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].
This blog is an extract from a speech the HEPI Director, Nick Hillman, delivered at the University of Buckingham on 25th July 2016. New entrants In the UK, it has been phenomenally difficult to get good quality independent higher education institutions off the ground but simultaneously too easy to run ones of questionable quality.…
This article by Nick Hillman, HEPI Director, was originally published last Saturday on by HE from Research Professional. The head of steam has finally blown the gasket. The pressure that had been mounting for several years to plonk higher education policy back alongside other education matters within Whitehall has triumphed. The…
Back in 2014, aeons ago in political terms, I wrote a piece for Insight, the magazine of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, on whether or not responsibility for higher education policymaking should be plonked back in the Department for Education. Given the strong rumours of the demise of the current…
The publication of the Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education, chaired by Lord Sainsbury (published today), is hardly likely to receive anything like the attention given to the Chilcot report but it nevertheless shines an equally bright light on systemic failures in a vital area of public policy.…
In today’s copy of The Times, Theresa May has an article launching her bid to become Conservative Party Leader and therefore Prime Minister. The piece ticks as many boxes as possible for the two electorates she has to satisfy: first, her 329 fellow Conservative Members of Parliament; and, secondly, the…
This guest blog has been kindly contributed by Professor Graham Galbraith, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth. It is a timely reminder that higher education reform is likely to continue, despite the upheavals in the wider political landscape, and recommends some specific changes to the new Teaching Excellence Framework to reduce…
This guest blog has been contributed by Gordon Sweeney, who is Head of Education at Point Blank Music School (http://www.pointblanklondon.com). In mid-June, a group of academics published an Alternative White Paper outlining their vision for the future of higher education. Unfortunately, the Alternative White Paper included various misconceptions about alternative…
Centre Write is, as its name suggests, the magazine of a centre-right think-tank called Bright Blue, which is headed up by Ryan Shorthouse. Its new edition – out this week – is timely, given this week’s vote, as it focuses on migration. There are too many interesting articles to list…
Nick Clegg took a bold decision to lead the Liberal Democrats into coalition in 2010. Now we are a year into the subsequent Conservative government, it is clear how much difference they made in office. As the smaller party, this may have been achieved by blocking things more than pushing…
This guest blog has been kindly provided by Professor Neil Morris, who is the Director of Digital Learning at the University of Leeds. An A-level student seeking to get a head start on their UCAS application. A current undergraduate wanting to study a specific topic with a leading academic at a different university.…