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From the Director

Little thoughts, ideas and everything else I can’t convince my colleagues to let me write a paper about.

Professor John Blake
Professor John Blake
Director
John is Director of The Post-18 Project, a Professor of Social Innovation and Public Policy at University of Salford and a musical theatre obsessive (not necessarily in that order).
11 September 2026

Is another future for English higher education possible?

Is another future possible? Well, one is coming, whether you want it or not: the current system cannot survive. It is already dying as we speak. Which, I think, leaves three questions for everyone who works in it.

27 August 2026

Is it possible that both Nick Gibb and Lucy Powell are right?

27 August 2026

The sector can be both optimistic and worried about Burnham’s HE agenda

Noted public policy thinker and opponent-murdering enthusiast Vladimir Lenin allegedly once said: “There are decades when nothing happens, then there are weeks when decades happen.”

4 February 2026

A review of higher education funding is inevitable

As John Blake is announced as the first Director of The Post-18 Project, he argues that politicians must not ignore the feelings running ever deeper about the student loans system.