Back in 1937 HG Wells, a man who knew a little of the future and the challenges it holds, warned that ‘our universities are not half-way out of the 15th century’ as he berated them for their inability to move with the times. What would he say to them now…
As a scarred veteran of the so called ‘quality wars’ – seemingly endless disputes from the mid-80s to the late-90s about the shape and control of the regulation of student education – the author has been sufficiently piqued by the House of Lords Committee’s remarkable criticisms of the Office for…
On 20 November, at the Global Food Security Summit in London, the Government launched a White Paper on international development entitled ‘International development in a contested world: ending extreme poverty and tackling climate change’. Much of what was outlined in the paper is welcome, including a commitment to scaling up…
The comparatively low rates of higher education (HE) progression amongst young men from white, working class backgrounds has received a significant amount of attention in recent years, including from HEPI. This has been accompanied by calls for a ‘response’ from the HE sector. Although how best to react remains uncertain.…
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) recently confronted a pressing challenge in the realm of education technology. Its University of London (International) programme students exhibited a reluctance to embrace the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) as enthusiastically as expected. Feedback from students indicated that the existing VLE system…
A growing consensus suggests that the higher education (HE) funding system in England is not fit for purpose. It fails to meet the needs of students, graduates, universities, and business. Through both teaching and research, universities play a pivotal role in fostering the skills necessary to be competitive in the…
Policymakers want to get maximum value from the science system. Government invests in science and research, much of which, in the UK, is conducted in universities and in public sector research establishments (PSREs). A good return on this investment would be research which contributes towards a growing economy, supports technological…
There are many global challenges that we face. These include meeting net zero targets and building a workforce for the future. For example, having appropriate skills and talent pipelines in place to support a green transition. The same is in the health and social care sector, especially in the face…
Increasing flexibility is a common feature of the changes taking place in higher education, but how this is being done can differ considerably between institutions. It can provide students with more options, and with the challenges of choosing the right ones and the risks of choosing the wrong ones. And…
Higher education is changing. And so is the student experience. For a long time, students had to make two key decisions when applying to enter higher education: choosing their subject and choosing their university. But today, the diversity and flexibility of higher education brings a lot more decisions for potential…