Not convinced he's wrong about this specific thing, for the record.

I take your point about pair working, though perhaps static pairs have some downsides which switching partners might soften?

Even before considering that, I think there is a lot of social benefit to (1) being in a room with other people; and (2) simple nonverbal coordination (moving around each other, waiting for the balance, looking over to see what colour the end-point is).

This is lovely news. Congratulations!

I agree with this. And less staff-centric pedagogies like group work can run into the friction between social outcomes and grade outcomes, which does things to student-student interactions. Low-stakes lab work is often quite sociable, though.

At the individual level, obtaining a degree is consistently associated with improved life chances for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in all OECD countries.

This is particularly true in the UK, where universities play a highly important role in driving social mobility.

Thank you! Would this expenditure category include research spending? Yes, you are right about the SFC value - I found this in a technical guidance document.

Hello. I realise this isn't your article, but might you know where the estimated cost data comes from? I can't find it anywhere, so is it an estimate the newspaper has created itself?

iconic