In this collection, different experts from a range of backgrounds consider the current plan to defund many BTECs and other popular Level 3 Applied General qualifications. Together, the chapters argue this could close off a useful and proven route for students from a wide range of backgrounds, including for those…
In a new paper published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (www.hepi.ac.uk), Holding Talent Back? What is next for the future of Level 3?, 11 different authors consider the Westminster Government’s controversial reforms to Level 3 qualifications, including BTECs. While the Government has confirmed that many Applied General qualifications can…
I popped to Westminster yesterday for my first in-person event at Policy Exchange since the launch of the Augar report back in 2019, back in pre-COVID days. This time, it was for a relaunch of the Westminster Government’s legislation on free speech and academic freedom in England. It took the…
Back in 2015, when the referendum on UK membership of the EU was approaching, I attended an event on it at the University of Westminster. While there, I heard a former (pro-EU) Tory MP argue that, while high-falutin’ arguments were all well and good, there was only one surefire way…
This morning, the Campaign for Learning is publishing a new collection of pieces in Post-16 Education and Skills Levelling up Everyone, Everywhere. The contribution by Nick Hillman, HEPI Director, which is titled ‘A “Higher Education Institution” in Every Community’, is reprinted here. When his brief was education policy, Michael Gove…
HEPI has today published a new report on illegal drug use among students. Nick Hillman, HEPI’s Director: Four years ago, back in 2018, HEPI collaborated with YouthSight and the University of Buckingham on a small but representative poll of students on their drug use. We found: The results were very…
In this HEPI Debate Paper, Arda Ozcubukcu and Professor Graham Towl explore how higher education institutions might approach illicit drug use within their student populations, suggesting that a zero-tolerance approach may cause more harm than it prevents as those who need help do not come forward for fear of punishment.…
HEPI Director Nick Hillman tries to make sense of what we already know about today’s higher education announcements. 1. An increase in the student loan repayment term to 40 years: The increase from 30 to 40 years will mean the average former student will in future repay for longer and that…
As new legislation on free speech and academic freedom continues its passage through Parliament, HEPI Director Nick Hillman takes a look at one recently published book on the issue. Andrew Doyle has studied at three British universities but he became famous under the pseudonym Titania McGrath, who sends out a…
This post by HEPI Director Nick Hillman: considers the arguments for and against the use of big data in higher education; looks at the reasons behind the growing use of metrics; and ends with a discussion on the increasing demands to contexualise metrics before using them for important decisions. The…