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

Nick Hillman

  • New guide explains the mysteries of university rankings

    4 January 2018

    The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and the Higher Education Strategic Planners Association (HESPA) are jointly publishing A Guide to UK League Tables in Higher Education by Sally Turnbull. The paper looks at what goes in to making up the three main UK university rankings, which are published by The…

  • Top of the Blogs in 2017

    28 December 2017 by Nick Hillman

    HEPI has had by far its busiest ever year on our blog (est.2014) during 2017. In a slightly shameless lifting of the excellent annual roundup of the most popular stories by Times Higher Education (see here for their 2017 list), we list below which of our blog posts have proved…

  • A Brexit Youthquake

    18 December 2017 by Jane Mackey, YouthSight Research Manager, and Nick Hillman, HEPI Director

    In A Brexit Youthquake?, HEPI and Youthsight report on the results of a new poll on of students on their current political views, voting intentions and opinions about Brexit. Key points: Most students (62%) want a second referendum on the nal Brexit deal Support for Labour among students has grown…

  • Three into two WILL go? Two-year degrees welcome, but no game changer…

    10 December 2017 by Nick Hillman

    In response to the Government’s latest announcement on encouraging two-year degrees, Nick Hillman, Director of HEPI, said: Making two-year degrees more attractive makes sense as the current rules aren’t great and more diversity is generally good in higher education – so long as quality is maintained. So the overall idea…

  • Response to the National Audit Office report

    8 December 2017

    In response to the National Audit Office’s new report on The higher education market, Nick Hillman, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said: It is true that the higher education market is still evolving and that there are areas where further improvements can be made – such as improved…

  • HEPI 14th Annual Lecture: A perspective from Asia

    8 December 2017

    Last night, HEPI was honoured to host Professor TAN Chorh Chuan, President of the National University of Singapore, who delivered the 14th HEPI Annual Lecture. It was striking how many people said afterwards that the Lecture made elements of the UK’s current higher education debate seem rather too parochial. So we…

  • Parents: Your student children need your ££££

    6 December 2017 by Nick Hillman

    Martin Lewis, the Money Saving Expert, has been on the warpath in recent months regarding parental contributions towards students’ living costs. He has, quite rightly, pointed out that – for all but the poorest students – the maintenance loan system rests upon an assumption that parents will contribute to living…

  • Why the OBR’s forecasts on students must improve

    1 December 2017 by Nick Hillman

    In this Policy Briefing Note, Why the OBR’s forecasts on students must improve, we question the Office for Budget Responsibility’s predictions of future student numbers.