is irrelevant – what matters is the effect of the conduct and its link to a perceived protected characteristic.

    Associations

    Section 12 explains how the Equality Act applies to associations, and makes clear that women-only associations can lawfully refuse membership to trans women, based on the clarified interpretation that sex under the Equality Act means biological sex at birth.

    The example given shows that a trans woman does not share the protected characteristic of “sex as a woman” under the Act and therefore can be excluded from an association that lawfully restricts membership to women.

    But it doesn’t say that a trans woman must be excluded.

    The complicator that isn’t covered in the draft runs something like this. If a women-only association excludes cis men, that is lawful – and always has been – because the Equality Act 2010 explicitly allows associations to restrict membership to people who share a protected characteristic, such as sex.

    But if that the association then permits trans women (whose legal sex is male under the Act, even if they have a GRC) but excludes cis men (also legally male), EHRC says that would be applying inconsistent treatment within the same legal sex category – undermining the justification for using the sex-based restriction in the first place.

    So if that association wants to use the lawful sex-based exception, it in theory has to apply that restriction consistently based on biological sex – exclude all who are legally male under the Act, including both cis men and trans women.

    If it instead admits some individuals with the legal sex of “male” (e.g. trans women), while excluding others (cis men), then the restriction is no longer based solely on sex, but on gender identity or appearance – and that is not a lawful basis for exclusion, and so could lead to claims of direct sex discrimination by cis men, since they are being treated less favourably than other legally male individuals (trans women).

    So if there’s a staff women’s group or an SU has a women’s officer, converting the group or position into one that’s about a topic rather than a membership characteristic looks OK. Even if it was about a membership characteristic, as long as it isn’t actively excluding cis men while including trans women, that would seem to be fine – notwithstanding there may be arguments about feelings of exclusion, or expectations raised in an inappropriate way and so on.

    Sport

    This has been a key issue in the commentary – EHRC’s draft clearly permits organisers of gender-affected competitive sports (i.e. sports where strength, stamina, or physique create a meaningful performance gap) to exclude or treat trans people differently if it is necessary for reasons of fair competition or safety.

    Crucially, the guidance affirms that exclusion must be justified, proportionate, and based on evidence. A blanket ban on trans participation would likely be unlawful unless organisers can show that it is essential to protect fairness or safety. For example, excluding a trans man from a men’s boxing event due to safety concerns is likely lawful – if justified with reference to physical risk.

    The guidance also clarifies that if an event is mixed-sex and so does not invoke the single-sex exception, sex discrimination claims may arise – for example, from cis women disadvantaged by trans women competitors.

    Basically it emphasises the need for clear, evidence-based policies, especially in sports where fairness and safety are contested. Organisers are encouraged to draw on medical guidance and national governing body rules, balancing inclusion with legal duties to all participants. For universities and SUs, there’s clearly a line to be drawn between what we might call “BUCS sport” and “a kickabout organised by reslife”, although that line is not especially clear here.

    Single sex services

    If you are operating a single-sex service, another revised section encourages service providers to develop clear, written policies on when and how they will deliver separate or single-sex services, while also allowing for limited, carefully considered exceptions in individual cases – such as admitting a male child to a women’s changing room – as long as it does not undermine the core purpose of the service (e.g. safeguarding women’s access, privacy, or safety).

    Another section draws a clearer line around how and when trans people may lawfully be excluded from single- or separate-sex services, while reinforcing that such exclusions must always be proportionate, justified, and considered on a case-by-case basis.

    And it reminds that admitting someone of the opposite biological sex – such as a trans person – to a single-sex service may legally change the nature of that service, making it no longer covered by the single-sex exceptions under the Equality Act, itself creating a legal risk of sex discrimination against those excluded from the redefined service.

    Providers are therefore advised to consider less intrusive alternatives, like offering additional mixed or separate services, or adapting facilities (private, unisex toilets), where feasible. But if alternative arrangements would be impractical or undermine the service itself, exclusion may still be proportionate and lawful – but that decision must also consider how the trans person presents, what alternatives exist, and whether the exclusion leaves them without access to essential services like toilets or changing rooms.

