In a previous article on the HEPI blog we reported one of the results from our University Strategy 2020 research report: 63% of UK universities are due to renew their strategy over next year or the year after. This was based on an analysis of a sample of 52 university…
When higher education policy conversations turn to research, they tend to dwell upon the UK Government’s commitment to increase the share of GDP spent on research and development (R&D) by public and private sources to 2.4% by 2027. This is a huge amount of money – more than three times…
There are few issues in higher education as controversial as free speech. In this report, Corey Stoughton, the Advocacy Director of the human rights organisation Liberty, looks at the issue through history, international experience and recent legal changes. She notes that asking disempowered people to accept a total right to…
The Higher Education Policy Institute has published a robust defence of free speech in universities, Free Speech and Censorship on Campus (HEPI Occasional Paper 21) by Corey Stoughton. The author is the Advocacy Director and previous Acting Director of the Human Rights organisation Liberty and served as senior counsel to the Assistant…
A lot is (rightly) expected of universities. Most commentators agree that the UK’s universities punch above their weight in terms of rankings, reputation and return on investment. Yet the pressure is on to maintain, explain and even improve this positioning. The UK’s current political instability and its ever-changing higher education…
This is a guest blog from Dr Joe Marshall, Chief Executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), building on last week’s State of the Relationship Report about the relationship between universities and business. The last year has been anything but steady. From the machinations in Westminster and uncertainty…
A guest blog kindly contributed by Professor Joy Carter, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Winchester Together as a sector, we need to re-evaluate what we do and to make the climate emergency a higher priority than it is at present. There are some notable exceptions, but the higher education sector…
A guest blog kindly contributed by Mark Corney, a Post-16 Education and Labour Market Consultant. It follows a series of HEPI blogs on responding to the Augar report. They include pieces by Professor Tom Sperlinger on Foundation years, and Professor Simon Marginson on broader issues of fair opportunity in higher…
A guest blog kindly contributed by Professor John Last, Vice-Chancellor of Norwich University of the Arts The creative industries are creating the jobs of the future – where emphasis on human creativity and ingenuity are core. Not my words, but one of the keynotes of the UK’s Industrial Strategy –…
It is easy to be pessimistic about future student demand, given the current environment in which higher education institutions are operating. We often write about the challenges facing the sector. But the slides below are designed to show there are broad grounds for optimism too. (With apologies to Ian Dury…