Reports
A Dangerous Economy: the wider implications of the proposed reforms to the UK Research Councils' peer review system
Date: 13 Dec 2006Author: Tom SastryThis report discusses the proposals of Research Councils UK for the reform of the Research Councils’ (RCs’) peer review system for giving project grants. It treats the RCUK report in the wider context of the dual support system and argues that unless the RCs retain a distinctive role in a well-delineated dual support system (which the RCUK proposals undermine), then logic and political pressures will eventually put them at risk.An analysis of Conservative proposals for higher education funding reform
Date: 09 Sep 2004Author: Bahram BekhradniaHEPI's response to the Conservative party's announcement of its proposals for higher education funding reform.
Brain Drain: Migration of Academic Staff to and from the UK
Date: 04 Oct 2005Author: Bahram Bekhradnia and Tom SastryBrain drain or brain gain? This report examines migration of academic staff to and from the UK in the past decade, drawing on research commissioned from WSA and Evidence Ltd.
Comparability of degree standards?
Date: 03 Jun 2010Author: Roger BrownThis report discusses the issues involved in comparability of degree standards. It is in two parts. Part 1 begins by outlining the means by which individual universities and colleges and the academic community collectively protect the standards of UK degrees. It then describes the historical attachment to comparability and the pressures which have led to questions being raised about it. Part 2 considers whether genuine comparability is still feasible, and what options may be open to UK higher education if it were found to be impracticable.
Credit Accumulation and Transfer, and the Bologna Process: an Overview
Date: 18 Oct 2004Author: Bahram BekhradniaThis report describes and evaluates credit accumulation and transfer systems (CATS) and concludes that they can help further lifelong learning, improve and widen participation, and reduce non-completion.
Demand for HE to 2010: Some Political and Policy Implications
Date: 29 Sep 2003Author: Bahram BekhradniaThe HEPI report "Supply and Demand in Higher Education" projects increased demand for higher education from between 180,000 and 250,000 additional young people qualified with two A-levels by the year 2010. This note looks at the implications of the policies of the different political parties (and some alternatives being proposed within the Labour Party) in the light of this projected increase in demand.
Demand for HE to 2020
Date: 21 Mar 2006Author: Bahram BekhradniaIn 2005 HEPI published a report "Demand for Higher Education to 2015-16", using the same methodology that had been used in previous years to produce projections of demand to 2010, and extending this with a tentative look to 2015. This present report refines and extends the projection further, and looks in detail at the various factors that will influence demand for higher education over the next 15 years to 2020.Demand for Higher Education to 2015-16
Date: 13 Jul 2005Author: Bahram BekhradniaAn update to HEPI's two previous reports projecting demand for higher education, this report extends the projections to 2015-16. It also contains an analysis of the implications of these revised figures, in particular for the Government's 50% target for higher education participation.Demand for Higher Education to 2020 and beyond
Date: 21 Jun 2007Author: Bahram BekhradniaThis is the fourth report on demand for higher education that HEPI has published since 2003, updated each year in the light of the most recent information. Last year's report extended the review to 2020. This year's takes a first look beyond, to 2030. The purpose of the report is not to provide firm projections – any such projections are almost certain to prove wrong. Rather it is to discuss the influences and uncertainties surrounding future HE demand, and to illustrate the impact of some of these on future numbers.Demand for Higher Education to 2029
Date: 11 Dec 2008Author: Nick Bailey and Bahram BekhradniaThis is the fifth report on demand for higher education that HEPI has published, updated each year in the light of the most recent information. Last year's report extended the review beyond 2020, to 2029-30. This year’s report incorporates the most recent population projections from the Office of National Statistics and the Government Actuary's Department, and it also incorporates some regional analyses. There are two main influences on demand for higher education – changes in the population from which students are drawn, and the ability and willingness of this population to participate in higher education (as well as the extent of that participation ). This report looks at each in turn, both nationally and regionally.
