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].
On 14 August 2017, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and the social mobility charity Brightside jointly published a collection of essays by senior higher education figures entitled ‘Where next for widening participation and fair access? New insights from leading thinkers’. Over the next few weeks, we will be showcasing the…
This guest blog has been written for HEPI by Gervas Huxley and Mike Peacey, the authors of a new academic article that has received considerable media coverage for shining a spotlight on teaching intensity, which is increasingly an interest of the Government too. In research just published in the journal Fiscal Studies, we…
This guest blog was written by Alison Baverstock, Associate Professor at Kingston University and Director of The KU Big Read. I’m feeling conflicted. Obviously this article is being published after internal consultation at Kingston University, but I am nevertheless aware that I’m in danger of revealing a significant Kingston USP,…
Tomorrow, Jo Johnson (the Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation) is delivering a speech to the Reform think tank on ‘Securing VFM for students in HE’. In plain English, VFM means ‘value-for-money’. So the speech could be ten times more interesting than it may sound. There are a number…
This guest blog comes from Jon Wakeford, Group Director, Strategy and Corporate Communications, at the University Partnerships Programme (UPP). It was originally presented as a speech at the 2017 HEPI Annual Conference at Regent’s University London on 7 June. With the numerous political and economic upheavals taking place in the UK…
When politicians associated with one particular policy or another change their mind, it is often a reason to cheer. This is because it tends to happen when they recognise some old evidence is correct after all or some new evidence comes to light and they respond to it. In general, our…
‘Ombudsmen in higher education are a growing and distinct cadre’, writes Rob Behrens, Visiting Professor at UCL Institute of Education and Independent Adjudicator and Chief Executive of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for Higher Education in England and Wales between 2008 and 2016. It is these eight years…
Last week, HEPI hosted a roundtable lunch discussion at the RSA in conjunction with the UPP Foundation, looking at what ‘good work’ means for graduates. Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA, was the guest speaker at the event, sharing his thoughts on the Government’s review on modern employment practices,…
Nick Hillman, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said: ‘The Teaching Excellence Framework would have comprehensively failed if it had simply replicated existing hierarchies. It was always designed to do something different to other league tables and rankings – namely, to show where there are pockets of excellence that…
In January this year, the Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, set out the role of education in removing obstacles to social mobility. She proclaimed she wanted ‘to see more disadvantaged young people attending the very best universities, … entering the top professions, and progressing through the most rewarding…