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The UK's only independent think tank devoted to higher education.

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].

  • Levelling Up: How not to let the opportunity pass – an APP case study

    12 February 2024 by David Woolley

    The HE sector is in danger of letting a major opportunity pass by due to its tendency to focus on what it does do, not what it could do.  Whatever colour of Government we have over the next five years, surely the Levelling Up agenda is here to stay.  This…

  • How can we use data to improve student and staff wellbeing?

    9 February 2024 by Michelle Morgan

    Higher education has come a long way in recognising and being aware of mental health issues that students enter their studies with. This includes better data collected through UCAS,  work undertaken via AdvanceHE with their Education for Mental Health Toolkit,  TASO’s Student Mental Health Evidence Hub and the development of…

  • Explaining the rise in student mental health and wellbeing issues

    8 February 2024 by Dr Michelle Morgan

    Over the past few years there has been veritable blizzard of articles and reports about the rise in wellbeing and mental health issues, especially among young people in higher education. Mental health and wellbeing challenges are not new phenomena, yet Generation Z is being labelled as less resilient than previous…

  • Teaching about the British Empire: Cutting through the noise

    7 February 2024 by Dr Alice Pettigrew

    Researchers from University College London and the University of Oxford have recently launched an ambitious new project aiming to provide an empirical portrait of current teaching and learning around the interconnected themes of the British Empire, migration and belonging in England’s secondary schools.  On the 13th June 2020, a letter was…

  • Desperately Seeking Educational Gain, the Dark Matter of Learning and Teaching

    6 February 2024 by Helena Lim

    Since its inception in 2017, the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) has become an integral part of assessing and recognising the quality of undergraduate teaching and learning in the English higher education system. Institutions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can participate on a voluntary basis. Managed by the Office for…

  • Living and Learning (and Working) in London: one year on

    5 February 2024 by Emily Dixon

    When I wrote London Higher’s Living and Learning in London report a year ago, we were the first organisation to use HEPI/AdvanceHE’s Student Academic Experience Survey data to investigate how student experience differs in a particular UK region. We looked at London students’ answers to the survey questions, and we…

  • Why degree apprenticeships deserve your attention

    5 February 2024 by Ellie Russell

    Degree apprenticeships. They’re Skills Minister Robert Halfon’s “two favourite words in the English language” and we’re at the beginning of a whole week dedicated to raising awareness and celebrating the many benefits of apprenticeships at all levels (yes this year’s National Apprenticeships Week does clash with World Nutella Day, but…

  • Online learning as a response to global shifts in higher education

    2 February 2024 by Nicola McCullough and Joel Roberts

    UK higher education has had a strong international reputation for many years. However, increasing competition for international students and recent reputational challenges may hinder UK institutions’ ability to support global higher education growth, and the growing need for upskilling and reskilling. Whilst there are challenges, UK higher education remains in…

  • General election 2024: Higher education fees and funding

    1 February 2024 by Nick Hillman

    The logic of fees Whether we like it or not, there is one higher education issue that tends to bestride all the others at general elections, and that is tuition fees. In many ways, that is an odd fact. Undergraduate fees have existed in some form or other in most…

  • UCAS Deadline Day 2024: Getting the ‘best fit’ for student choice

    31 January 2024 by Sarra Jenkins

    I was delivering training to teaching staff this week about the perils and pitfalls of predicted grades. When I gave a statistic about the number of our students that were placed at first or insurance choice university despite missing grades, a colleague thoughtfully asked, ‘but are they happy and succeeding…