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HEPI Guest Post

  • Where Global Challenge Research and Doctoral Education Meet: Six challenges for institutions supporting research capacity building in developing countries

    16 April 2019 by Dr Rebekah Smith McGloin

    A guest blog kindly contributed by Dr Rebekah Smith McGloin, Director at the Doctoral College and Centre for Research Capability and Development, Coventry University. Global Challenge Research broadly describes research projects that align with the UN sustainable development goals. It benefits one or more developing countries and is carried out in partnership…

  • If you can’t kill it, cure it: a five-point prescription for REF201

    12 April 2019 by Bill Cooke

    A guest blog kindly contributed by Bill Cooke, Professor of Strategic Management at the York Management School, University of York.  A blog I wrote before the 2014 REF (Research Excellence Framework) had over 10000 downloads from various platforms. In policy terms it was an abject failure – It was called…

  • The placement panacea

    11 April 2019 by Mike Grey

    This is a guest blog kindly contributed by Mike Grey, Head of University Partnerships at Gradconsult. I spent a decade designing, delivering and managing placement programmes. I still believe they are the single most potent weapon in what has become an employability arms race, and when successful can have a huge…

  • Why universities are spending millions on marketing

    9 April 2019 by Helen Carasso

    A guest blog kindly contributed by Dr Helen Carasso. She teaches and researches higher education policy in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford. Drawing on her professional experience in university communications, marketing and student recruitment, she has a particular interest in questions relating to fees, funding and…

  • How safe is your data? New report on cyber security in higher education

    4 April 2019

    HEPI and Jisc have today jointly published How safe is your data? Cyber-security in higher education (HEPI Policy Note 12). The paper reveals: under penetration testing (ethical hacking) using spear phishing, there is a 100 per cent track record of gaining access to higher education institutions’ high-value data within two hours; 173…

  • How safe is your data? Cyber-security in higher education

    4 April 2019 by Dr John Chapman

    In this new Policy Note, Dr John Chapman, Head of Jisc’s Security Operations Centre, reports on the cyber-security risks facing universities based on Jisc’s own work in this area. Key points: under penetration testing, there is a 100 per cent track record of gaining access to higher education institutions’ high-value…

  • Evidence should replace dogma in the debate about the STEM shortage

    2 April 2019 by Dean Machin

    A guest blog kindly contributed by Dean Machin, Strategic Policy Adviser at the University of Portsmouth David Hume, it is said, awoke Immanuel Kant from his dogmatic slumbers. We might all aspire to have similar effects but most of us will fail. However, Professor Emma Smith’s and Dr Patrick White’s Nuffield Foundation…

  • Whose voice is heard in higher education?

    29 March 2019 by Professor Tom Sperlinger

    A guest blog kindly contributed by Tom Sperlinger, Professor of Literature and Engaged Pedagogy at the University of Bristol. He is also the co-author of Who are universities for? Recently, I was talking to an academic colleague who I have known for more than 10 years – and who I had always…

  • Why a grade threshold for higher education study is neither necessary or defensible

    28 March 2019 by Greg Walker

    A guest blog kindly contributed by Dr Greg Walker, Chief Executive of MillionPlus, the Association for Modern Universities. Iain Mansfield, sets out in his HEPI blog (26 March) a defence of limiting access to a university education according to a minimum threshold of grade attainment (DDD at A Level, or…

  • Seeking simple solutions to complex problems: The careers conundrum

    27 March 2019 by Mike Grey

    This is a guest blog kindly contributed by Mike Grey, Head of University Partnerships at Gradconsult. In recent years the policy spotlight has been shining on careers and employability provision. Graduate destination metrics heavily influence Teaching Excellence Framework outcomes and league table positions. This part of the institutional offer plays a…