Hepi names Jo Johnson’s top influencers

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, has named the five people he thinks hold the biggest sway over Jo Johnson, the universities and science minister.

Anthony Grayling, who founded the New College of Humanities, tops the list. Hillman suggested that the college’s struggle to get degree awarding powers had “given ministers evidence on how current regulations block innovative new providers”.

Second is Gervas Huxley, a teaching fellow in the economics department at the University of Bristol who has long argued that “research has trumped teaching in universities and this should be rebalanced,” says Hillman. Although Hillman refrained from claiming that Huxley inspired the teaching excellence framework, he said that any mention of “teaching intensity” by the government is down to Huxley.