This week on the podcast as voters in Scotland and Wales head to the polls on 7 May, what do the manifestos mean for higher education? North of the border all parties bar Reform have committed to protect free undergraduate tuition, and much of the bigger thinking sits with the joint Scottish government and Universities Scotland "Future Framework" review.

Meanwhile a generation of Welsh Labour dominance is set to end under an expanded Senedd and a new electoral system, with Plaid Cymru and Reform UK emerging as the two largest parties – and Plaid pledging a wide-ranging HE review within the first 100 days. Plus David Kernohan has read the judgement in OfS v University of Sussex so you don’t have to.

With Justine Pédussel, President at Stirling University Students' Union, Richard Wyn Jones, Director of the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, David Duncan, University Secretary and Deputy Vice Chancellor at University of Glasgow, Nanw Maelor, Welsh Culture Officer and UMCA President at Aberystwyth Students' Union, Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.

In Wales and Scotland, students were promised a maintenance floor. The promise is broken.

This week on the podcast John Blake, Director at the Post-18 Project has published his first paper arguing that English higher education's crisis stems from thirty years of policy failure – and that the only real fix is a major, multi-year review to establish a new concordat between the state, the sector and students about who is responsible for what, and how disputes get resolved.

Plus, new research from King's College London finds that the cost of applying for research grants amounts to thirteen per cent of the value of awards, and the Committee of University Chairs puts a near-final draft of its new governance code out for comment, with more explicit requirements for what boards must and should do.

With Sam Roseveare, Director of Regional and National Policy at the University of Warwick, James Coe, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, Jen Summerton, Operations Director at Wonkhe and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.

Blood, debt, toil, and arrears: why thirty years of policy struggle has left us without the higher education system we deserve

Expensive, time consuming, and unpopular – why is it so hard to end grant funding peer review?

Do the silent middle get to belong in higher education?

CUC Code of Governance – Draft for Public Comment

This week on the podcast we're in Reykjavik as the Office for Students (OfS) opens a consultation on a whole new approach to student protection – but with students already struggling to understand or use their rights, will a new regulatory condition actually change anything on the ground?

Plus more than twenty thousand weekend students have been told to pay back maintenance loans they were given in error, and what can UK higher education learn from a week in Iceland?

With Lisa Margaret Gunnarsdóttir, President of the National Union of Icelandic Students, Gary Hughes, Chief Executive at Durham Students' Union, Mack Marshall, Community and Policy Officer at Wonkhe and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.

Treating students fairly, on an ongoing basis

The weekend delivery scandal

SUs study tour to Iceland

This week on the podcast an Australian politician has called on universities to scrap group assignments entirely, arguing they're unfair and cheapen degrees – but is the real problem the concept itself, or is it poorly designed groupwork that's giving collaboration a bad name?

Plus the government axes popular management apprenticeships, and UKVI's draft proposals for rating international student sponsors go further than many expected.

With Mark Peace, Professor of Innovation in Education at King's College London, Hugh Jones, independent consultant, and Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Mark Leach, Editor-in-Chief at Wonkhe.

Group essays? Pull the other one

A blanket removal of funding for level 7 apprenticeships will damage government plans to boost infrastructure

Amber isn’t a buffer zone in the new international RAG system – it’s a ledge

This week on the podcast recorded live at The Secret Life of Students, new Wonkhe research has found that nearly half of students worry their grades don't reflect what they actually know – so what does that tell us about how students are making decisions around AI use, and what does it mean for assessment in higher education?

Plus highlights from sessions across the conference, and a tuition fees row that threatens to derail the government's Brexit reset – with the EU pushing for home fee rates for students arriving under a new youth mobility deal.

With Helen King, Director of Learning Innovation, Development and Skills at Bath Spa University, Rosie Birch, Communities Officer at Brighton Students' Union and John Blake, Director at The Post-18 Project, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.

An accountability moment is what makes AI work for learning

A tuition fees row could sink the UK’s Brexit reset

This week on the podcast the Home Office has announced an "emergency brake" on student visas from four countries, suspending all grants to applicants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan. What does it mean for affected students, and what happens to Chevening scholars caught in the middle?

Plus the government's new social cohesion strategy and what it means for universities, and Research England's plans for research capital investment funding.

With Lisa Roberts, President and Vice Chancellor at the University of Exeter, Jess Lister, Director of Education at Public First, Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Mark Leach, Editor in Chief at Wonkhe.

What the government’s Social Cohesion Action Plan means for universities and students

Research Capital Investment Fund cuts ahead

The “visa brake” details

Student visa restrictions for four countries

This week on the podcast students are still struggling with the cost and quality of renting – so will the new Renters' Rights Act actually make things better, or could it leave fewer properties available?

Plus, is transnational education a genuine strategic opportunity or just a quick fix? And the Office for Students announces a new statement of expectations on disability support.

With Chris Husbands, Director at Higher Futures, Helena Vine, Lead Policy Officer for England at the Quality Assurance Agency, Livia Scott, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.

Students are worried about finding somewhere to live

TNE can be successful when it’s taken on as a strategic agenda, not a quick fix

TNE presents a quality challenge. Here’s how we solve it

International recruitment and TNE are not a straight swap

The international education strategy should promote quality in its TNE objectives as well as export earnings

When TNE goes wrong, it’s students that suffer

TNE on Wonkhe

Preparing for disability regulation shouldn’t mean waiting for disability regulation

Building public connection with research is about more than good communication

OfS announces a set of expectations on disability adjustments and support

This week on the podcast the government has struggled to defend its position on Plan 2 student loans in a Westminster Hall debate as opposition parties offer competing sticking plasters – but can any of the proposals survive contact with the maths, and is a proper funding review now inevitable?

Plus there’s cross-national evidence that suggests Britain's shrinking graduate premium is a demand-side problem that cutting courses won't fix, and a new study that finds student mental health services are bigger than ever but the students who need them most can't afford to reach them.

With Mary Curnock Cook CBE, independent educationalist and former Chief Executive of UCAS, Martin Priestley, Head of Education at Mills and Reeve, David Kernohan, Associate Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Mark Leach, Editor in Chief at Wonkhe.

If the graduate premium is falling, supply-side tinkering won’t bring it back.

Student loan reform is coming. But not without a proper review.

The support paradox is a poverty problem.