    Communal accommodation

    This is less common in these days of cluster flats and ensuite, but again there’s competing rights to weigh up. It’s lawful to restrict access to communal sleeping or sanitary facilities based on biological sex, particularly where shared use would compromise privacy. But excluding someone because of gender reassignment – such as a trans woman from women’s dorms – can also be lawful, but only if it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, such as protecting privacy or avoiding distress.

    Upshots and implications

    So what now? The wait and see approach does mean that where universities (and their SUs) are making changes to facilities, groups, services, positions and so on, or not making changes, those decisions will now likely need to be made over the summer – which means a storing up of trouble for the new academic year.

    What’s clear from the guidance is that whether we’re talking about a women’s officer role in an SU, a changing room, a block of toilets or a women’s self defence group, there are going to be options.

    The draft seems to indicate that a sign on a toilet that’s painted pink saying “trans inclusive, use the toilet you are most comfortable with” would be legally fine – but it could also trigger indirect sex discrimination claims, particularly if women argue that the policy has created a space where they no longer feel safe or comfortable, especially in settings where privacy, safeguarding, or trauma concerns are significant.

    And that risk is heightened if an organisation fails to provide alternative single-sex spaces for those who need or expect them.

    In other words, the single sex provisions in the Equality Act are mainly about the ability to enforce and exclude the “other” sex from something, any expectations that are set (and then not met), and the availability of alternatives.

    If you can’t rely on the Equality Act to carry out your exclusion, you can’t exclude. As such if we imagine a block of toilets, there will be choices:

    Option 1 is effectively to say “these toilets are open to all”, or “these are aimed at those who identify as women”. As long as it’s clear that the intention is not to actively exclude men from those toilets, and that people can use which ever toilet they feel most comfortable in, that appears to be legal.

    Option 2 is to take a toilet block currently marked as “women” and to make clear that these are a single sex facility as per the Equality Act 2010 – in other words, these are toilets specifically for biological women.

    The same goes for pretty much everything that’s currently gendered.

    The complicator in the case of toilets is that under UK law, employers are required to provide separate toilet facilities for men and women unless each facility is a fully enclosed, lockable room intended for single occupancy – and the tricky part is that a lot of toilets on a university campus may well act both as staff toilets, and (service provider) student toilets.

    But nevertheless, this still opens up considerable flexibility. Neither the ruling, nor the draft guidance, nor the finalised guidance, is going to tell universities (and their SUs) what to do about a given facility, service, group, scheme or position – and nor will it supply information on the expectations of staff and students on a given campus.

    And that sets up a problem for September.

    • If a toilet block currently marked “women” is marked up in an Option 1 way, some people on campus will be furious that it’s not been defined exclusively for biological women.
    • If a toilet block currently marked “women” is marked up in an Option 2 way, some people on campus will be furious that it’s not been defined in a way that is trans inclusive.

    The decisions across the portfolio of facilities, services, groups, schemes or positions almost by definition can’t be consistent – and so the way those decisions are made, and why, will be crucial – as will careful communication of them.

    In other words, here in the dying days of May, the time to roll sleeves up and get consulting with staff and students is now – not during Welcome Week.

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  • Senate Committee Postpones Vote on Antisemitism Awareness Act

    Senate Committee Postpones Vote on Antisemitism Awareness Act

    A vote on the Antisemitism Awareness Act—a bill that would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s controversial definition of antisemitism—was postponed Wednesday following a testy two-hour debate in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Jewish Insider reported.

    The committee’s Republican chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, called off the planned vote after the Democratic minority won enough Republican support to pass several amendments aimed at more clearly distinguishing what qualifies as discriminatory speech and protecting the First Amendment rights of pro-Palestinian protesters.

    For instance, some of the proposed amendments included clarifying that it is not antisemitic to oppose the “devastation of Gaza,” or to criticize Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as preventing the revocation of visas based on “protected conduct under the First Amendment.” Lawmakers also sought to ensure students and faculty members could protest as long as they don’t incite violence.

