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

HEPI Guest Post

  • It’s not (yet?) true that half of young people go to university

    9 October 2019 by Peter Brant

    This guest blog was kindly contributed by Peter Brant, Senior Policy Manager at The Open University.  There was much excitement at the end of September as the latest Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR) data apparently showed that Tony Blair’s ambitious target for “50 per cent of young adults going into higher education” by 2010 had finally been achieved, seven years behind schedule. Opinions were…

  • Show me the (value for) money!

    3 October 2019 by Paul Gratrick

    This blog was kindly contributed by Paul Gratrick, Faculty Business Partner at the University of Liverpool’s Careers service where he has been researching value for money at an institutional level. Despite Universities Minsters currently playing the hokey-cokey with their role, the questioning of the value for money of higher education…

  • Commuting students – enhancing a different student experience

    27 September 2019 by Sal Jarvis

    This guest blog is kindly contributed by Dr Sal Jarvis, Pro Vice Chancellor, Education and Student Experience at the University of Hertfordshire. It is the start of a new academic year. As staff thoughts turn to course induction and as Students Unions plan Freshers’ events, new students are rolling up…

  • The Label Problem Driving the Cost of American Higher Education

    26 September 2019 by Andrew Stumpff Morrison

    This blog was kindly contributed by Andrew Stumpff Morrison, author and lawyer who teaches at the law schools of the University of Michigan, University of Alabama, and Washington University in St. Louis. U.S. Democratic presidential candidates’ most-offered proposal for reducing the financial burdens of American higher education is to make community college free of charge. The next-most popular…

  • White Elephant #1: Race matters: Addressing competing inequalities in higher education

    20 September 2019 by Professor Kalwant Bhopal

    This blog by Professor Kalwant Bhopal originally appeared in HEPI report 120 The white elephant in the room: ideas for reducing racial inequalities in higher education. The year 2019 marks 20 years since the publication of the Macpherson report (1999). The Macpherson report was published as a result of an inquiry on the tragic murder of…

  • Changes to student entry quality in a marketised English higher education system

    18 September 2019 by Dan Monnery, Director of Strategic Planning, Nothumbria University

    A guest blog, kindly contributed by Dan Monnery, Director of Strategic Planning, Northumbria University As the dust settles on this year’s undergraduate recruitment round, vice-chancellors, directors of recruitment and finance directos will be reflecting on how many students their institution has been able to attract. Since the marketisation in England,…

  • Satisfying employers’ appetite for graduates

    16 September 2019

    This guest blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Tristram Hooley, Chief Research Officer, Institute of Student Employers Employers report a substantial rise in the number of graduates starting on graduate schemes this year. They have also increased graduates’ pay to make these jobs attractive. It seems to be…

  • Future-Proofing the HE Landscape – success versus winning

    13 September 2019

    By Ian Koxvold, Head of Education Strategy, PwC I was delighted to be invited to join a panel at the 2019 HEPI annual conference to speak on Future-Proofing the Higher Education landscape – and intimidated to follow excellent talks from Professor Julia Buckingham and the Rt Hon Dame Margaret Hodge…