The HEPI Blog aims to make brief, incisive contributions to the higher education policy landscape. It is circulated to our subscribers and published online. We welcome guest submissions, which should follow our Instructions for Blog Authors. Submissions should be sent to our Blog Editor, Josh Freeman, at [email protected].
This blog was kindly contributed by Jefferson Frank, Professor of Economics, Royal Holloway, and Norman Gowar, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, University of London. (Jefferson Frank can be contacted here.) In January 2019, we published English Universities in Crisis: markets without competition. Our analysis showed the market failure from the threefold…
This blog was kindly contributed by Richard Brabner, Director of the UPP Foundation. Before working in higher education, Richard worked for two Conservative MPs (2007-2009). This article is written in a personal capacity and is not the view of the UPP Foundation. Richard has previously blogged for HEPI on free…
This guest blog has been kindly contributed by Paul Woodgates, head of Higher Education at PA Consulting, and Mike Boxall, Special Adviser to PA Consulting. For more information visit www.paconsulting.com/education This is by no means the first time that British universities have faced predictions of existential doom, still less huge…
This guest post has been kindly contributed by Diana Blamires, the former Head of Public Relations at the University of Buckingham. She can be found on Twitter @diana_blamires. Nothing is more important than PR right now. While universities shudder on the brink of possible disaster, PR is the best card…
This guest blog has been kindly contributed by Professor Neil Morris, Chair in Educational Technology, School of Education, University of Leeds. He can be found at @NeilMorrisLeeds The Unbundled University research project, funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC grant number ES/P002102/1) and the National Research Foundation…
This is the second blog contributed by Luke Cavanaugh, an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge. Luke previously wrote about how students must not bear the brunt of universities’ woes in the turmoil of Covid-19. Covid-19 has caused a shock to the university system that is likely to be felt…
Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, there were many factors already impacting the stability of university finances. Low numbers of 18-year olds in the population led to universities battling to recruit enough students. The potential risks of the Augar review leading to lower tuition fees had not been fully put to…
In this blog, Bethan Cornell, a Physics PhD Student at King’s College London who is undertaking an internship at HEPI, explores how a small change could have a big positive impact. World Earth Day has been a timely reminder of the global climate crisis. If we are to meet the…
Surprise has been expressed that Universities UK’s (UUK) package of proposals for helping universities in the current crisis has not already been accepted by Ministers in Whitehall and by the devolved administrations. Today’s Financial Times front-page lead, for example, is headlined, ‘Universities’ plea for £2bn bailout falls on deaf ears…
This blog was kindly contributed by Lucian J. Hudson, Chair, Earthwatch Europe and past Director of Communications, University of Oxford and The Open University. Lucian has previously blogged for HEPI on leadership for the higher education sector, reflecting on issues from widening participation to the priorities for driving into the…