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].
What keeps global academic leaders and funders awake at night? A recent report from publishers Elsevier tried to find out. Based on interviews with 115 institutional leaders undertaken in partnership with the market research company Ipsos, it found the main worries were securing funding, maintaining educational and research excellence, demonstrating…
It’s easy to criticise policies – such as the funding system for higher education in England. It’s far harder to offer something better that could be delivered in practice, given political and fiscal realities. HEPI’s latest report How should undergraduate degrees be funded? seeks to do just that. It has…
The landscape of international student recruitment in the UK has experienced a seismic shift from a period of unexpected prosperity post-Covid, to a challenging environment marked by political, financial, and societal changes. Universities that saw a surge in international enrolments due predominately to favourable external conditions and government policies are…
That the operating environment for UK universities is more uncertain than ever is now an accepted truth. The reasons for this are also well-known: domestically, universities face the ongoing erosion of their funding base, a challenging policy environment, and political inaction in the face of competing public sector priorities (as…
UK universities enjoy world-leading status, but the sector is not without its challenges. With a general election looming, and as UK higher education institutions look for solutions to overcome their challenges, the recently published Australian University Accord (Final Report) serves as a compelling example of what can be achieved when…
After reading Rose Stephenson’s brilliant blog post titled Creating Robust Safeguarding Policies to Enhance the Student Experience, I was encouraged to contribute my perspective on a related aspect of safeguarding within higher education. Compliance with laws and policies is important. We have rules and procedures in place to protect students…
In a world that has changed due to the Covid pandemic and the cost of living, students are increasingly less able to engage with standalone support provided by institutions. They are also less well-prepared for higher education study, having undertaken parts of their secondary education during the pandemic, not always…
It is as though the Open University (OU) has suddenly discovered an oil reserve deep beneath the Walton Hall campus and is determined to drill and extract the market price, whatever the CO2 cost or the reputational damage might be. After all, the OU is renowned for its support for a…
Autistic graduates experience higher unemployment levels than all other disabled graduate groups. Those who are in work are less likely to be employed full-time, to be in secure employment, or to hold a role requiring a degree. These discrepancies were highlighted in AGCAS’s recent What Happens Next in Challenging Times…
At a recent partnership event, John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation at the Office for Students (OfS), spoke about the important role of collaboration in increasing equality of opportunity in English higher education. Owing to the benefits successful partnerships can, and do, bring to the sector, John announced…