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 Kathy Childs. Kathy did her MSc in Education, Leadership and Management at the University of East Anglia. Widening participation was a challenge already facing higher education institutions. Yet with the impact of COVID-19 this challenge has become even greater, particularly when considering the most…
This blog was kindly contributed by Professor Frances Corner OBE, Warden of Goldsmiths, University of London. You can find Frances on Twitter @FCorner Later this week, HEPI will be publishing our first ever report on climate change. Sign up at the bottom of the page to receive the report the…
This blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Martin Blakey, who is the Chief Executive of Unipol Student Homes and the co-author of the recent HEPI report ‘Student Accommodation: The Facts‘ (HEPI Analytical Report 2, August 2020). He compiles the Accommodation Costs Survey, which has been running since 1967,…
This blog has been written by Professor Sue Smith, Director of the Centre of SME Development and Dr Adrian Wright, Director of the Institute of Research into Organisations, Work and Employment at University of Central Lancashire. You can contact Sue and Adrian at [email protected] Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)…
This blog was kindly contributed by Caroline Hunt, Equal Education Spokesperson for the Women’s Equality Party. During my first year at university I interviewed for a relief receptionist job at a local GP surgery. My mother had been made redundant and my father was unable to work due to ill…
In my seven years at HEPI, the most controversial paper we have issued – by some distance – is a piece on academic publishing. It argued for a National Licence scheme, which would have given everyone in the UK free and legal access to current and past academic output that might…
This blog was kindly contributed by University Alliance’s Programmes Administrator Dr Ellie Crabtree, who supports the delivery of their Doctoral Training Alliance (DTA). Ellie completed a PhD in Italian Studies at the University of St Andrews at the start of 2020. You can find her on Twitter @evcrabtree This time…
This blog was contributed by Gabriel Roberts, who was a doctoral student in English when the Browne Report was published in October 2010. Since then, he has conducted research on writing about the value of the Humanities in the period 2010 to 2014. It is now just over 10 years…
This blog was kindly contributed by Chris Brasnett, former Postgraduate Education Officer at the University of Bristol Students’ Union (2019-2020). Chris is completing a PhD in membrane biophysics at the University of Bristol and you can find him on Twitter @csbrasnett Increasingly, there is a question at the heart of…
The largest private sector pension scheme in the UK … A couple of years ago, I spent much of the Christmas break in a Reading Room at the British Library. I was investigating the history of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). It was more fun than it sounds. The report I wrote…