Joanna Callaghan is a filmmaker and Senior Lecturer in Film Production at the University of Sussex. This week, Joanna shares her documentary  “I melt the glass with my forehead”. The film made in collaboration with Martin McQuillan explores the state of higher education in the wake of the introduction of £9,000 tuition fees.

In the autumn of 2010 the Browne Report on sustainable finance in Higher Education was published. Since then universities, students and British political life have been in a state of convulsion. This film tells the story of how under the Coalition government Britain is moving from a system of mass participation in tertiary education to the most expensive tuition fees regime in the OECD and what this means for universities and the nation.

Through a series of interviews with significant voices in the Higher Education sector (including Browne panel members), academics, and prospective students, the film pieces together the origins of Browne, its political fallout, and its long-term consequences.

A film by Joanna Callaghan and Martin McQuillan 

You can read more about the making of “I melt the glass with my forehead” online via this link.