Research into the help DSA pays for
The Department for Education has published research on non-medical help provided through the Disabled Students’ Allowance — the study skills tutors, mentors and note-takers the allowance funds — and on how good students find it. DSA is not means-tested, does not have to be repaid, and takes weeks to assess, so applying before term rather than during it is the difference between having support in October and in January.
Department for Education, 30 April
Universities do not know who their clearing students are
A vice-chancellor argues universities hold almost no data on the students they admit through clearing — who they are, what they need, and why they ended up there — despite clearing now being a main route for tens of thousands. If you came through clearing, that is the reason nobody followed up: the system loses track of you at the point of admission.
Peers press ministers on the visa rules
Baroness Warwick has pressed ministers in the Lords on the problems facing international students and the universities that recruit them, after a year of restrictions, a 30 per cent fall in enrolments and four nationalities refused automatically. Parliamentary questions are slow, and they are how the detail behind a policy eventually gets published.
Surviving the exam period on no sleep
A third-year’s guide to exam season, honest about not having solved it. The useful parts are the boring ones: a fixed wake time beats a fixed bedtime, revision in the room where the exam will be sat helps, and the all-nighter costs more than it buys. Exam revision covers technique.