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

Nick Hillman

  • Universities and Integration – An Opportunity

    5 September 2018

    This guest blog has been Kindly provided by Fitzroy Morrissey of All Souls College, Oxford. In March 2018, the Government published its Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper, which set out some ideas about how to respond to the challenges highlighted by the 2016 Casey Review into opportunity and integration in Britain. Such…

  • The Post-18 Review in England: A Story of Two Loans?

    4 September 2018

    This guest blog has been kindly contributed by Mark Corney, a post-16 education and labour market consultant.  Income contingent loans are viewed as either a tax liability or personal debt. Viewed as debt, the inclination of stakeholders across post-18 education is to turn fee loans and maintenance loans into teaching…

  • Mind the gap

    31 August 2018

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Helen Howard, Academic Project Lead for the Student Attainment Project at the University of Derby, and Professor Malcolm Todd, Provost (Academic) at the University of Derby. W we aim to achieve an excellent pedagogical experience for all of our learners,…

  • New funding package means less cash and higher debts for Welsh students

    30 August 2018

    A study by the Higher Education Policy Institute (www.hepi.ac.uk), published on Thursday, 30 August 2018, looks at the new student finance regime being introduced by Labour and the Liberal Democrats in Wales, which remains poorly understood across most of the UK. From this autumn, undergraduates from Wales will no longer get…

  • The Case for a Graduate Tax

    29 August 2018

    HEPI has previously highlighted some of the shortcomings of moving to a graduate tax system. Here, Paul Maginnis (@paulmaginnis1), the author of a new book entitled The Return of Meritocracy: Conservative Ideas for Unlocking Social Mobility puts forward the case in favour of a graduate tax. Tuition fees are a visceral…

  • Higher education co-regulation: Where do we go from here?

    28 August 2018 by Professor David Phoenix

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Professor David Phoenix OBE, Chair of MillionPlus and Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University. Should we regulate – or co-regulate – higher education? Well, the Office for Students is certainly a regulator, there is little doubt about that. But is…

  • Do demographics determine destiny? They can in learning analytics…

    24 August 2018 by Richard Gascoigne

    This guest blog has been kindly contributed to HEPI by Richard Gascoigne, Managing Director of Solutionpath Limited (@GazzaToGo). As with all our guest blogs, this does not represent a HEPI opinion but is designed to stimulate informed debate and discussion. Demographics in higher education are important. Analysis of demographics can: identify disparity in academic…

  • Filling in the biggest skills gap: Increasing learning at Levels 4 and 5

    23 August 2018 by Dave Phoenix

    Level 4 and 5 qualifications – including Foundation Degrees, Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (NHDs) – are an excellent route for those not interested (or not yet ready) to embark on a full degree, for mature learners who want to take only a limited amount of time…