HEPI / Ellucian webinar: Big is beautiful? What should the future shape and size of the higher education sector look like?

Date:: 25 November 2026
Time:: 1pm to 2pm
Location:: Online
Organiser(s):: HEPI
Admission:: Open-to-all

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

Dr Dan Greenstein
Chief of Industry Transformation, Ellucian, and Former Chancellor of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE)
Professor Linda Merrick CBE
Principal, Royal Northern College of Music, and Chair of Conservatoires UK
Nick Hillman OBE (Chair)
Chief Executive, HEPI