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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].

  • Time for ‘co-opetition’? Unleashing the benefits of technology in higher education

    12 March 2018 by Diana Beech

    At the end of February, HEPI collaborated with PwC to host a roundtable dinner in Birmingham on the impact of technology on higher education. Stian Westlake, Policy Adviser to the Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation gave the opening address. The event was attended by senior leaders…

  • #TimesUp on sexual harassment in higher education: #PressforProgress on #IWD2018

    8 March 2018 by Diana Beech

    Today, on International Women’s Day 2018, the UK higher education sector should be standing out as a beacon of light for progress made in opening up opportunities to women. According to End of Cycle data released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) for the academic year 2017/18, 18-year-old…

  • Who supports academics? ‘No one. No one. Literally no one.’ #UniMentalHealthDay

    1 March 2018 by Poppy Brown

    This guest blog has been written by Poppy Brown – author of a 2016 HEPI report into The invisible problem? Improving students’ mental health. It has been timed to mark University Mental Health Day 2018 – a great opportunity for the whole university community to join together to make mental health and…

  • What do students really think about tuition fees?

    27 February 2018 by Nick Hillman

    This month, I have spent time at both Edinburgh Napier University and the University of the West of Scotland as well as various English universities and I have also recently penned a new publication on tuition fees. So I have been mulling over the different student finance systems in place…

  • Arts on the cheap? Time for a return to evidence-based policymaking

    23 February 2018 by Professor John Last, Vice-Chancellor, Norwich University of the Arts

    This guest blog has been kindly written for us by Professor John Last, Vice-Chancellor of Norwich University of the Arts.  Don’t say it too loudly … but did evidence-based policymaking make a quiet comeback this week? Twenty months after Michael Gove declared that Britain has ‘had enough of experts’, the Prime…

  • The rise of commuter students…?

    20 February 2018 by Nick Hillman

    One of the lesser-spotted facts in yesterday’s announcements about the new higher education funding review was the Government’s intention to ensure more ‘commuter degrees‘. I have written about the plight of live-at-home students before. They are different to others, both in terms of their demographics and their outcomes. For example,…

  • Enterprise in higher education

    2 February 2018 by Emma Williams

    This guest blog has been written for us by Dr Emma Williams, who is a consultant working with higher education institutions to illuminate wider career choices for early career research staff. Mystery. Suspicion. Bemusement. All reactions I have encountered to entrepreneurial events whilst working with early career researchers at a variety…

  • The hallmarks of a successful university

    31 January 2018 by Diana Beech

    The following text is a transcript of a speech made earlier today by HEPI Director of Policy and Advocacy, Dr Diana Beech, to the University of Salford’s Student Housing Conference. I have today been asked to speak on what it takes to create a world-class higher education institution, looking at what the…