    Cassidy opposed the amendments, saying they were “problematic” and could jeopardize GOP support for the bill on the Senate floor.

    “So that it’s clear for the people that are watching, supporting these amendments is an effort to kill this bill, which protects Jewish students from antisemitic acts,” he said during the meeting. “The bill [already] includes protections for free speech. So let’s not be naïve as to what’s taking place here.” 

    But Democrats and Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky said the amendments were necessary to ensure that while objecting to bigotry and discrimination, this bill also upheld the constitutional right to peaceful protest. (Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, also supported some of the amendments.)

    “I worry very much that the Antisemitism Awareness Act that we are considering today is unconstitutional and will move us far along in the authoritarian direction that the Trump administration is taking us,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent and ranking member of the committee, said in his opening remarks.

    Paul also objected the current bill’s language, particularly the examples of antisemitic speech it includes.

    “The problem is if you look at the IHRA’s examples of speech, they are going to be limiting on campuses everything on that list … protected by the First Amendment,” Paul said. “The First Amendment isn’t about protecting good speech; it protects even the most despicable and vile speech.” 

    The bill was already expected to face a tight vote given that the committee consists of 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats. So if two Republicans voted in opposition to the act, it wouldn’t move forward.

    Furthermore, multiple Republican members of the committee were not present for the full hearing due to other commitments. Cassidy said there was not enough time for all Republicans to return to the committee room for a vote before the meeting ended, so he postponed the vote. A vote on the Protecting Students on Campus Act, which would require colleges to notify students of how to file discrimination complaints, was also delayed.

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  • The balancing act goes on

    The balancing act goes on

    Balancing free speech and protection from harassment is a complex, evolving challenge with no one-size-fits-all solution.

    Decisions must be made based on the specific context and facts of each case.

    However, our experience shows these risks are dynamic – over time, new challenges emerge, stretching our policies, processes, and understanding. The question for HEIs then, is how to navigate such a landscape.

    Recently, OfS’ Regulatory Case Report for the University of Sussex has sparked extensive commentary. Jim Dickinson, in multiple articles on Wonkhe, has explored its implications for effective regulation, rightly emphasising the crucial role of collaboration and trust.

    Efficiency is the watchword of the day and the approach in the case report risks fostering a more expensive American-style adversarial legalism. But the stakes are higher than just the streamlined effectiveness of our regulatory system.

    The rights, experience and outcomes in education and career for HE students and staff often depend on our approach and decisions in these critical cases.

    Challenges and priorities

    The UK higher education sector has faced a significant challenge. Free speech has at times been overlooked in our policies and work, especially in areas of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

    The policy template in the Sussex case report was drafted by one of Advance HE’s predecessor organisations, the Equality Challenge Unit. However, the sector now shows a shared intent to prioritise free speech. Universities UK states:

    “It’s absolutely essential that universities uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom, and they are legally bound to do so. Universities must also create an environment where all people can work and learn together.

    There is increasing clarity on the “presumption in favour of free speech” in UK law and in higher education practice. This is evident in relation to free speech and protected beliefs, such as in the recent Court of Appeal judgment in the Higgs case, as well as in areas like Prevent and institutions’ responses to protests on Israel/Gaza.

    We would benefit from more openly recognising this shared intent and commitment to free speech and academic freedom. However, the answers to many of the difficult cases and questions that arise in these areas are not settled.

    New incidents will create different circumstances and illuminate different boundaries of law and regulation, and there will be new court cases and judgments to learn from (such as the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010).

    We will continue to grapple with the challenging interplay between free speech, inclusion, and harassment. This tension is now explicit in the OfS regulatory framework, particularly between freedom of speech and Condition E6 on Harassment and Sexual Misconduct.

    The most important decisions about free speech and inclusion happen in our classrooms and offices. Academics navigate contentious topics and sensitive discussion, while managers respond to concerns about speech and harm, or debates that turn into allegations of harassment.

