I was asked to provide a prediction for HE policy in 2013. Then nothing happened. So I thought I’d post my predictions here. This is what I wrote…

“I know nothing about policy. All I know is activism as a kind of non-policy; as the negation of policy.

“So all I can offer you is a list of not-policy predictions, of things that I wish would happen in 2013 that would not form policy. It is a list of solidarity-driven hopes that are underpinned by courage. Perhaps they coalesce as an informal policy of developing collective, solidarity struggles.

“Please note that I learn so much from people involved in developing and implementing policy, and I am not for an instant arguing that policy wonks are not courageous. Anyway…

• VCs and UUK demonstrate leadership in fighting the Coalition’s HE agenda;
• academics push back against private equity and the financialisation of the sector;
• academics develop a concerted campaign against REF2014 and go into occupation of “impact”;
• academics and students demonstrate solidarity with global anti-austerity movements as a means of re-politicising university life;
• those engaged in educational technology push back against their active involvement in the privatisation of individual universities and the sector;
• Million+, in association with collectives like edufactory, is recognised as a voice of resistance;
• commentators stop chasing the next MOOC-like innovation and recognise that their chase is in the name of the rate of profit [and that the chase dehumanises];
• academics and students critique the ways in which big data is used to monitor and surveil;
• we re-evaluate the relationships between academia and the military, for instance in drone-related research;
• academics and students fight for a publically-funded, regulated and governed higher education sector.”