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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].

  • Play Review – Admissions

    8 June 2019 by Shakira Martin

    This play review was kindly contributed by Shakira Martin, NUS President.  I went recently to see the play Admissions, by Joshua Harmon at the Trafalgar Studio in London. Colleagues in the sector had told me how relevant and thought provoking it was, especially in the current times where access and…

  • Don’t write off foundation years

    7 June 2019 by Tom Sperlinger

    This guest post has been kindly written for HEPI by Tom Sperlinger, who is Professor of Literature and Engaged Pedagogy at the University of Bristol and co-author of Who are universities for? I have never cheered out loud when reading a review of higher education funding before. But I did…

  • High quality provision is key to filling the ‘missing middle’

    5 June 2019 by Scott Kelly

    It would be a great pity if the bulk of the Augar review were to be rejected as a result of criticism of its headline recommendations on student fees, or completely lost in the general hubbub generated by the Conservative leadership race. While the concern expressed in the report about…

  • Implementing Augar

    3 June 2019

    Last week’s Augar report divided opinion. At HEPI, we were at the more positive end of the spectrum, not least because the report addressed, in a serious way, pretty much all the points we had said it should. We were, and remain, determined not to fall down the biggest rabbit hole…

  • The success of the Access to HE students is an example of widening participation in action

    31 May 2019 by John Hayes

    Yesterday’s Augar review praised the track record of Further Education Colleges’ Access to HE courses, which it argued, provide better value for money than University foundation year courses. This timely guest blog by Rt. Hon Sir John Hayes MP, former Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning discusses the…

  • Marking Augar

    30 May 2019

    How should we judge today’s report on the review of post-18 education and funding? Just over a year ago, HEPI published ten points-of-note that the post-18 review would have to get to grips with to fix the broken parts of our education and training system. Here’s how the review stacks up…

  • Discussing Augar, the Tory Leadership election and what university is for

    29 May 2019 by Nick Hillman

    When we start planning each year’s HEPI Annual Conference – which this year is taking place on 13 June at a prestigious central London venue – our first act is always to check our informal ‘HE clash calendar’. Higher education policy is such a busy field these days that it can…

  • What will the next Prime Minister think of higher education?

    28 May 2019

    Theresa May has announced the date for her departure and another Tory leadership contest is upon us. While the new Prime Minister’s first focus may not be higher education, the imminent announcement of the post-18 education review means tuition fees are a topic they will likely have to take a…