I work on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in higher education — particularly in assessment, academic integrity and institutional governance.https://obrien.vision/en-gbhttps://obrien.vision/writing/how-uk-research-funding-actually-works/https://obrien.vision/writing/how-uk-research-funding-actually-works/If you have ever wondered how UK research funding works, you are not alone.Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/the-ofs-has-a-rule-about-university-accounts/https://obrien.vision/writing/the-ofs-has-a-rule-about-university-accounts/The Office for Students (OfS) has a rule about university accounts. A real one. Not a “best endeavours” one. Not a “when you get round to it” one. An actual condition of being on the register 📜.Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/red-university-day/https://obrien.vision/writing/red-university-day/🔴 It’s Red University Day. 🔴 I have already posted the “I’m only mildly alarmed” (🟢) and “I’m checking the exits, but calmly” (🟠) lists.Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/the-green-and-green-ish-universities/https://obrien.vision/writing/the-green-and-green-ish-universities/Last week I posted a list of the green (and green-ish) universities I have the least concern about financially. It was, depressingly, a short list. The amber list, by contrast, is rather longer.Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/what-the-925-international-student-levy-is-really-for/https://obrien.vision/writing/what-the-925-international-student-levy-is-really-for/The £925 levy on international students is not about "Investing in domestic students" or "vital financial support".Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/every-student-a-copilot-the-campus-ai-deals/https://obrien.vision/writing/every-student-a-copilot-the-campus-ai-deals/Universities are busy signing big AI deals to give every student a "copilot" or "study assistant" 🤖.Thu, 27 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/universities-keep-telling-me-they-want-to-be-ai-first/https://obrien.vision/writing/universities-keep-telling-me-they-want-to-be-ai-first/Universities keep telling me they want to be "AI-first". Then you look at the workload model, the promotion criteria and the risk register… and AI is nowhere to be seen.Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/the-grim-comedy-at-staffordshire/https://obrien.vision/writing/the-grim-comedy-at-staffordshire/There is a distinct grim comedy in the reports emerging from Staffordshire University this week.Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/every-era-had-its-obvious-degree/https://obrien.vision/writing/every-era-had-its-obvious-degree/Every era had its “obvious” degree. In 1350, you studied theology to save your soul. In 1850, you studied classics to run the Empire. In 1995, you studied business to get a nice office and a pot plant.Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/the-death-of-higher-education-greatly-exaggerated/https://obrien.vision/writing/the-death-of-higher-education-greatly-exaggerated/The death of higher education has been greatly exaggerated, again.Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/uk-research-funding-is-being-quietly-rebuilt/https://obrien.vision/writing/uk-research-funding-is-being-quietly-rebuilt/UK research funding 🇬🇧 is being quietly dismantled and rebuilt while most universities 🏛️ look the other way.Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/a-high-stakes-online-exam-on-chatgpt-sat-with-chatgpt/https://obrien.vision/writing/a-high-stakes-online-exam-on-chatgpt-sat-with-chatgpt/Set a high-stakes, online exam on “Natural Language Processing & ChatGPT” for 600 students and you have not designed an assessment; you have announced a public challenge to the very people bestTue, 11 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/the-quiet-write-off-of-unpaid-international-tuition/https://obrien.vision/writing/the-quiet-write-off-of-unpaid-international-tuition/UK universities are quietly writing off millions in unpaid international tuition – and in some cases it's wiping out over 10% of their fee income in a single year. Here is the uncomfortable version.Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/inflation-link-versus-market-rate/https://obrien.vision/writing/inflation-link-versus-market-rate/Inflation Link vs.Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/more-meh-than-menace/https://obrien.vision/writing/more-meh-than-menace/More "meh" than menace? The Pew people just published their global survey on AI hopes and fears. 🌍😐 It doesn't deliver the doom or the drum-roll many expected.Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/do-you-recognise-this-face/https://obrien.vision/writing/do-you-recognise-this-face/Do you recognise this face? The suspect is 58 years old (on average), male (in two thirds of sightings), and of North European ethnicity (98%). Often goes by the name of Andy, Peter, Paul or Steve.Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/ucl-learns-the-cost-of-overbooking/https://obrien.vision/writing/ucl-learns-the-cost-of-overbooking/University College London isn’t a budget carrier, but it just learned the cost of overbooking. Extra visas have opened the gate; the question is why it got this far.Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/computer-says-yes-why-i-would-rather-be-fired-by-an-ai/https://obrien.vision/writing/computer-says-yes-why-i-would-rather-be-fired-by-an-ai/Computer says yes: why I’d prefer to be fired by AI I was made redundant by a panel so mysterious it made the REF panel look like Eurovision. No minutes. No rationale.Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/scrap-the-fee-cap-tomorrow-and-9-250-does-not-gently-adjust/https://obrien.vision/writing/scrap-the-fee-cap-tomorrow-and-9-250-does-not-gently-adjust/Scrap the university fee cap tomorrow and £9,250 doesn’t gently adjust to inflation - it straps on a jetpack. To be clear up front: complete price deregulation is not coming to the UK.Tue, 23 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/uk-universities-are-still-on-a-knife-edge/https://obrien.vision/writing/uk-universities-are-still-on-a-knife-edge/UPDATED: UK universities are still on a knife-edge. Thanks for all your comments.Thu, 18 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/ten-universities-most-likely-to-be-merged-or-subsumed/https://obrien.vision/writing/ten-universities-most-likely-to-be-merged-or-subsumed/Here’s my opinionated take on the top ten UK universities most likely to be merged or subsumed in the next 2–3 years.Fri, 12 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/ai-is-in-a-terrible-hype-cycle/https://obrien.vision/writing/ai-is-in-a-terrible-hype-cycle/AI is in a terrible hype cycle. The bubble is inflating fast with no revenue in sight. So why am I still so excited? 🤔 🤷 I shouldn’t be.Tue, 02 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/what-is-ai-actually-for/https://obrien.vision/writing/what-is-ai-actually-for/Amidst artificial intelligence hype, how many hypers have answered the question, 'what exactly is "intelligence"?' Pop-philosopher and Silicon Valley icon, Nick Bostrom, certainly hasn't, in hisFri, 22 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/are-graduate-salaries-the-wrong-way-to-measure-universities/https://obrien.vision/writing/are-graduate-salaries-the-wrong-way-to-measure-universities/❓ Are graduate salaries the wrong way to measure universities? 🎓 Everyone’s talking about the LEO data on graduate outcomes.Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/britains-crazy-doctors-problem/https://obrien.vision/writing/britains-crazy-doctors-problem/Britain’s “crazy doctors” problem The challenges facing international students are just the tip of the iceberg.Wed, 13 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/deficits-down-here-pay-packets-up-there/https://obrien.vision/writing/deficits-down-here-pay-packets-up-there/If 40% of providers are in deficit, why are vice-chancellor packages still drifting north of £341k?Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/the-jenga-piece-nobody-dares-touch/https://obrien.vision/writing/the-jenga-piece-nobody-dares-touch/They’re the Jenga piece you daren’t touch, the quiet support holding up a rickety tower. They’re the espresso shot in a gallon of lukewarm latte.Mon, 11 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/ethics-in-artificial-intelligence/https://obrien.vision/writing/ethics-in-artificial-intelligence/Artificial intelligence has catapulted from the plaything of graduate students to the digital weather system that now soaks every corner of the economy. The upsides are dazzling; the downsides, well, they're the reason you're reading this article instead…Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/why-cant-we-be-friends/https://obrien.vision/writing/why-cant-we-be-friends/UK universities could save £1.5 billion through collaboration, but pyramid politics and cultural feudalism keep them competing over stationery while students foot the bill.Thu, 10 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/cheaper-easier-efficienter/https://obrien.vision/writing/cheaper-easier-efficienter/Fifteen years after ministers promised that private partnerships would revolutionise British higher education, we ask: who actually made any money? Spoiler alert: nobody ends up bathing in gold coins, but at least the catering's cheaper.Wed, 09 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/how-to-murder-a-university/https://obrien.vision/writing/how-to-murder-a-university/A UK university cannot simply press CTRL-ALT-DELETE and vanish. Here's what actually happens when institutions reach the end of the financial road.Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/university-ownership/https://obrien.vision/writing/university-ownership/Universities belong to exactly the same person who owns Stonehenge and the Shipping Forecast: nobody in particular and everyone in theory. They're magnificent, slightly aloof, and impossible to sell on eBay.Mon, 07 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/flatpacks-not-ivory-towers/https://obrien.vision/writing/flatpacks-not-ivory-towers/British universities have morphed into Versailles-sized palaces of PowerPoint where the managerial pyramid grows faster than academic staff. Time to flatten the hierarchy and trust the people who can actually spell phenomenology.Thu, 03 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/fixing-universities/https://obrien.vision/writing/fixing-universities/Universities in the UK are in financial trouble. Instead of individual cost-cutting that shrinks institutions, the sector could save billions through collective action and smarter revenue diversification.Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/beyond-the-balance-sheet/https://obrien.vision/writing/beyond-the-balance-sheet/Calling a university's strategy its 'business model' is like calling the Royal Opera House a karaoke bar. Universities need a busyness model focused on public value, not just profit margins.Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/governmental-shrugs/https://obrien.vision/writing/governmental-shrugs/Westminster rushes to save 1,300 car jobs at Lotus but shrugs at 10,000 university redundancies. Apparently some independent organisations are more independent than others.Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/rightsizing-rant/https://obrien.vision/writing/rightsizing-rant/67 UK universities have redundancy schemes running, but they're calling it 'rightsizing.' It's time to sack the euphemism and interrogate the plan.Wed, 25 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/stop-calling-everything-slop-ai-quality-checklist/https://obrien.vision/writing/stop-calling-everything-slop-ai-quality-checklist/The term 'AI slop' has become a lazy catch-all for any machine-assisted work. Here's a detailed taxonomy for more precise AI quality assessment—because clear language is the first step toward cleaner machine-made work.Thu, 19 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://obrien.vision/writing/staying-away-from-uk-higher-education/https://obrien.vision/writing/staying-away-from-uk-higher-education/After spending most of my life inside universities, I find myself on the outside looking in—and I don't plan to go back any time soon. Here's why the current state of UK higher education is pushing talent away.Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT