This guest blog has been kindly contributed by Emily Dixon, London Programmes and Communications Coordinator at AccessHE – the pan-London network driving the access, success and progression agenda for under-represented learners into and through higher education, and a key division of London Higher. You can follow AccessHE on Twitter at…
This blog was contributed by Ellie Highwood, Associate Consultant, SUMS, Joel Arber, Group Managing Director, SUMS Group, and Alison Elton, Higher Education Senior Consultant, GatenbySanderson. University marketing teams play an essential role in portraying their institution and the HE sector to the outside world. Brand communication, reputation-building and student recruitment…
This blog was contributed by Dr. Alex Blower, Access and Participation Manager at Arts University Bournemouth. For a number of years, some areas of the higher education sector have taken a less than consistent approach the treatment of applicants holding vocational qualifications. It’s an issue that has been commented upon…
This blog was contributed by Ben Jordan, Head of Policy, and Ellie Rowley, Fair Access Programme Lead, UCAS. The pandemic brought with it a sharpened focus on disparities in society, and with it, unified efforts to minimise the impacts. The education and skills sector was no different. For the first…
This blog was contributed by Professor Graeme Atherton, Director National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) and Head of Centre for Inequality and Levelling Up (CILUP), University of West London. The reboot The reboot to widening access to higher education announced by the Minister for Universities last month is in some ways…
The Higher Education Policy Institute’s latest report, First-in-Family Students by Harriet Coombs (HEPI Report 146), finds most university students in the UK – just over two-thirds – can be classified ‘first-in-family’. It questions how useful the category is as an indicator for widening participation activities. The paper argues too much weight has…
First-in-family students make up a majority of young first- degree students yet face a number of challenges. So they are now the focus of many specific interventions in the UK and the USA. This report looks at the pros and cons of using first-in-family as a key measure of disadvantage.…
This blog was contributed by Dionne Lee, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at the University of Teesside. It seems counter-intuitive to suggest that we turn up the volume on levelling-up. In fact, there are many who would argue that the volume is already rather high – it is after all…
Professor Jane Robinson is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Engagement and Place at Newcastle University. In HEPI’s most recent debate paper, One Nation University, Richard Brabner presents a timely and important challenge about the role universities can play to support a fairer society and stronger communities. As we look ahead to the much-anticipated…
This blog was kindly contributed by Andrew Connors, Head of Higher Education at Lloyds Bank (@LloydsBankBiz). As the dust settles from COP26 with a myriad of new climate commitments, many are still assessing what this means for them. This year’s COP was particularly important, in that it was the first…