Dr. Josh Patel (he/him)
LightNews LightNews
banner
joshpatel.bsky.social
Dr. Josh Patel (he/him)
@joshpatel.bsky.social
77 followers 98 following 22 posts
Researcher, Edge Foundation
https://joshsdpatel.wixsite.com/joshpatel

Fortcoming monograph with SRHE/Routledge 'Universities and the Purpose of Higher Education: Expansion and Development in Post-War Britain'

Swimmer & coach🏊🏽‍♂️🦦
Posts Replies Media Videos
joshpatel.bsky.social
@edgeuk.bsky.social's What's in a Word? is BACK: scrutinising purposes and politics our choices of language serve.

Highly presciently given their prominence in Starmers' address this week, Jennifer Coupland considers: 'Apprenticeships', the state, and massification: www.edge.co.uk/research/wha...
October 3, 2025 at 10:08 AM
joshpatel.bsky.social
Very exciting news!! My first book, 'Universities and the Purpose of Higher Education Expansion and Development in Post-War Britain' has appeared on the Routledge website! 📖

Currently anticipating a January 2026 launch!

www.routledge.com/Universities...
This thought-provoking book addresses the persistent anxieties surrounding the purpose and direction of higher education, offering a nuanced historical perspective on its transformation. Read more on the link included.
September 1, 2025 at 12:38 PM
joshpatel.bsky.social
Delighted to be speaking on my research with @edgeuk.bsky.social on 'Four Nations’ approaches to tertiary collaboration and tertiary journeys' at @qaa.ac.uk Scotland's event: 'Understanding and Supporting Student Transitions in Scotland', in Dundee, 29 May:

www.qaa.ac.uk/scotland/new...
May 12, 2025 at 10:42 AM
joshpatel.bsky.social
Most relevant to my work: these are Hayek’s bastards. The gulf between them and 'eu-neoliberals' (ugh) like Lionel Robbins is huge. Never really known what to make of Robbins’ phrasing of this between ‘Nazi or a Brahmin’ and I left it out post-thesis, but clear distinction; he wouldn’t suffer them.
From my thesis, 'Imagining the Role of the Student in Society: ideas of British higher education policy and pedagogy, 1957-1972', 71. Robbins also permitted himself what he recognised was an unscientific but egalitarian assumption in the name of fairness which permitted him to advocate the expansion of ‘pastoral power’. There was, he recognised, no way to scientifically prove that utility or satisfaction obtained by one individual from any given resource was of equal satisfaction to another individual. In an example he would frequently deploy, if members of another ‘civilisation’ told ‘us […] that members of his caste were capable of experiencing ten times as much satisfaction from given incomes as members of an inferior caste, we could not refute him […] in any objective sense’. He clarified elsewhere: ‘A Nazi or a Brahmin will choose one method of counting, a western liberal another’. But Robbins permitted the assumption on the grounds of moral necessity that the good society should assume that all individuals did possess equal faculties for the realisation of satisfaction.
May 3, 2025 at 7:12 PM
joshpatel.bsky.social
Just finished'Hayek's Bastards: The Neoliberal Roots of the Populist Right' new from @quinnslobodian.com and it’s very good. Finally bringing some clarity to the assault of contradictions of the rise of global fascism. Some takeaways from me:
May 3, 2025 at 7:06 PM
joshpatel.bsky.social
Hello education/history Bluesky: does anyone know of any recent material on the Manpower Services Commission (1974-1988) in the UK? Aware of material from the 90s by Patrick Ainley and Brendan Evans: but aware there might be more recent material my survey of literature didn't capture. Thanks!!
March 6, 2025 at 10:59 AM
joshpatel.bsky.social
I'm still looking for participants for a research study into student experiences co-designed and co-delivered FE-HE pathways - please share/drop me a message if you are interested in the findings or can help with contacts!
More about the research:
www.edge.co.uk/research/cur...
An informational flyer from the Edge Foundation seeking student participants for research on studying at both further education colleges and universities, focusing on experiences, challenges, and ambitions. We are interviewing students from across the UK to ask them to share their experiences, and want to understand these to improve how colleges and universities work together. Interviews include a 15 minute activity and 30 minute discussion. Includes contact details (jpatel@edge.co.uk) and ethical guidelines.
November 26, 2024 at 10:43 AM
joshpatel.bsky.social
So good to hear this morning about the work and growth of the Journal of PGR Pedagogic Practice this year - now in its fourth issue and launched today! Amazing to hear the new GTA editorial team's work and the international reach the journal is developing

doi.org/10.31273/jpp...
November 15, 2024 at 10:58 AM
joshpatel.bsky.social
Hi everyone!

Edge have been working three projects on Degree Apprenticeships, on experiences of stakeholders, what makes a good work-based mentor, and social mobility - and to be published over the next two months! Read our blog for SRHE

srheblog.com/2024/09/11/i...
September 12, 2024 at 9:21 AM