What have people been reading about higher education in 2017/18?

The HEPI year runs from the start of August to the end of July and so, recently, we have been taking stock of our 2017/18 year. It was (by far) the busiest one ever on our website.

The top 20 most-read entries were, unsurprisingly, headed by our ground-breaking research with Kaplan International Pathways and London Economics on the benefits to the UK of hosting international students. We remain hopeful that this will have helped the Migration Advisory Committee come to sensible conclusions in their soon-to-be-published report.

The rest of our list is diverse, covering league tables, students’ voting intentions and views on Brexit, our major annual Student Academic Experience Survey with Advance HE, degree standards, demand for higher education, the mental health of students and so on.

Some issues appear more than once and, hopefully, the rankings below will not only show what issues have been bugging the sector over the past year but also what is likely to keep us busy in 2018/19.

Here’s the list.

1. ‘New study shows the benefits of international students are ten times greater than the costs – and are worth £310 per UK resident’, press notice, 11 January 2018
2. ‘Upending the rankings: Benchmarking widening participation in universities’, press notice, 5 April 2018
3. ‘Over two-thirds (68%) of students now back Labour, but most of them think Labour (55%) and Jeremy Corbyn (58%) back Remain’, press notice, 18 December 2017
4. ‘New research suggests levels of independent study are more important than contact hours in determining how much students learn’, press notice, 8 January 2018
5. ‘Going for Gold: Lessons from the TEF provider submissions’, Publications, 19 October 2017
6. ‘What are the biggest challenges facing higher education in 2018?’, guest blog, 17 January 2018
7. ‘New report calls on universities to take radical steps to make higher education accessible for all’, press notice, 10 May 2018
8. ‘Are degree standards the same at all universities?’, guest blog, 2 July 2018
9. ‘2018 HEPI Annual Conference – From Funding to Fining: Universities in the new age of regulation’, Events, 7 June 2018
10. ‘New guide explains the mysteries of university rankings’, press notice, 4 January 2018
11. ‘2018 Student Academic Experience Survey’, Publications, 7 June 2018
12. ‘Benchmarking widening participation: how should we measure and report progress?’, Publications, 5 April 2018
13. ‘A Guide to UK League Tables in Higher Education’, Publications, 4 January 2018
14. ‘A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education’, guest blog, 25 September 2017
15. ‘Oxbridge students work harder, are more satisfied and get better value for money than other students but have less creative and original teaching’, press notice, 24 May 2018
16. ‘Demand for Higher Education to 2030’, Publications, 15 March 2018
17. ‘Turning the corner on value for money – 2018 HEPI / Advance HE Student Academic Experience Survey highlights students’ belief that value for money in higher education is improving’, press notice, 7 June 2018
18. ‘The Positive and Mindful University’, Publications, 21 September 2017
19. ‘The costs and benefits of international students (including by parliamentary constituency)’, Publications, 11 January 2018
20. ‘Helping students and staff by creating positive and mindful universities’, press notice, 21 September 2017