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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].

  • To build a better skills system we need a strong core

    15 January 2018 by Scott Kelly

    This guest blog has been written for us by Scott Kelly, the author of the HEPI report into Raising productivity by improving higher technical education. Scott was an adviser to the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning between 2010 and 2012 and lectures at New York University in London. Many…

  • 2017: Year in Review

    31 December 2017 by Diana Beech

    As we head towards the close of the year, many of us will be reflecting on the year just gone and looking ahead to what 2018 has in store. This year, perhaps more than any other in recent times, has been relentless for UK higher education. Hardly a week has…

  • Top of the Blogs in 2017

    28 December 2017 by Nick Hillman

    HEPI has had by far its busiest ever year on our blog (est.2014) during 2017. In a slightly shameless lifting of the excellent annual roundup of the most popular stories by Times Higher Education (see here for their 2017 list), we list below which of our blog posts have proved…

  • HEPI 14th Annual Lecture: A perspective from Asia

    8 December 2017

    Last night, HEPI was honoured to host Professor TAN Chorh Chuan, President of the National University of Singapore, who delivered the 14th HEPI Annual Lecture. It was striking how many people said afterwards that the Lecture made elements of the UK’s current higher education debate seem rather too parochial. So we…

  • Parents: Your student children need your ££££

    6 December 2017 by Nick Hillman

    Martin Lewis, the Money Saving Expert, has been on the warpath in recent months regarding parental contributions towards students’ living costs. He has, quite rightly, pointed out that – for all but the poorest students – the maintenance loan system rests upon an assumption that parents will contribute to living…

  • Universities must listen to what international students think about value for money

    29 November 2017 by Paul Raybould

    This guest blog comes from Paul Raybould, Marketing Director at QS Enrolment Solutions As HEPI’s latest report on research funding showed, international students provide a vital source of research funding. On average, over the duration of their degree, each non-EU student contributes over £8,000 to UK research. With international student…

  • How I got into education policymaking – Part 2

    27 November 2017 by Diana Beech

    Earlier this month, HEPI Director Nick Hillman shared his story of how he got into education policymaking to help those seeking similar roles in the future. Having come to the profession from a completely different angle, I wanted to share my own story too, as it strikes me as important…

  • Exploring the changing global environment for universities

    23 November 2017 by Diana Beech

    Earlier this month, HEPI collaborated with PwC to host a roundtable dinner in Leeds on the changing global environment for universities, attended by senior leaders from across the region. The dinner was the first in a series of three HEPI/PwC roundtables which will be taking place around the country over…