Full-time student numbers were barely affected by the increase in undergraduate tuition fees in England from 2012. But part-time student numbers – which were already declining – tumbled fast. Ever since, fewer people have transformed their lives through part-time study and this is having a negative impact on the economy. There…
On Thursday, 29th October 2015, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) publishes It’s the finance, stupid! The decline of part-time higher education and what to do about it. This collection of essays explains the catastrophic fall in part-time student numbers, which is harming the economy and limiting people’s ability to…
This is an extract from a speech made by Nick Hillman, HEPI Director, to the Committee of University Chairs Autumn Plenary, held in central London on Friday, 16th October 2015. The instructions I have received for this event advise that ‘our most successful speakers are those who encourage the audience to reflect on what…
Before the 2015 election, it was believed students would play an important part in the result. They were the target of Labour’s commitment to reduce fees, and the NUS’s ‘Liar Liar’ campaign was aimed at politicians who had broken promises made at the previous election. Meanwhile, a new electoral registration…
On Thursday, 15th October 2015, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) publishes one of the first detailed analyses of voting behaviour at the general election in Students and the 2015 general election: Did they make a difference? by Nick Hillman, HEPI’s Director. Before the election, the National Union of Students (NUS)…
There’s quite a bit of chatter here at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester about the Government’s commitment to double the proportion of people from the least well-off socio-economic groups that make it to higher education. Joy Carter, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Winchester, mentioned it, for example, at…
On Tuesday, 29th September 2015, HEPI co-hosted a roundtable discussion at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton. It focused on some new research exploring students’ views on applying to higher education, alternatives to higher education and employability. A similar event will be taking place at the Conservative Party Conference in…
HEPI has undertaken a small piece of desk research which reveals that 55 world leaders (Presidents, Prime Ministers and monarchs) from 51 countries attended higher-level education in the UK. Nick Hillman, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), said: ‘The Home Office wants to restrict the number of foreigners coming to study…
On Monday, 28th September 2015, HEPI’s Director, Nick Hillman, spoke at a Demos / Physiological Society fringe meeting on teaching in higher education at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton. The sound file of his speech can be accessed below. .
…by the look of this banner currently up at the University of the West of England. But anyone who finds the transition to higher education tricky should know they are in good company. At a HEPI / HEA breakfast on student wellbeing earlier this year, a leading figure in the sector said the one thing…