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].
I have been given a wide brief for this speech. So I began my preparations by going back to see what I said when I last spoke to the Hallam Board, back in 2017. I started my remarks then by noting the level of flux in higher education policy. We…
Plan E for Education is my proposal that a proportion of the educational resources generated in publicly funded universities be made freely available for sharing and use by others. This would be the educational equivalent of initiatives that require publicly funded research to be published in open access journals or…
It’s been a busy time for QAA responding to the rise of generative AI. After three webinars attended by over 2,000 people, discussions with providers across the UK, a brief trip to Tbilisi to share best practice with European quality agency colleagues, one piece of guidance out and another to…
Among national discussions around student mental health, the University of Bath is actively working and continuously evaluating its support for students, aiming to embed a whole-university culture of care. My role as Training Officer in Pastoral Support, has been created to support this endeavour, delivering sessions focused primarily on the…
The future for international students in the UK should be bright, provided the sector reforms and deals with issues that have surfaced during the last couple of years of growth. The political consensus that was so supportive of growth in international student numbers in 2019 has weakened. It would be…
A new report from the NFER-led Skills Imperative 2035, An analysis of the demand for skills in the labour market in 2035 is a must-read for the higher education sector. Part of a five-year research programme funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the latest publication from a University of Sheffield team…
Kelly was an undergraduate student who was groomed and sexually harassed by a lecturer at her university. By the time she reported him, in 2019, the harassment had been ongoing for three years, and she had been hospitalised as a consequence of its deep impacts. She had to take a…
HEPI’s report, The Role of Universities in Driving Overseas Investment into UK Research and Development, published on 7th March 2023, provides national analysis of what is happening in this space. This blog discusses the key considerations for policy makers and the Higher Education sector on increasing investment into regional R&D…
Let us assume that higher education institutions want to have the best students they can get, admitted in the fairest way possible: not a very controversial assumption, even if sometimes people look to satisfice, by settling for something good enough, but perhaps not best. The assessment of ability and potential…
On the website of nearly every university, you will find an explanation that the institution is a charity. But what does this mean, apart from generous tax advantages? And why are universities not generally talked about as charities, in the same way as, say, Oxfam or Macmillan Cancer Support? One…