M-RCBG Senior Fellow-Led Study Group: Nicola Dandridge
Wednesday, February 5, 4:15pm - 5:30pm, Ofer-401
Higher education is subject to extensive regulation and oversight across the world. Increasingly economic indicators drive political expectations of university performance. But what do students and graduates want and how are their views reflected in regulatory arrangements? What about the views of academic staff, employers' and taxpayers? Which aspects of higher education provision are regulated and which are not, and how effective is that regulation anyway?
This study group will take the form of a discussion between Nicola Dandridge and Jo Johnson, who will be joining us online. Nicola is a M-RCBG Senior Fellow who is researching higher education regulation at HKS and was previously chief executive of the English higher education regulator. Jo currently sits in the UK House of Lords and was previously Higher Education Minister. Nicola and Jo will discuss higher education regulation, and Nicola will also talk about the research project that she is working on at HKS. Contributing to the discussion will be Sara Rahman and Farih Satria Rahim, both students in the HKS Master in Public Policy course who are working as research assistants on Nicola's project and will draw on their experience of higher education regulation in Australia and Indonesia. There will be plenty of time for discussion and questions.
Do join us and share your views on what effective regulation of higher education should look like!
This study group / discussion is open to all HUID holders. Registration is not necessary.
M-RCBG welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs. To request accommodations or ask questions about access provided, please email: mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu
Professor Dame Nicola Dandridge is a professor of practice in higher education policy at the University of Bristol, where she is carrying out research into higher education governance and regulation, and student choice. Until 2022 she was the first chief executive of the Office for Students, the regulator for higher education in England, where she was responsible for the regulator’s establishment and the creation of its first regulatory framework. She was previously chief executive of Universities UK, the membership organisation for the UK’s universities, and before that chief executive of the Equality Challenge Unit, an agency established to promote equality for staff and students in higher education. Nicola was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2015, and Dame Commander (DBE) in 2023 for services to higher education. Nicola originally trained as a lawyer specialising in employment, labour relations, and equality law. She is qualified in both England and Scotland, and spent many years working in both Glasgow and London. She is currently chair of the Council for At Risk Academics, a charity that supports academics at immediate risk of danger in their home countries or forced into exile. She is also on the board of the University of Glasgow and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance and Drama. She was educated at the University of Oxford and the University of Glasgow. As an M-RCBG Senior Fellow, Nicola will explore the impact and evaluation of different governance and regulatory models of higher education in the US and Europe. Her faculty sponsor is Professor Richard J Light, Pforzheimer Professor of Teaching and Learning at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Email: nicola_dandridge@hks.harvard.edu