Financial challenges in the HE sector – considerations for Boards

Content Warning - in this episode, Smita Jamdar and Geraldine Swanton discuss the High Court’s conclusions on the appeal in the case of Natasha Abrahart –v- the University of Bristol and includes references to death by suicide and mental health.
The case considered various aspects of disability discrimination under the Equality Act and offered important clarifications for universities and colleges on their duties.

Find out more or get in contact with our education team here.

In this episode, Smita Jamdar is joined by colleagues Helen Dyke and Mark Taylor to look ahead to developments in law, policy and regulation that will affect HE and FE institutions in the year ahead, including new family and caring rights to leave, responsibilities to deal with workplace sexual harassment, and concerns around franchising. 

In this episode Smita Jamdar and Geraldine Swanton  examine a recent County Court judgment that concluded that the handling of a sexual misconduct case by a HEI was negligent.

Find out more or get in contact with our education team here.

In this episode Smita Jamdar and Geraldine Swanton  review recent case law relating to the investigation and hearing of student disciplinary procedures involving sexual misconduct, explore some of the difficulties this creates for institutions in handling these complex cases and suggest what changes are needed to improve the ability of institutions to act fairly and robustly in future.

Find out more or get in contact with our education team here.

In this episode Smita Jamdar and Joanna Forbes discuss the rise of collaborative provision in higher education, explore the legal, policy and regulatory implications and consider how institutions can mitigate risk.

Find out more or get in contact with our education team here.

In this podcast, Smita Jamdar and Sean Moran reflect on how Boards should respond to a variety of risks caused by a challenging economic environment, from key supplier failure and subsidiary insolvency through to the insolvency of providers themselves, an area highlighted by the Office for Students as one of the key sector risks it seeks to manage.

Find out more or get in contact with our education team here.

In this episode Smita Jamdar and Andrew Hartshorn consider the case of Oxford University Innovation v Oxford Nanoimaging Limited [2022] EWHC 3200 (Pat), the extent to which PhD students are considered as consumers under the various consumer protection laws, the approach to evaluating unfairness of such terms in university contracts with students, the applicability or impact of consumer protection laws on terms relating to student intellectual property rights and what universities should do as a result.

Find out more or get in contact with our education team here.

In this episode, Smita Jamdar is joined by Andrew Adams, Litigation Partner, to further explore the freedom of speech on campus, specifically enforcing the rights on disgruntled students and staff, both by the current legislative framework and the higher education freedom of speech bill.

Find out more or get in contact with our education team here.

Content Warning - in this episode, Smita Jamdar and Geraldine Swanton are discussing HEIs’ current legal duties and the inherent limitations of any existing or new law to address the concerns of those who are affected by student self-harm.

Find out more or get in contact with our education team here.

In this group discussion episode,  Smita Jamdar is joined by members of our firm's governance forum - Joanna Forbes, Catherine Rustomji, Maddie Cordes, and Rachel Gwynne who look at some of the key issues for university and college governance to see whether they are found in other sectors and whether there is anything we can learn from looking across these common sectors.

Find out more about our education team here.