Skip to content
The UK's only independent think tank devoted to higher education.

Month: August 2016

  • Polytechnics or universities?

    15 August 2016 by Nick Hillman

    August seems as good a time as any to put up something we have been meaning to post for a while: the text of Anthony Crosland’s Woolwich Polytechnic speech of 27th April 1965. It is incredibly important in higher education policymaking, as it announced the binary system of polytechnics and universities…

  • Forget grammar schools, what about comprehensive universities?

    9 August 2016 by Nick Hillman

    The perennial row over grammar schools flared up again last weekend. Possibly, just possibly, the new Prime Minister is not as opposed to new grammar schools, which select pupils on academic ability, as her recent predecessors. The debate over grammar schools feels endless and circular but is perhaps best articulated…

  • New Zealand: A small far away country from which we can learn much?

    2 August 2016 by Sam Cannicott

    This guest blog has been contributed by Sam Cannicott, who has been the Education Policy Adviser for the Liberal Democrats (2007-2010) and a Policy and Strategy Adviser at Regent’s University London (2012-15) and who now lives and works in New Zealand. New Zealand has a population of under 4.5 million and only eight universities. …