A Privilege and an Opportunity

Martin Bojam — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:28:19 +0100

From time to time at 360Education we carry guest blogs which we hope may be of some interest to readers. Today's is by David Lowe, Principal of DLD, an independent sixth form college in Central London.

It’s that time of year again, when the release of results seems to give rise to hackneyed and sterile arguments about the validity of the examinations. However, the debate ought not to be about whether A-levels have got easier, or how imprecise a predictor they are for univerRead More...

Education – what’s it good for?

Martin Bojam — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:37:35 +0100

It’s been difficult being a determined blogger this last month or so. Every time inspiration strikes, yet another government announcement, or news of an impending cut, or some further reorganisation sends me back to the drawing board. Despairing of being able to coherently address some of these issues, at least until the politicians have departed for their bread and water style holiday at a rainy English resort, I’m therefore forced to fall back on basic principles.

To cut or not to cut - the first in an occasional series

David Bottazzi — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:25:22 +0100

Disciplinary issues, truancy, special needs (to integrate or to separate) – some of the everyday problems which beset teachers in our schools, and that’s before you get to the administration, let alone actually start to teach!

Teachers are not necessarily equipped to be social workers, psychiatrists, or, heaven forbid, policemen, yet even the most damaged (in the widest sense of the word) children can be helped with the right care and attention – see www.kidRead More...

University Staffing Levels – the view from the recruitment media

Martin Bojam — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:28:22 +0100

A couple of weeks ago I published a blog on “Cuts – the outlook for university staff levels”. It seems to have attracted quite a lot of comment, so I thought I would follow up by talking to some of the media, national and specialist, which carry recruitment advertising for the sector.

Interestingly, given the general mood of pessimism around, I once again ended up feeling more positive than I had anticipated. There was a consensus that, at least in tRead More...

Cuts - The Outlook for University Staff Levels

Martin Bojam — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:55:29 +0100

With talk of cuts drowning out all other kinds of discourse, I thought it would be interesting to canvass opinions in the universities as to the outlook for employment over the next year or two. Now, I certainly wouldn’t pretend that what I did was to conduct a scientific survey amongst Advancement professionals at the more than 20 institutions I spoke to, but nonetheless the results were interesting.

Firstly, the bad news. At least a couple of institutions are facing compuRead More...

Education. Does Choice Equal Pollution?

Martin Bojam — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:15:48 +0100

Any motorist driving to work at school times will be familiar with the congestion caused by the school run - but what are parents to do? Schools are often not within walking distance of home and if you have two or three children at different schools – which does happen - how do you cope? Choice (whatever it may be) is universally held to be a good thing, but in practice it often means that children do not go to the nearest school. How can government want parents to have a chRead More...

The New Politics and Education – a first take.

Martin Bojam — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:33:21 +0100

Well, I guess the electoral excitement is now over, and reality will have to take over. Personally, I welcome in principle the notion of parties working together (it has produced, in Germany, one of the world’s most successful countries, after all), and if it leads to politicians insulting each other rather less (in case they need a coalition after some future election) and concentrating on policies rather more, well I don’t know too many people who will regret that!

Media Experimentation, the Election and the real world

Martin Bojam — Mon, 03 May 2010 10:22:58 +0100

No doubt after the Election we will hear about the impact that the digital communications revolution has had on the fortunes of the various parties – and no doubt the reports will be as contradictory as their policies. However, when normal service resumes, and we go back to attracting students and recruiting staff (assuming that there is any money of course), there will certainly be some lessons for education marketers.

Last Friday, I went to the Funeral and Memorial Service for Paul Kitchener.

I had known Paul for perhaps ten years. He worked at Brooke House College, an independent Sixth Form College in Market Harborough, and a member college of CIFE, theRead More...

Promises, promises – it’s Election time!

Martin Bojam — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:07:06 +0100

Well, it’s a dirty job, but someone had to do it – I’ve been reading the manifestos of the three national parties in order to see what they have to say about Education, especially FE and HE.When you strip out the bile and hyperbole, the answer was rather less than I expected.

Taking them in the order in which they appear in this morning’s polls, the Liberal Democrats have the inestimable virtue of being succinct. They believe that universityRead More...

Bang Bang

Martin Bojam — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:56:18 +0100

So the starting gun has been fired on what is being billed as the closest General Election for 36 years – and there seems little doubt that Education will at least get a mention, for the first time really since another young man with excellent presentational skills referred to it (in triplicate, no less) on the 1997 hustings.

