Hugh Jones
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hbsj.bsky.social
Hugh Jones
@hbsj.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.5K following 3.8K posts
I work with universities to help them work better. #HigherEducationPostcard #FreyaDog Liable to proselytize about #ClimateChange #HigherEducation #Consultant #Swansea #Deltiologist #SWFC
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hbsj.bsky.social
What a wonderful thing!

Here's a postcard of the training college; it went on to become part of the Polytechnic of Wales, now University of South Wales

#HigherEducationPostcard
An old monochrome picture postcard showing a brick college building, with a grand frontage and a small clock tower. Written at the foot of the card is "Training College and Hostel, Barry. 1360"
December 2, 2025 at 1:53 PM
hbsj.bsky.social
The Goodies?

(One for the kids there)
1970s British comedy trio The Goodies on their Trandem
December 2, 2025 at 10:49 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
From Hansard, 10 July 1986: George Walden MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science, extract from a reply to Alan Williams, MP for Swansea West

The references to Jarratt are interesting. Much of the current approach to HE regulation stems from this
Text reading: Most of my remarks relate to the changes to which we hope the universities will commit themselves. I would like to spell these out in more detail and relate them to some of the points made by the right hon. Gentleman about University college, Swansea. First, I would like to consider management. The Jarratt committee on efficiency in universities reported in March last year. It did not find that universities were gnerally wasteful or that there were particular areas in which major economies could be made overnight without any effect on universities' teaching and research activities. But it did conclude that throughout the university system there was scope for improvements in management both to ensure that full value could in future be gleaned from the large sums of public money involved and to make the system more effective in responding to the changing needs of the nation in the fast-changing world of the late 20th century. Some of those who are concerned about these matters were, I know, worried last summer and autumn about the silence with which much of the university world appeared to have received Sir Alex Jarratt's report. A good part of the explanation for that seems to have been simply that most universities were heavily preoccupied with the preparation of their submissions for the UGC's planning exercise. Since then we have heard a good deal about deliberations within universities about these matters. Many, perhaps most, universities have by now given careful consideration to the central recommendations about the need for streamlined, responsive management structures with clearly identified levels of decision-making and responsibility. Certainly, I know that University college, Swansea has. The Department has heard rather less about the attention being given to the more detailed recommendations from the Jarratt exercise — on financial management, purchasing, building maintenance, and the use of space.
December 2, 2025 at 10:36 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @wadhamcollege.bsky.social

Full name: Warden, Fellows and Scholars of Wadham College of the Foundation of Nicholas Wadham Esquire and Dorothy His Wife in the University of Oxford

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
An old monochrome picture postcard showing an seventeenth century stone building, all mullioned windows and crenelations and an oriel window. Two people are standing on the pavement in front of the college, talking; printed at the foot of the card is "Oxford, Wadham College, (Founded AD 1613)". The card dates from the 1920s
December 2, 2025 at 8:00 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
How fabulous a masthead is this?
A Victorian Newspaper masthead: "Lake's Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser", in Gothic script, surrounding a drawing of a steam ship (probably a Falmouth packet). Under the masthead is printed "Published by Sarah Lake, 18 Market Strand, Falmouth"
December 1, 2025 at 11:29 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @wolfsonoxford.bsky.social

Wolfson was founded in 1965. Named for Sir Isaac Wolfson, mail order baron, it is one of two pairs of colleges in Oxbridge named for the same person

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
An old colour picture postcard showing modern concrete buildings by a lake with trees and reeds
December 1, 2025 at 8:01 AM
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Like this, you mean?
An old colour picture postcard showing students in red academic gowns parading to the pier in St Andrews
November 30, 2025 at 2:23 PM
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Here's a weekend special #HigherEducationPostcard of @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

Because it is, of course, #StAndrewsDay

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An old colour picture postcard showing three views of the University of St Andrews
November 30, 2025 at 1:46 PM
hbsj.bsky.social
Absolutely fabulous music
A CD: Duke Ellington, Swinging Suites, featuring the Nutcracker suite, Suite Thursday and Peer Gynt The track listing
November 30, 2025 at 9:37 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
If you get the OfS register on a spreadsheet it has it correctly as University of Durham trading as Durham University

But their webpages use the trading name
An extract from the OfS register of Higher Education providers, showing the University of Durham as the legal name and Durham University as the trading name
November 28, 2025 at 11:26 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of Worcester College, Oxford, which has rather magnificent buildings

It was built on the site of Gloucester College, which did not survive the reformation

