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The UK's only independent think tank devoted to higher education.

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].

  • White Elephant #7: Looking the elephant in the eye – a few thoughts

    7 October 2019 by Fiona Ross

    This guest blog was kindly contributed by Fiona Ross, Professor in the Joint Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education at Kingston University and St George’s, University of London and independent governor at Westminster University. This HEPI collection of essays, written from multiple perspectives, is an excellent contribution to our…

  • The future of free tuition fees for all

    4 October 2019 by Rachel Hewitt

    During their recent party conference, Labour reaffirmed their promise to remove tuition fees. At an (excellent) Million Plus and NUS event I attended, the audience and fellow panellists quizzed Gordon Marsden, Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Further Education and Skills on what this would mean for universities. Marsden confirmed two…

  • Show me the (value for) money!

    3 October 2019 by Paul Gratrick

    This blog was kindly contributed by Paul Gratrick, Faculty Business Partner at the University of Liverpool’s Careers service where he has been researching value for money at an institutional level. Despite Universities Minsters currently playing the hokey-cokey with their role, the questioning of the value for money of higher education…

  • Commuting students – enhancing a different student experience

    27 September 2019 by Sal Jarvis

    This guest blog is kindly contributed by Dr Sal Jarvis, Pro Vice Chancellor, Education and Student Experience at the University of Hertfordshire. It is the start of a new academic year. As staff thoughts turn to course induction and as Students Unions plan Freshers’ events, new students are rolling up…

  • The Label Problem Driving the Cost of American Higher Education

    26 September 2019 by Andrew Stumpff Morrison

    This blog was kindly contributed by Andrew Stumpff Morrison, author and lawyer who teaches at the law schools of the University of Michigan, University of Alabama, and Washington University in St. Louis. U.S. Democratic presidential candidates’ most-offered proposal for reducing the financial burdens of American higher education is to make community college free of charge. The next-most popular…

  • A 32-hour week: sensible or nonsensical?

    24 September 2019 by Nick Hillman

    At the Labour Party Conference yesterday, John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: I can tell you today that the next Labour government will reduce the average full time working week to 32 hours within a decade. A shorter working week with no loss of pay. Predictions of…