This is a speech that Nick Hillman, the Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute made this afternoon to an academic conference in central London. Introduction I have been asked to speak on ‘Brexit: How it will affect universities’. Of course, Brexit has not happened yet and, if there is one thing…
Recently, someone asked me which HEPI reports had been most widely read. There is no perfect way to measure this because we send out the same number of hard copies of each report and it is up to the recipients to decide whether to read them or not. It is…
Last week, the Universities UK Annual Conference at Brunel University was all over the newspapers, particularly in relation to the important speech by Jo Johnson, the Minister for Universities. But somewhere on the wall in the Gents’ loo in Brunel’s students’ union building was a message that could be more…
The new academic year is almost upon us. The legislation is now on the statute books, the TEF has been rolled out and we have a tiny bit more clarity on the status of international students, with a Government review currently underway. There remains, however, a rich agenda still to…
The summer showed that vice-chancellors’ pay is a matter of public interest. Counter-intuitively, and in contrast to almost every other issue affecting universities, the best way to address the concerns might be for institutions to become a little more inward-looking. In other words, or so I have argued elsewhere (‘On v-c…
The UK’s pipeline of creative talent is fracturing because Art, Media and Design are being downgraded in schools, according to a new report – A crisis in the creative arts in the UK? – from the Higher Education Policy Institute by Professor John Last, Vice-Chancellor of Norwich University of the Arts (NUA). Research…
Recent debates have focused on the direct economic returns of obtaining a degree – and certain degrees in particular. Taking one county as an example, this report by the Vice-Chancellor of Norwich University of the Arts, Professor John Last, reveals the knock-on effect for the options available in schools. In…
This guest blog comes from Victoria Greene, Marketing Consultant and Freelance Writer. Victoria works with ecommerce businesses and entrepreneurs to create effective content and marketing strategies. She is currently mentoring entrepreneurial students in Chicago. The first steps on the road to post-graduate employment can be a challenge, and finding work that makes…
University changed my life, just as it will change the lives of those school leavers who enrol for the first time this autumn. But I didn’t particularly enjoy my first term or my first year. I was in one of the oldest and most traditional halls of residence, but my…
On 14 August 2017, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and the social mobility charity Brightside jointly published a collection of essays by senior higher education figures entitled ‘Where next for widening participation and fair access? New insights from leading thinkers’. Since 15 August, we have been showcasing the contents of this…