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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].

  • TRIFURCATION? The Shape of Higher Education in 2030

    5 April 2023 by John Cater

    On 22 June 2023, John Cater will complete three decades as the Director and Vice-Chancellor of Edge Hill University, rendering him the longest-serving head of a higher education institution in the UK. HEPI is marking the occasion by publishing his thoughts on higher education in 2030. Thirty years ago, I was a…

  • What is the future for student assessment in the light of AI and ChatGPT?

    4 April 2023 by Melissa Bowden

    This blog was kindly written by Melissa Bowden from Kortext, in conversation with Sir Tim O’Shea. ChatGPT is a hot topic in higher education, with concerns about how it will impact on academic integrity and student assessment. We spoke to eminent computer scientist and former Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the…

  • Beyond employability

    3 April 2023 by Dr Doug Cole and Jon Down

    This guest blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Dr Doug Cole, Associate Director – Academic at Nottingham Trent University (@DougFCole), and Jon Down, the Director of Development at Grit Breakthrough Programmes, which delivers intensive personal development and coaching in UK universities (@grit_2017). As the access and participation agenda moves beyond broadening…

  • WEEKEND READING: What can data tell us about student wellbeing?

    1 April 2023

    This blog was kindly contributed by Leo Hanna, Executive Vice President at TechnologyOne. The TechnologyOne Showcase in London on Thursday, 27 April 2023 will explore emerging trends and challenges in the higher education sector with international and UK experts.  UCAS projects that by the end of the decade, we could see up…

  • Stronger together: the power to attract overseas investment through partnership working

    31 March 2023 by Professor Nick Jennings

    Midlands Innovation is a strategic research partnership of eight research intensive universities. Universities in the Midlands and the pan-regional growth body, the Midlands Engine, are piloting how universities can work together to attract foreign direct investment into regional research and development. HEPI’s report, The Role of Universities in Driving Overseas Investment into…

  • Public attitudes to higher education – what does the evidence tell us?

    30 March 2023 by Richard Brabner and Nick Hillman

    Today’s HEPI blog is in the form of the Foreword to the recent HEPI / UPP Foundation report on Public Attitudes to Higher Education (February 2023). The Foreword was jointly written by Richard Brabner, the Director of the UPP Foundation, and Nick Hillman, the Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute. This…

  • Innovation in student unions

    29 March 2023 by John Abell

    This blog has been kindly written for HEPI by John Abell, Chief Executive of Coventry University Students’ Union, and is part of HEPI’s current series of blogs with NCEE. On the morning of Thursday, 30 March 2023, HEPI and the UPP Foundation will be running a free event on ’Public Attitudes…

  • The latest developments in student accommodation, March 2023

    28 March 2023 by Martin Blakey

    This blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Martin Blakey, the Chief Executive of Unipol. In 2020, Martin co-authored HEPI Student Accommodation: The Facts (HEPI Analytical Paper 2) with Sarah Jones. Unipol publishes the long-running Accommodation Costs Survey with the National Union of Students. Recent trends in admissions (from UCAS…

  • STEM innovation in constrained economic times – the UK in an international context by Professor Ian Walmsley, Provost of Imperial College

    27 March 2023 by Professor Ian Walmsley

    This blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Professor Ian Walmsley, the Provost of Imperial College London and former Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Hooke Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Oxford.  This year, 2023, began with both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition talking…

  • WEEKEND READING: LinkedIn Learning – rediscovering an underutilised resource

    25 March 2023 by Obinna Okereke

    This HEPI guest blog has been written by Obinna Okereke , Project Manager – Student Experience at Coventry University. In today’s VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world, there is increasing pressure on the UK higher education sector to produce highly-skilled global ready graduates. However, the conversation on skills shortages,…