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The UK's only independent think tank devoted to higher education.

Diana Beech

  • Are degree standards the same at all universities?

    2 July 2018 by Andrew Hindmarsh

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Dr Andrew Hindmarsh, who is an analyst for the Complete University Guide and also Head of Planning at the University of Nottingham. Any views expressed in this article are those of the Complete University Guide and do not necessarily reflect those…

  • Harnessing the opportunities in global higher education

    28 June 2018 by Patrick Whitfield

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Patrick Whitfield, Director UK & Europe of QS Enrolment Solutions. June has been a month of good news for proponents of the internationalisation of higher education. Heralding progress on the UK’s offer to international students, Immigration Minister Rt Hon Caroline…

  • England’s choice for post-18 education: Levelling up or down?

    25 June 2018 by Greg Walker

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Dr Greg Walker, Chief Executive of MillionPlus, the Association for Modern Universities. Greg has worked in different parts of the tertiary education sector in his career. ‘Too many graduates’, the populist press cry. ‘Too few people qualified in higher technical areas’,…

  • The big issues: equality, diversity and inclusion in higher education

    22 June 2018 by Diana Beech & Tony Nneke

    On Monday 25 June, the team at Oracle – a HEPI partner organisation – is hosting a half-day event looking at the big issues of equality, diversity and inclusion in UK higher education. The event aims to provide a platform for institutions to share ideas, strategies and best practices which…

  • Enough policy already; let’s get real about student mental health and wellbeing

    19 June 2018 by Tim Daplyn

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Tim Daplyn, Managing Director at Red Brick Research – an agency focussed on delivering strategic insight into student life for universities, students’ unions, accommodation providers and the private sector. He is fond of metaphors and enjoys an argument. An odd…

  • Staff wellbeing in universities

    15 June 2018 by Diana Beech

    The issue of mental health is rising high on the higher education policy agenda across the country. The harsh realities of poor mental health were brought home this week at the University of Buckingham’s Festival of Higher Education. Yesterday, we heard from James Murray, the father of Bristol student Ben…

  • In case you missed it…

    14 June 2018 by Diana Beech

    This time last week saw the 2018 HEPI Annual Conference take place in London, with keynote speeches from Sam Gyimah MP, Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research & Innovation, and Lord Mandelson. We have since published both speeches on our website (available here). We have also published the PowerPoint presentations…

  • Shining a light on hidden course costs

    13 June 2018 by Caitlin Bloom

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Caitlin Bloom, who is an advocate for parity in student experience and was previously a student union officer.  The recent Brightside and HEPI report for the new Director of Fair Access and Participation got me thinking: at university I was on a…

  • Would differential fees make a difference?

    11 June 2018 by Alec Cameron

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Professor Alec Cameron, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Aston University. In the context of the current review of post-18 education, one of the ideas considered to have some political support was that of ‘differential fees’, or the setting of different fee levels…