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Blog

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].

  • What we learnt at the HEPI University Partners’ Policy Briefing Day 2018

    23 April 2018 by Diana Beech

    Last Thursday, HEPI hosted its annual University Partners’ Policy Briefing Day at Birkbeck, University of London. For the HEPI team, the Policy Briefing Day is always one of the highlights of the HEPI calendar, providing us with the opportunity to connect with our valued partners from across the UK higher…

  • The comprehensive and free university

    17 April 2018 by Tim Blackman

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Professor Tim Blackman, Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University and author of HEPI Occasional Paper 17 on The Comprehensive University. Professor Blackman writes here in a personal capacity. The Government’s terms of reference for the ‘independent’ panel undertaking the current Review of post-18…

  • Striking differences: spotlight on student protests in France

    16 April 2018 by Diana Beech

    Last week I was fortunate to be invited to travel to Paris to speak at a conference hosted by the Institut national d’études demographiques (INED) – the French Institute for Demographic Studies. Most of the conference delegates were French, or at least based in France, so conversations during the coffee…

  • Interested in integrated degrees: it’s time to listen to what students want

    28 March 2018 by Paul Raybould

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Paul Raybould, Director of Marketing and Marketing Intelligence at QS Enrolment Solutions (formerly Hobsons Solutions). The Government’s consultation into post-18 education brings with it an opportunity for the higher education sector to review its place in society and its offer to students.…

  • Let’s talk about Social Value for Money

    27 March 2018 by Nick Petford

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Professor Nick Petford, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Northampton. The draft regulatory framework consultation undertaken by the Department for Education on behalf of the Office for Students (OfS) made much of value for money. The framework sets out that ‘Approved’…

  • As the NUS conference gets ready to kick off, where next for the student voice?

    26 March 2018 by Nick Hillman

    This blog post also appears at https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/voice-students-unions-too-powerful. I am cowering as I write, for my views on how best to listen to students may not be popular. Let me start with the less contentious parts. Of course students should help set the priorities of their universities. For instance, the complaints that…

  • Up for review: university fees and funding

    21 March 2018 by Andrew Wathey

    This blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Professor Andrew Wathey CBE, the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Northumbria University. This blog has been written purely in a personal capacity. There are a number of things to be welcomed in the announcement of the tertiary review, of which one…