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].
The new UCAS figures on applications to higher education are ‘the first reliable indicator of demand for UK higher education this cycle.’ The main headline is one of broad stability: UK applicant numbers (495,940) have decreased slightly (-0.3%), due to fewer English applicants (-1%) mostly aged between 20 and 34. The number of applicants from…
The single most frustrating thing about working in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which looks after higher education policy, is the lack of institutional memory. The surest way for a BIS official to be promoted is to change jobs as frequently as possible. This matters for good policymaking. For example,…
The biggest joy I experienced on becoming the Director of an independent think tank two years ago, after a decade working for a political party, was the freedom to follow the evidence. People condemn politicians for not listening ‘to the experts’, but the job of our elected representatives is to…
This week’s guest blog comes from Conor King, Executive Director of Innovative Research Universities, which is an Australian ‘network of six comprehensive universities conducting research of national and international standing.’ Conor looks at one long-standing commitment of the UK Government, which was repeated in the recent higher education green paper: to introduce Sharia-compliant student loans. He builds…
Our latest guest blog comes from Professor John Vinney, Vice-Chancellor of Bournemouth University, in the form of a constructive response to the TEF proposals. With the green paper response deadline looming, most readers will have settled their responses and, according to recent press reports, many believe that the proposals are bad…
The controversies stoked by the higher education green paper continue to be in the news, not least because of our own response to the green paper (which was published yesterday). That is as it should be, because the volume of proposals on higher education emanating from the Government since they…
This guest blog has been contributed by Mrs Sam Davies, Director of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement, at the University of Brighton. David was a long-standing and faithful friend of HEPI’s and we are pleased to be able to publicise this welcome initiative. David’s last two publications for HEPI can be found here and…
The Political Economy Research Centre (PERC) at Goldsmiths, University of London, recently put up a post entitled ‘Debt Briefing 01: Student Debt in the United Kingdom‘. This was part of an ESRC-funded project on ‘Crafting an Alternative Politics of Debt’. The piece is a useful summary of some of the debates around…
This guest blog has been kindly contributed by Jon Wakeford, who is Group Director, Strategy and Communications at UPP, a member of the CBI London Council and a member of the Higher Education Commission. The distinction between the academic and vocational route in British education is commonly understood, especially by pupils and their…
In a recent speech to a Universities UK conference, I pooh-poohed various conspiracy theories doing the rounds on the recent higher education green paper, such as the idea that the Government wants to put the right to raise the undergraduate tuition fee cap in the hands of a Secretary of State…