How will REF2014 affect the UK’s research base? Has it delivered on its goals? What does the future hold for research assessment and funding? Should the next research assessment exercise be adjusted, and how? Could metrics better inform judgements about research excellence? Is it possible to design a system of…
We are privileged to have some civil servants who spend years on the same policy area, drilling down into the detail so that they know it like no other. Dodging the civil service’s tendency to churn people around in the hope they’ll become a ‘generalist’, these people become true experts…
On Tuesday, 31st March, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) will launch a new report, Open Access: Is a National Licence the answer?, at a research conference held at the Royal Society. The paper calls for everyone in the UK to be given access to the latest academic research free…
Academic research is, rightly, becoming easier to access. The potential benefits from giving companies, NHS staff, teachers, independent researchers and policymakers access to the latest research are enormous. But the change brings big challenges too, especially for the UK’s world-leading publishing industry. At the moment, the UK’s support for ‘gold…
The cost of a degree – is it worth it? Wednesday 25 March 2015 Students say they want to know where their fees are going but institutional leaders worry that higher education risks being seen as nothing more than a financial transaction. When the student numbers cap comes off, institutions…
There is a trend afoot, encouraged by the funders of research, to ask PhD students and other academic researchers to design posters explaining their work. The aim, I think, is to provide an accessible means of explaining (often unfinished) academic work. It’s a nice idea, but many of the posters end…
On Tuesday, 31st March, HEPI will be hosting a big conference in conjunction with Elsevier at the Royal Society in London to look back at the REF and forward to the future of research assessment. It will end with a presentation on higher education, the election and the spending review. Coming just…
Research is available on the economic benefits of international students, but less is known about the educational benefits. So HEPI and Kaplan used the YouthSight Applicant Omnibus Survey to ask those on the cusp of higher education what they think about the prospect of studying alongside students from abroad. The…
There is plenty of evidence available on the economic benefits of international students but there is much less information available on the educational benefits. HEPI and Kaplan used the YouthSight Applicant Omnibus Survey to question those on the cusp of higher education about studying alongside students from abroad. The results show…
We are keeping a roving eye on the higher education policies of the smaller political parties as the 2015 general election approaches. We have already covered what Ukip is promising on this blog and the Green Party’s higher education policies have been usefully covered in some detail by Wonkhe. One very small party…