November 2026 HEPI webinars

REGISTER for ‘Invest now or pay later? The future of professional services in higher education’ webinar, Thursday 12 November, 12pm – 1pm

HEPI is hosting a webinar on Thursday 12 November from 12pm to 1pm to explore the findings of  The invisible majority (HEPI Report 205), a study of the professional and support staff who make up 56 per cent of the UK higher education workforce and 48 per cent of its pay bill.

These staff run student services, maintain buildings, manage research grants and operate digital systems. Yet most institutions respond to financial pressure through restructuring, hiring freezes and outsourcing, cutting the very capability they need to recover.

Drawing on surveys of 450 respondents, the report finds that three-quarters face sustained high work intensity and two-thirds say change has affected them negatively, rising to 79 per cent of those earning below £40,000. Jobs have expanded without redesign, and change is too often done to staff rather than with them.

This webinar will unpack the report’s evidence and recommendations, from reforming job evaluation to fixing the sector’s workforce data and discuss how universities can protect the capability they depend on while budgets are tight. It will offer clear evidence and practical insight into the choice between investing now and paying later.

Speakers include:

• Professor Sir Steve West CBE, Vice-Chancellor, President and Chief Executive, University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol
• Margaret Ayers, Chief People Officer, University of the Arts London, and Chair, Universities Human Resources (UHR)
• Cheryl Watson, VP Education, UK, TechnologyOne
• Amanda Owen-Meehan, Consulting Director, AHEP Consulting
• Nick Hillman OBE (Chair), Chief Executive, HEPI

Hosted with support from TechnologyOne and AHEP Consulting.

Register here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1fBVCnZPS76vDLFj7em5FQ

REGISTER for ‘Using AI to make students smarter’ webinar, Tuesday 17 November, 12pm – 1pm

Join HEPI and Studiosity for a webinar on Tuesday 17 November on ‘Using AI to make students smarter‘.

The Student Generative AI Survey 2026 (HEPI Report 199) found that 94% of students use generative AI to help with assessed work and that 65% think that assessment has changed significantly in response to AI, with some expressing anxiety about the possibility of false accusations of misconduct. At the same time, while 68% of students believe AI skills are essential in today’s world, only 48% feel supported by their teaching staff to develop these skills. 

Universities around the world are grappling with how best to respond to the rapid development of AI: supporting students to use AI ethically, critically and transparently, while at the same time, mitigating the risks of inappropriate use and trying to address inequalities in access to the latest tech. Recent HEPI research, What UK university AI policies actually do: A study of 96 institutions (HEPI Policy Note 71), by Professor Sam Illingworth, found that the majority of publicly-available university AI policies reflect a model of conditional trust, in which students are trusted only if they declare their use of AI, retain evidence and submit their work to verification. This complements a previous article by Professor Rose Luckin, published in AI and the Future of Universities (HEPI Report 193), which argues that universities should shift from concerns about cheating to a broader reconsideration of how to increase students’ human intelligence in order that they might thrive in a world of increasingly sophisticated tools.

How should higher education institutions and their partners respond to AI in ways that prioritise learning over detection, building trust at scale, and developing students’ skills, while addressing the risks of misuse?

Speakers include:

• Professor Sam Illingworth, Professor of Critical AI Literacy, Edinburgh Napier University
• Professor Kelly Coate, Provost, Richmond American University London
• Graeme Kirk, Partnership Development Lead, Studiosity
• Nick Hillman OBE, Chief Executive, HEPI (Chair)

Hosted with support from Studiosity.

Register here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_o580rY7TR2qehkye9sEWgQ

REGISTER for ‘Big is beautiful? What should the future shape and size of the higher education sector look like?’ webinar, Wednesday 25 November, 1pm – 2pm

On Wednesday 25 November, join HEPI and Ellucian for a lunchtime webinar featuring guest speakers including Dr Dan Greenstein, former Chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, and author of HEPI’s recent report Risk and Resilience: What UK higher education can learn from the United States.

As higher education institutions grapple with unprecedented challenges and come under heightened pressure to collaborate, how should the sector organise itself? The landscape is changing fast, with mergers, takeovers and possible closures all in the news. What should the future size and shape of UK institutions and the higher education sector as a whole look like? What can we learn from the United States, where hundreds of higher education institutions and thousands of campuses are thought to have closed in recent years due to demographic change and other factors?

In a recent HEPI Policy Note, Dr Dan Greenstein argued that institutional leaders should prioritise revenue growth over all else, but others have argued such growth brings its own problems over time. So should individual institutions primarily search for collaboration and growth, and if so, how? Or should institutions continue to emphasise what makes them special and distinct, even if this keeps them small? Which path offers greater protection from increased vulnerability and is more likely to protect diverse provision?

Speakers include:

• Dr Dan Greenstein, former Chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education
• Joshua Travis Brown, Assistant Professor, School of Education, Johns Hopkins University, USA
• Professor Dame Sally Mapstone DBE FRSE, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of St Andrews
• Professor Linda Merrick CBE, Principal, Royal Northern College of Music, and Chair, Conservatoires UK
• Nick Hillman OBE, Chief Executive, HEPI (Chair)

Hosted with support from Ellucian.

Register here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KzNaiLncQfqiG0aYNaZ1Qw