The Conservatives certainly have some interesting new proposals, particularly in the area of Schools and the role of parents and the private Read More...

FE sector in crisis?

Martin Bojam — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:19:55 +0100

With HE making headlines about funding cuts, FE can easily be overlooked. Yet this sector drives the economy by providing skilled technicians and that's what most companies want. Funding is also tight for FE, and leaders in the sector will have to learn the lessons others have learned before them. Apart from the miserable business of cost cutting, there are a number of pro-active steps which can be taken and which can lighten the gloom.

Is branding sRead More...

Branding in the Education Sector

Martin Bojam — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:01:51 +0100

Even today, parts of the Education world regard Branding with great suspicion, a symbol of commercialism, a waste of resources, and an encouragement of competition, something which has no place alongside research, teaching and training.

Years ago, when I used to run a youth club, I was in no doubt that I wasn’t running a business – the outcomes sought were human, not financial, for a start. Nonetheless, I used to make a critical distinction between aRead More...

Education and Mobility

Martin Bojam — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:00:38 +0100

Wonderful to hear Steve Smith on the radio yesterday morning making absolutely clear (“The evidence shows however that whatever university you go to - your life chances will significantly improve. One of the great vehicles for social mobility in the UK is going to university.") that universities confer on their students benefits well beyond vocational training and really can and do transform lives.

The reason for the interview on Radio 4 was the publication of the HEFCE repRead More...

Change, just for a change

Martin Bojam — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:14:30 +0100

Well, there I was, wearing a silly hat, devoid of inspiration, and resigned to using the last blog of the year to wish everybody the greetings of the season, when who should ride to the rescue but Peter Mandelson and his letter to HEFCE!

Now, I do accept that innovation and efficiency are to be encouraged, and that government expenditure has to be under some kind of control, but we really have to give some thought to long term outcomes.Read More...

Employer Engagement - tomorrow's challenge?

Martin Bojam — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

I’ve just returned, with two of my colleagues (Gabrielle Golding and Arabella Arthy) from the (FE) College Marketing Network Conference in Coventry. It was the first time I’ve been to an FE gathering, and you can’t help but be impressed with the enthusiasm and drive – and as the photo shows, we all worked very hard!

More seriously, it seemed to me that a key theme of the Conference was Employer Engagement, an area where I believe Colleges are, by and large, aheRead More...

Gresham College – A Short, Personal, Alternative History

Martin Bojam — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Met up with Barbara Anderson last week. Barbara, as many of you may know, is the Academic Registrar at Gresham College. You may not know much about Gresham (I certainly didn’t) but its history and its role today are fascinating.

Its founder, Sir Thomas Gresham (1519 to 1579), traded cloth and linens between England and the Low Countries at a time when Cambridge and Oxford had a duopolistic hold on higher education in England. A Cambridge man himself (Caius College), if GreshamRead More...

International Education. It’s a long gallop from Asia...

Martin Bojam — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:00:00 +0100

An interesting piece in the New York Times at the weekend pointed out that, with the appetite for higher education showing no signs of abating among the growing Asian middle class, more countries in Asia are positioning themselves to attract students.

While the United States, Britain and other Western countries continue to draw the most Asian students, a Unesco report released in July also showed that Asian students were increasingly attending universities within their own regions.

A Time of Change in HE

Martin Bojam — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Well, here goes, my first ever blog. Time, I guess, for me to join the 21st century.

Last December, Ian Rowley (Director of Development, Communications and Strategy at the University of Warwick) and I gave a talk at the CASE Asia-Pacific Conference in Hong Kong. It was entitled “The Perfect Storm” and was about the confluence of trends in demographics, globalisation/competition, finance, and technology, leading inexorably to a vision of a small number of elite campus baseRead More...

Martin Bojam joins 360 Education

David Bottazzi — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:00:00 +0100

We are delighted to announce that as of July 6th, Martin Bojam is joining 360 Education as Managing Partner. Martin was, until recently, Deputy Chairman of JWT Education, providing market research, brand development and marketing communications for education institutions of all kinds on a global basis, and is looking forward to building a similar practice at 360.

Martin has over 10 years experience in the education sector and works across the spectrum of British education, from universitiRead More...

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