    These decisions are often uncertain, taken in individual contexts without clear legal precedent or direct policy instruction. Our staff and students therefore depend on our collective ability to make reasonable and proportionate decisions in heated, highly contextualised, and risky environments.

    These challenges are dynamic and will continue to evolve. Many HE policies and solutions from five or ten years ago are not fit for purpose now. We would be naïve to think our current approaches will not again need to evolve to meet future circumstances and challenges.

    How then can we ensure the rights to free speech and protection from harassment are upheld for staff and students under these circumstances?

    The way ahead will require proactive leadership, horizon scanning, and a willingness to collaborate and innovate in sensitive areas.

    Collaboration is key

    OfS itself has emphasised the importance of collaboration. Arif Ahmed, the Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at OfS, noted:

    “I believe that there is much to be gained from collaboration with [the sector] on these important issues. I am therefore keen to engage with stakeholders now on the most effective ways to approach the promotion of freedom of speech.

    As a sector, we need to work collaboratively to find opportunities for innovation and allow UK higher education to experiment at the edges of promoting and protecting free speech while openly addressing clear instances of unlawful harassment. UUK, GuildHE and Advance HE alongside many individual institutions have been proactive recently in creating spaces for discussion and practice in balancing free speech and inclusion.

    We are not alone in this challenge. Other nations and HE sectors have similar values and intent but slightly different legal frameworks. The recent Hodgkinson Review from the University of Sydney demonstrates the potential that a more global conversation might offer to horizon scanning and innovation in the UK.

    Beyond collaboration, innovation and horizon scanning, securing free speech and protection from harassment will test institutional resilience to difficult and complex cases. This will require institutional competence, but more importantly, any long-term success demands individual capacity and judgment from academics and staff.

    One-off training programs will be quickly outdated. Staff will be more effective engaging with policies in context, with clear opportunities to escalate challenges and receive responsive feedback and support. Leaders and front-line staff will need to be supported to engage with and share learning from the most complex cases.

    The approach to regulation demonstrated by the Case Report on Sussex encourages institutions to prioritize free speech and embed it into policy and practice. But this is already well understood and underway. What the Case Report won’t do is encourage institutions to step into difficult and complex cases more openly and engage in challenges that don’t have clear answers.

    The hazard here is the possibility of an environment where HEIs and staff may feel compelled to remove risk from engagement with speech. Staff and students might avoid contentious topics in research and teaching and withdraw from activities where there are concerns about harassment and discrimination. This would limit the innovative and provocative speech we should protect and undermine our ability to add value at the boundaries of societal debate.

    New regulation, such as the complaints scheme, could be a powerful mechanism for horizon scanning and supporting learning and consistent practice across institutions. To build a more robust approach to free speech in UK higher education, we need more collaboration and trust, and to build on our shared commitment to free speech and protection from harassment.

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  • Most popular degrees for NSW, ACT incoming students – Campus Review

    Most popular degrees for NSW, ACT incoming students – Campus Review

    On Campus

    Data from 75,000 applicants showed the degrees of choice for incoming students

    Health and Society and Culture courses remain the most popular for university applicants in NSW and the ACT according to the admissions centre.

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  • Laken Riley Act passes Senate

    Laken Riley Act passes Senate

    The House is preparing to take up the Laken Riley Act later this week after the Senate passed the bill Monday, Politico reported.

    Twelve Democrats joined all of the higher chamber’s Republicans to vote for the immigration bill, named for a 22-year-old woman killed by an undocumented immigrant in Georgia last year. Immigration policy experts say the bill could have consequences for international students applying to study in the U.S.

    The bill would primarily force harsher detention policies for undocumented immigrants charged with crimes, but it also expands the power of state attorneys general, allowing them to sue the federal government and seek sweeping bans on visas from countries that won’t take back deportees. 

    The Department of Homeland Security has said the bill would require billions of dollars in additional funding to enforce.

    The legislation now goes back to the House, which passed a similar but not identical bill earlier this month. If it passes the House a second time, it would then land on President Donald Trump’s desk, providing an early win on one of his highest-priority issues, immigration.

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