Top of the Pods

It’s another higher ed ranking that no-one asked for. With over 100 podcasts of Registrars and others talking about stuff and some very creative imaginary universities it felt like we needed a league table. So, here you have it – the most listened-to podcasts of the last 12 months.

July 1, 2025

3–4 minutes

My Imaginary University, Podcast, Ranking, University Registrars Talking About Stuff

From Registrars Talking Stuff to Imagined HE Institutions

Surprisingly (to me anyway) I’ve been producing podcasts for over five years now. It all started with the University Registrars Talking About Stuff podcast (the Ronseal of higher education podcasting for sure), which eventually expanded to include “Others”, on the basis that there are only so many Registrars around to talk about stuff with. Fortunately, this also enabled me to keep it going as I have transferred from the Registrar to Other category myself. There are nearly 80 episodes to date of this one and you can find them all here.

Then, to make things a bit more interesting, I added a second podcast at the end of 2022. In this one a notable sector figure is asked to create and describe their ideal imaginary university. My Imaginary University is a sort of Desert Island Universities concept but without the desert island, the music, the book or the luxury. OK, there is a wee bit of music in the form of a university anthem but you get the general idea. There have been some remarkable higher education creations over the nearly 30 episodes of the podcast and you can cast your ear over all of them here.

Going live

There have also been a couple of live editions of the My Imaginary University podcast with the most recent recording happening at this year’s Wonkhe Festival of Higher Education. Nick Hillman of Hepi was the creator on this occasion and he came up with a novel approach to the residential university which involved taking over a National Trust property and adding a new stop on the HS2 line.

To date there has just been one live recording of the University Registrars Talking About Stuff podcast – this one involving one of my more frequent guests, Lee Sanders of the University of Birmingham and happening live at the 2025 Spring Conference of AHUA.

That’s Ranking Alright

Things being what they are round here and the general desperate craving in the HE sector for league tables covering everything you can imagine, from the daft to the truly bonkers, it only seemed right that we produce a podcast ranking for you.

So, here you have it then, the top 10 most listened-to podcasts of the past 12 months in both series.

1 Knowing Me, Knowing You

Top of the pile is the episode featuring Lee Sanders and me talking about a long-standing collaboration between Swedish and UK Registrars, generations of whom have been meeting at a biennial seminar which has been running since 1984.

2 Cuckoo University

In second place is a university dreamed up by Professor Mark Peace – an incredibly lean organisation with no buildings and very few staff, which is dedicated to enabling students to make the most of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement.

3 Strategy and Data in the UK and US

In at 3 is a conversation I had with Olivia Kew-Fickus, Chief Data Officer at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee all about her career in higher ed strategy development and data on both sides of the Atlantic.

4 Live at AHUA Conference

In 4th place is the recent live recording of a current and a former Registrar reminding everyone that they were once the future.

University Registrars (and Others) Talking About Stuff – Episode 19: I wish I knew then what I know now

5 Live at the Festival of HE

Next in line is another live recording, this time at Wonkhe’s 2024 Festival of Higher Education and featuring a very creative Nick Hillman who comes up with an intensive residential university experience somewhere near the HS2 line.