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HEPI Guest Post

  • Review of David Willetts’s updated ‘The Pinch’

    10 February 2020 by Edward Maxfield

    This book review was kindly contributed by Dr Edward Maxfield, CEO of a small charity, a Liberal Democrat councillor and co-author of 101 Ways to Win an Election. He has a lifetime interest in education policy and worked as a lobbyist for Universities UK from 2009 to 2011. It seems…

  • Big tech: what is in it for me?

    7 February 2020 by Lucy Haire and Tony Nneke

    This blog was kindly contributed by Lucy Haire, Oracle Higher Education, with contributions from Tony Nneke, Oracle Cultural Harmony Network Chair. As I visit university after university, many lament the gap between the quality of the technology they use as a consumer or researcher, and the systems that are used…

  • Disenfranchising the student vote and other absurd ideas

    5 February 2020 by Dean Machin

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dean Machin, Strategic Policy Adviser at the University of Portsmouth. As the Conservative Party turns to reflect on its problem with the student vote, and notes that university cities are increasingly non-blue, there is the risk of some very silly suggestions. In a largely…

  • Is this a ‘moment’ for addressing challenges faced by disabled students?

    3 February 2020 by Amy Low

    This blog was kindly contributed by Amy Low, Service Delivery Director at AbilityNet. AbilityNet is a technology and digital accessibility charity that supports disabled people to achieve their objectives at home, at work and in education. They provide a range of services for individuals and organisations including 1-1 support services,…

  • One year on from the Lambeth College and London South Bank University merger

    31 January 2020 by David Phoenix

    This blog was kindly contributed by Professor David Phoenix, Vice-Chancellor, London South Bank University One year ago today we received ministerial approval for the designation of a new subsidiary, South Bank Colleges (SBC), to deliver further education. That same day, Lambeth College in south London merged with SBC, becoming part…

  • Articulating value : creating a compelling narrative

    27 January 2020 by Kim Ansell

    This blog was kindly contributed by Kim Ansell, Senior Advisor at Advance HE. It is the first of three blogs we will be running this week on the theme of value. In a time of increasing uncertainty and public scrutiny, higher education is facing an unprecedented challenge to articulate value…

  • Iain Mansfield responds to today’s paper on social mobility and grammar schools

    23 January 2020 by Iain Mansfield

    This blog was written by Iain Mansfield, the author of the HEPI Occasional Paper The Impact of Selective Secondary Education on Progression to Higher Education (2019), a report written in a personal capacity prior to him taking up his current role. The paper published today by HEPI is, in parts,…

  • A language crisis: four thoughts

    20 January 2020 by John Claughton

    John Claughton, former Chief Master of King Edward’s School, Birmingham offers some reflections on Megan Bowler’s recent report on the crisis in modern languages. Nestor, the king of sandy Pylos, is the grand old man of The Iliad. He has seen the passing of two generations of mankind and is…

  • No easy answers – Oxbridge interviews: The teacher’s perspective

    17 January 2020 by John Plowright

    This guest blog has been kindly contributed by John Plowright, a former History teacher in an independent school and the author of various History textbooks, who has advised hundreds of pupils on their admission to higher education, including Oxbridge. Oxbridge, despite the best endeavours to widen access by the two…