A joint post by Harriet Dunbar-Morris, University of Portsmouth and Jonathan Woodhead, Birkbeck, University of London. We’ve also had another version of this post, aimed at the Wonkhe readership, published by Wonkhe.
10 years ago a group of HE policy people gathered at the University of Plymouth for the inaugural Lighthouse Policy Group meeting. Rather tongue in cheek, the group is so named, as, in the spirit of how the Russell Group and the 1994 Group came to be named, the Plymouth Hoe lighthouse is a prominent feature of Plymouth city centre, and because we shed light on Higher Education policy and the work of policy officers.
We have grown from eight members in 2010 to around 50 members today. It was quite a new trend when our group was born, for Vice-Chancellors to have policy advisers and to grow the role of what are also now known as ‘Executive Officer’, ‘Strategic Advisor’ or even ‘Chief of Staff’.
Over the years our meetings, which are held at different university campuses, have primarily been for networking and peer support. However, they have attracted a number of speakers from think-tanks, local authority figures, academics, and even senior politicians wishing to discuss and debate ideas with the group – these include Lord Kerslake, Lord Willetts, Lord Bassam, Nick Hillman, Rachel Wolf, and Andy Westwood to name just a few. One of our strengths has been to include policy people from across the sector, regardless of mission group or geography. At one point we had members attending from private HEIs, and we are pleased to say colleagues from Northern Ireland have taken an increasing interest in the group.
Those with a long memory may remember when Mark Leach, now of Wonkhe, wrote a piece in 2012 about the rise of the ‘policy wonk’ for the Times Higher which features profiles of past and current members: www.timeshighereducation.com/features/who-let-them-in/418697.article.
Not a lot has changed since the debut of our group, except there are a lot more of us, and policy changes so rapidly that in some institutions the ‘policy wonk’ is no longer ‘a team of one’, as was the case and one of the reasons for the birth of the group. Founding members found it helpful to share their experience across institutions as they often had no-one within their institution to talk policy with. Now there’s a veritable army of policy wonks in the sector.
The Lighthouse Policy Group too has evolved. It continues to provide that support network to its members, the mailing list buzzes whenever there is a new announcement, and it continues to provide opportunities to hear from external speakers on a range of relevant topics.
In that time we have also forged links with North American institutions (where this role is much more prevalent) through the NAPAHE network. In the past few years Lighthouse Group members have attended their Annual Conference in Washington DC and Philadelphia. Other Lighthouse Group members have presented closer to home at the AUA Conference and HESPA in previous years too.
10 years is a long time in policy terms. What kinds of policy have we been shining a light on over those 10 years? What has been keeping our VCs awake at night? (A question we ask of the hosting VC at our meetings by the way).
- Funding and fees – lots of proposed changes to funding and fees, consultations, responding to Spending Reviews, the Browne Review, HE White Paper, the Augar Report, …
- Teaching – more consultations, shifting goalposts, Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), Graduate Outcomes, LEO, National Student Survey, league tables, …
- Research – Research Excellence Framework (REF) and Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF), …
- Links with business – more consultations, liaise with CBI and other bodies, Wilson Review, the notion of a ‘Civic University’, …
- Links with government – more consultations, ministerial letters, liaise with MPs, Ministers, stakeholders, student voting, …
- Links with organisations – more consultations, bonfire of the quangos, financial implications of membership fees, …
- Not forgetting of course the current COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit too.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s all about responding to consultations and external requirements. There certainly is a fair amount of consultation across all the areas of policy, and a constant stream of requests from government and a variety of sector bodies. But a policy wonk also undertakes a great deal of work within their institution too, and most important of all is their privileged relationship with their VC. As their right-hand and sounding board, with a cross-institutional remit, they get involved with all sorts of key institutional initiatives.
If you are a policy wonk in an institution, and not yet a member, why not get in touch to find out more about the group: www.lighthousepolicygroup.net.
If you are thinking about a change of career and fancy a central role at the right-hand of a VC then becoming a ‘policy wonk’ might just be the right choice for you.
As our members gather next week for our latest