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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].

  • Employability Blog Series: Improving Graduate Employment & Employability in Yorkshire

    20 May 2022 by Karen Bryan

    On Thursday 9 June 2022, HEPI is hosting its annual conference, ‘Challenges for the future? The student experience, good governance and institutional autonomy’. Register here. The 11th in this weekly series of blogs on employability was written by Professor Karen Bryan OBE, Vice Chancellor of York St John University. Karen is on Twitter @KBryanYorkSJU.…

  • Turning Values into Impact: The mark of a good REF?

    19 May 2022 by Andrew Linn

    This blog was written by Professor Andrew Linn, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Westminster. ‘How did REF go?’ That is the question higher education leaders are all asking each other in May 2022. It’s an odd question, rather like ‘How was the football?’ Well, seeing as you…

  • Living Black at University Blog Series: How Black students’ experiences of student accommodation set the tone for their time at university

    18 May 2022 by Hillary Gyebi-Ababio

    On Thursday 9 June 2022, HEPI is hosting its annual conference, ‘Challenges for the future? The student experience, good governance and institutional autonomy’. Register here. The third in this blog series on Living Black at University was written by Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, Vice President for Higher Education at the National Union of Students. Find out more about Unite…

  • Of Babies and Bathwater: Some things which worked well in REF2021

    17 May 2022 by Simon Green

    This blog was written by Professor Simon Green, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Aston University and a member of the Area Studies sub-panel both for REF 2014 and REF 2021. Results day for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) is typically accompanied by two things. On the one hand, there is (understandable) jubilation…

  • Universities can be the engine room of the technical education revolution

    16 May 2022 by Helen Marshall

    On Thursday 9 June 2022, HEPI is hosting its annual conference, ‘Challenges for the future? The student experience, good governance and institutional autonomy’. Register here. This blog was written by Professor Helen Marshall, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford. I recently supported the launch of a new report looking at…

  • Towards a new International Education Strategy by Chris Skidmore

    14 May 2022 by Chris Skidmore

    This blog was written by former Universities Minister the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP. It is adapted from a speech delivered via video link from the UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly in Brussels to a roundtable event organised by London Higher and Oxford International Education Group in May 2022. I very…

  • Research Assessment: By the people for the people

    13 May 2022 by Rory Duncan

    This post is part of a series of blogs reflecting on the REF. The full list of blogs in the series can be found here. This blog was written by Professor Rory Duncan, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Sheffield Hallam University. Rory is on Twitter @ProfRoryDuncan. The publication of the…

  • Making sense of today’s #REF21 results: 7 points of note

    12 May 2022 by Nick Hillman

    1. The main feeling for many university staff today will be relief but the process is not over yet. The seven years of work and waiting since the last Research Excellence Framework (REF) results may have finished and, in very many instances, institutions and departments – and beneath it all, therefore,…