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HEPI Guest Post

  • Action needed to avert the growing crisis in language learning

    9 January 2020

    The Higher Education Policy Institute’s latest report, A Languages Crisis? (HEPI Report 123) by Megan Bowler, highlights a huge drop in demand for learning languages and makes a set of recommendations for reversing the fall. The paper shows only 32 per cent of 15-to-30 year olds from the UK can read and…

  • Students’ accommodation experiences are far from uniform

    8 January 2020 by Vincenzo Raimo

    This blog was kindly contributed by Vincenzo Raimo, Visiting Fellow at the University of Reading and Chief Relationship Officer at Unilodgers. There have been a number of really interesting blog posts recently challenging us all to think about what a university experience in the UK might encompass and how it…

  • Higher education institutions’ responsibilities to students: Post-Study Work visa

    7 January 2020 by Kathy Daniels

    This blog was kindly contributed by Kathy Daniels, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor International, Aston University. The government’s announcement of a new graduate route for international students has been met with approval by higher education institutions. However, what does this mean and what responsibilities does it place on the higher education sector?…

  • Life as a higher education outreach practitioner: frustrations and solutions

    2 January 2020 by Beka Avery

    This blog was kindly contributed by Beka Avery, NCOP Pathways Project Manager. As a higher education outreach practitioner, I try to keep up with the latest research, data and academic insights our field; it is interesting and it is important. But day-to-day I am faced with the challenge and the…

  • Student residence in England: A world unto itself

    30 December 2019 by Holly Henderson

    This blog was kindly contributed by Holly Henderson, an Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham. Higher education is all too often used as if it is synonymous with university, in spite of the fact that higher education is also offered in 86% of the 257 colleges of…

  • The mystery of the missing statistic

    27 December 2019 by Dennis Sherwood

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dennis Sherwood, one of the UK’s leading experts in organisational creativity, innovation, systems thinking and system dynamics. PART ONE “There’s something missing!”, he said, setting down his briar. His companion peered over his newspaper. “How interesting! Another non-barking-dog case?” “Alas, no. But something that…

  • Slipping through the net? Study abroad and student wellbeing.

    24 December 2019 by Megan Bowler

    This blog was contributed by Megan Bowler, one of our Summer Interns. Megan is in her third year at the University of Oxford studying for an undergraduate degree in Classics. Time abroad is an obligatory feature of most Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and MFL Joint Honours courses, offering students real-world…

  • We need to talk about free speech again. Sorry.

    23 December 2019 by Richard Brabner

    This blog was kindly contributed by Richard Brabner, Director of the UPP foundation. Richard has written this article in a personal capacity and they reflect his own views rather than those of the UPP Foundation. Readers of this fabulous website will generally think, as I do, that the free speech…

  • What is the future for university representation under the Conservatives?

    20 December 2019 by Jonathan Woodhead

    This blog was kindly contributed by Jonathan Woodhead, Policy Adviser at Birkbeck, University of London. One of the striking features about the recent general election, along with the breaching of the ‘Red Wall’ of former Labour northern heartland seats, was the increasing dominance of Labour in our larger cities. As…

  • The best for universities over the next few years is not good

    19 December 2019 by Anon

    A senior member of a staff at a British university writes anonymously about what to expect from the new Government. Boris Johnson’s thumping majority means that he can do pretty much what he likes to the higher education sector. Assuming we don’t get a Secretary of State with a pathological…