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, Rose Stephenson, at [email protected].
This blog has been kindly contributed by Sharon Witherspoon, Head of Policy at the Academy of Social Sciences and the Campaign for Social Science. Prior to this Sharon was the Director at the Nuffield Foundation. Universities are currently focussed on managing the challenges arising from COVID-19: reorganising how they teach,…
This blog was kindly contributed by Darren Ellis, Higher Education Engagement Director at Unite Students. Student accommodation has been on a real journey. When I first started with Unite Students in 2003, accommodation was valued in universities but not especially visible in national policy. Indeed, this was reflected in the…
This blog was kindly contributed by John Rushforth, the executive secretary at the Committee of University Chairs. Today sees the publication of the new the Higher Education Code of Governance, published by the Committee for University Chairs. It comes at a time of unprecedented challenge for the higher education…
This blog was kindly contributed by Dennis Sherwood. Dennis has reporting for HEPI on this years A-level exams since March and the A-level system long before that! It’s not all over yet This summer’s exam fiasco is rapidly fading from the headlines, and the deadline, 17 September 2020, for appeals…
This blog was kindly contributed by Professor Jane Turner OBE DL, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Engagement at Teesside University. Employability metrics judging the success of universities based on graduate earnings fundamentally fail to take into account regional, economic and social differences. This is both hugely detrimental and also rather…
I have been concerned what plans to reduce bureaucracy will entail, since the restructuring regime was published in July, accompanied by a sentence ‘For our part, we are actively considering how to reduce the burden of bureaucracy imposed by Government and regulators’. I appreciate many in the sector may not…
This blog was kindly contributed by David Tymms, Chair of the British Property Federation Student Accommodation Committee ,Commercial Director at iQ Student Accommodation and formerly, Director of Residential Services, LSE. This article has been written in a personal capacity. As the Department for Education’s (DfE) and Ofqual’s A-Level omni-shambles continues…
This blog was kindly contributed by Trevor Treharne, the Communications and Digital Engagement Officer of the ESRC/OFSRE (Economic and Social Research Council / Office for Students and Research England) Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE), a partnership of six UK and nine international universities headquartered in the University of Oxford’s…
This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Neil Raven, educational consultant and researcher in widening access. You can contact him at [email protected]. Over the last few months, I have been impressed by how those engaged in higher education access and outreach have responded to the challenges caused by the pandemic.…
This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Dean Machin. Dean is Head of Policy at the University of Portsmouth. Previously, he worked for David Willetts on his book ‘A University Education’ and has written a report for the Social Mobility Commission on data-sharing. ‘No plan survives first contact with the enemy’, so…