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

HEPI Guest Post

  • 1 school exam grade in 4 is wrong. Does this matter?

    15 January 2019 by Dennis Sherwood

    A guest blog kindly contributed by Dennis Sherwood, who runs the Silver Bullet Machine consultancy. Last August, 811,776 A level and 5,470,076 GCSE grades were awarded to candidates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. What happened next was sometimes jubilation (“B in history! Fantastic! I’m in!”); sometimes despair (a 3 in GCSE maths can close many doors).…

  • The Impact of Selective Secondary Education on Progression to Higher Education

    10 January 2019 by Iain Mansfield

    Most previous research on grammar schools has focused narrowly on eligibility for Free School Meals as a measure of disadvantage. But with 45% of pupils at grammar schools coming from families with below median incomes, a broader consideration of the impact of grammar schools on social mobility is necessary. The…