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
An old colour picture postcard showing an oil painting of college buildings with people (two gowned scholars, one lady in a hat) in the lawned quadrangle
November 28, 2025 at 8:01 AM
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When you see this, post an image from your gallery to describe your mental health
A museum sign reading "Dwi'n hen ac un fregus / I'm old and fragile"
November 27, 2025 at 3:24 PM
hbsj.bsky.social
Just doing some archiving and found a folder of pictures from Tenby in March 2020, a week before lockdown. It was already pretty quiet

I wonder how Mum and Dad/Nan and Pops from the beach art fared
St Catherine's fort, Tenby - a concrete square Victiorian fortification on a tidal island A plaque on a wall: "This bandstand was initiated by the Tenby Ladies Committee" The big rock on Tenby North beach - a huge stone, with marks showing where the tide comes to; its half in the sea in the picture Art on a beach, seen from a distance. A large mandala-type artwork with "Mum and Dad/Nan and Pops; 50th Golden Years" written at the compass points
November 27, 2025 at 10:38 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of Taxila, Pakistan, one of the earliest sites of higher education in the world, active from the 5th century before the common era

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
An old colour picture postcard showing five views of an ancient archaeological site. In the centre is a banner on which is printed Taxila, Pakistan, with the Pakistan flag, and the logos of UNESCO and the WorldHheritage Organisation
November 27, 2025 at 8:01 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
Pop quiz: where am I?
The letters "BR(W)" in white on a green background
November 26, 2025 at 3:22 PM
hbsj.bsky.social
Billionaires. What's stopping you making your AI robots look like this?
Telos, a giant bronze warrior, in the film Jason and the Argonauts
November 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
hbsj.bsky.social
Doctor avoidance strategy, Wednesday
An apple
November 26, 2025 at 1:23 PM
hbsj.bsky.social
Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of Ponteland College of Education

I think this may have been associated with what is now Northumbria University; the site itself is now housing, judging by google maps

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
An old colour picture postcard showing a college campus, with teaching and residential blocks, set in green fields
November 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
A real cris de couer from @dannybate.bsky.social

I reckon if @susiedent.com told us to spell realise as realize, we might listen
An extract from a book. "Dr Johnson was a celebrity in his day, in Britain and on the other side of the Atlantic, and his dictionary was bestseller. Are any modern dictionaries so successful? Are any dictionary writers today so admired?"
November 25, 2025 at 2:09 PM
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Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of the University of Portsmouth

Its motto: Lucem sequitor, or Let us follow the light, echoes the city's motto: Heaven's light our guide

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
An old monochrome picture postcard showing a Victorian neo-classical building set in an urban scene. Printed at the foot of the card is Technical institute and Town hall, Portsmouth
November 25, 2025 at 8:00 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
A movie that takes place where you're from

(I was in a crowd scene in this, btw)
A traffic warden - hatted and labelled, with filthy bandaged face and holding an automatic rifle - standing in front of a post-apocalyptic scene of a burning city. Its the poster for Threads.
November 24, 2025 at 11:11 AM
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Thinking about what to write for this week's #HigherEducationPostcard blog on @wonkhe.bsky.social, did a quick search on a potential, and Google AI demonstrated yet again how unreliable it is ...

I've been called many things in my time, but rarely 'popular'!
Text reading: "The term "Wonkhe postcard Peterhouse" refers to a specific entry in the popular "Higher education postcard" blog series on the Wonkhe website, which featured a postcard image of Peterhouse, the oldest college at the University of Cambridge."
November 24, 2025 at 9:46 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of where @qmuniversity.bsky.social started out - its the Royal Scottish Museum, now part of the National Museum of Scotland

Queen Margaret University used rooms here for teaching

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
An old monochrome picture postcard showing the atrium of a museum gallery, with three floors leading off balconies, a steel and glass structure, and cases and artefacts displayed on the ground floor and in the balconies. At the foot of the card is printed "Great Hall, Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh"
November 24, 2025 at 8:01 AM
hbsj.bsky.social
Victorian fayre from Swansea's Victorian Xmas market
A logo: Crazy Bastard Sauce
November 21, 2025 at 5:32 PM
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Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @qmul.bsky.social

The East London College, Queen Mary's forerunner institution, was a technical and recreative institute, also known as the People's Palace

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
An old colour picture postcard showing a stone-fronted building with a clock tower. A sign outside the building reads "East London College"; printed at the top of the card is People's Palace
November 21, 2025 at 8:01 AM