Development of third stream activity: lessons from international experience
Date: 23 Jan 2006Author: Sachi HatakenakaThe purpose of this analysis is to provide a framework for thinking about the purpose of third stream funding, to help generate debate and to reach a clarity of understanding, both about the short and the longer term.
Evaluating and funding research through the proposed Research Excellence Framework
Date: 13 Dec 2007Author: Bahram BekhradniaIn November 2007 the Higher Education Funding Council for England published a consultation paper concerning proposals for the future assessment and funding of research. This paper is an assessment of the proposed new system, the Research Excellence Framework.
Financial support in English universities: the case for a national bursary scheme
Date: 18 Sep 2008Author: Juliet Chester and Bahram BekhradniaThe introduction of variable fees for full-time Home and EU undergraduates in English universities has been accompanied by significant additional expenditure by universities on means-tested bursaries and on other financial aid for undergraduate students. However, this market is a highly distorted one, with serious consequences. This report therefore assesses the rationale for a national bursary scheme, by considering the extent and nature of the existing problems. It concludes that there is a strong case for introducing a national bursary scheme, which would provide eligible students with a guaranteed bursary from pooled institutional income – and promote greater affordability for students – but which would nevertheless allow individual universities to develop their own financial support schemes.Funding higher fees: some implications of a rise in the fee cap
Date: 03 Apr 2008Author: Juliet Chester and Bahram BekhradniaThis report considers some of the implications of any rise in the maximum fee payable by full-time UK and EU undergraduates at English institutions without a commensurate increase in commitment of public expenditure by the Westminster Government. The purpose of the report is to explore the options that would be available to the Government if it wished to raise the fee cap while maintaining public contributions at around their current level. Four possible approaches are described in detail.Funding selectivity, concentration and excellence - how good is the UK's research?
Date: 25 Mar 2010Author: Jonathan Adams and Karen GurneyThis report assesses the strength of the UK's research base, and at a high level examines how that strength is distributed between institutions. It concludes that a very small number of institutions and individuals within them produce the truly exceptional research that puts the UK among the world's leaders in research, and that below those peaks of excellence performance is more evenly spread between institutions. Whereas the present policy of selectively funding excellent research wherever it is found has had the effect of concentrating research funds in a relatively small number of institutions, there is no general case for explicitly funding research according to historical institutional characteristics.
Government, Funding Council and Universities: How Should They Relate?
Date: 18 Feb 2004Author: Bahram BekhradniaHigher education is increasingly regarded by the Governments as central to the achievement of its social and economic policies. At the same time, over the last decade or so market forces have been allowed to play an increasing role in determining the direction of higher education and more particularly the fortunes of individual institutions ; and with the increasing importance of student fees -- now to be differentiated -- in the funding of institutions, the importance of the market will increase further. The Government's views about how universities should develop are increasingly focused, yet its influence over them is indirect at best.
Graduate Supply and Demand: A Consideration of the Economic Evidence
Date: 01 Sep 2003Author: Libby Aston and Bahram BekhradniaThis paper is concerned with the economic implications of expanding higher education, and is based on a review of recent research evidence about this topic.
HE Bill and Statement: Implications of the Government’s Proposals
Date: 01 Jan 2004Author: Bahram BekhradniaThe HEPI report “"Demand for HE until 2010: Some Political and Policy Implications" included some calculations of the implications of the policies of the main parties. This paper revisits those calculations on the basis of the proposals set out in the Government Higher Education Bill and in its accompanying statement.
Higher education supply and demand to 2010
Date: 12 Jun 2003Author: Libby AstonThis paper discusses higher education supply and demand to 2010: the supply of places in higher education institutions and the demand for higher education from students.
Higher Education Supply and Demand to 2010 – an update
Date: 01 Apr 2004Author: Libby AstonIn June 2003 HEPI published projections of demand for higher education (HE) to 2010 ('HE Supply and Demand to 2010'). This report updates the projections to take account of more recent information and breaks down the projections in more detail for separate cohorts of students.