How should higher education respond to calls to be relevant?
Higher education’s true value lies not in skills or facts, but in transformative access to structured bodies of knowledge.
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].
Weekend Reading: Out of Eeyore’s Gloomy Place (rather boggy and sad)
Universities must embrace change and collaboration to navigate political scepticism and ensure a sustainable, inclusive future.
Leave to Achieve?: A new framework for universities to drive local social mobility
Having a university nearby doesn’t guarantee social mobility – a new framework shows how local impact can be meaningfully measured.
The Role of Apprenticeships: Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Mindset in UK Higher Education
In its competitive market, the UK’s universities face growing pressure to be enterprising and produce graduates with real-world skills and innovative thinking. Employers frequently voice concerns about graduates lacking practical skills required in today’s workplace. At the same time, a new generation of students is more entrepreneurial and digitally agile…
Rethinking Exams in the Age of AI: Should We Abandon Them Completely?
In recent years, universities around the world have been moving away from traditional exams in an effort to improve assessment practices, address equity concerns and adapt to the evolving educational landscape. Top institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge are also shifting towards more inclusive forms of assessment to reduce awarding…
Redefining Academic Success: Why Career Progression Must Look Beyond Research
Traditional research metrics no longer fit a sector where educational leadership and teaching excellence increasingly drive academic impact.
Empowering Mature Students through Inclusive AI Literacy: Advancing Digital Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education
Without inclusive design, AI in higher education risks deepening digital divides and sidelining mature learners’ unique contributions.
Bouquets or brickbats? How to interpret today’s announcement of £86 billion spending for research and development (R&D) to 2029/30
Nick Hillman, HEPI’s Director, tries to make sense of the Government’s new plans on R&D spending up to 2029/30. Perhaps the Speaker of the House of Commons will be unhappy the Government have pre-briefed the media on what this week’s Spending Review will mean for research spending. But what should the…
If memory is the residue of thought, what are we learning from AI?
AI use in student essays challenges traditional assessment by separating the end product from the critical thinking behind it.
UK universities are trapped in a box. Here’s what that means in practice
Explaining the challenges facing UK universities today is not easy. The pace of change is rapid, the policy pressures are competing and the landscape is shaped by complex interplays between funding, regulation, mounting costs and increasing expectations. This makes the job of university governors particularly taxing. Many governors come from…