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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].

  • What my experience in Whitehall taught me about higher education policy

    3 May 2022 by Diana Beech

    This guest blog has been kindly written by Dr Diana Beech, Chief Executive Officer of London Higher and former Policy Adviser to the last three Universities and Science Ministers. Diana is on Twitter @dianajbeech. It is a summary of remarks made as part of a panel discussion at the HEPI University Partners’ Policy…

  • Employability Blog Series: Getting on, not just getting in

    29 April 2022 by Saskia Loer Hansen and Kathy Daniels

    The eighth in this weekly series of blogs on employability was written by Saskia Loer Hansen, Interim Vice Chancellor and Professor Kathy Daniels, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor, Aston University. Over recent months we have received news of proposed changes to metrics used by the Office for Students, the contents of Access and Participation Plans,…

  • International Employability: When policy halts progress

    26 April 2022 by Louise Nicol

    HEPI’s hybrid Policy Briefing Day is on 27 April 2022 and institutions that support HEPI are entitled to a free place. This blog was written by Louise Nicol, Founder of Asia Careers Group. The lifting of pandemic restrictions has finally allowed colleagues to gather after two long years of isolation working from…

  • Social Mobility: A university that’s getting it right

    25 April 2022 by Vicki Young

    HEPI’s hybrid Policy Briefing Day is on 27 April 2022 and institutions that support HEPI are entitled to a free place. This blog was written by Vicki Young from the UK Social Mobility Awards which can be found on Twitter @SOMOAwards. Sheffield Hallam University has one simple mission – to transform lives. It…

  • Employability Blog Series: Employability Monsters – exploring the challenges and barriers to employability

    22 April 2022 by Dawn Lees and Kate Foster

    HEPI’s hybrid Policy Briefing Day is on 27 April 2022 and institutions that support HEPI are entitled to a free place. The seventh in this weekly series of blogs on employability was written by Dr Dawn Lees, Principal Investigator and Student Employability & Development Manager and Kate Foster, Project Lead Facilitator and Employability & Careers Consultant…

  • The British Academy’s Early-Career Researcher Network: A view from one ECR

    21 April 2022 by James Riley

    HEPI’s hybrid Policy Briefing Day is on 27 April 2022 and institutions that support HEPI are entitled to a free place. This blog was written by Dr James Riley, a science studies scholar and an early-career researcher at the University of Birmingham. James is on Twitter @JamesIRiley. If you get a group of…

  • Universities rose to the challenge during COVID: where’s the public recognition?

    13 April 2022 by John Cater

    This blog was contributed by Dr John Cater, Vice-Chancellor of Edge Hill University. Two years ago, every night at 5pm, we were listening to a prevaricating Prime Minister flanked by the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Officer. And every morning, at every university, the senior team tried to…

  • The never-ending story? The Conservative Party, the EU and universities

    12 April 2022 by Nick Hillman

    Back in 2015, when the referendum on UK membership of the EU was approaching, I attended an event on it at the University of Westminster. While there, I heard a former (pro-EU) Tory MP argue that, while high-falutin’ arguments were all well and good, there was only one surefire way…