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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].

  • Ten (basic) points about demand for higher education this year

    4 September 2021 by Nick Hillman

    These are my remarks from yesterday’s UK Student Accommodation Forum on demand for higher education in 2021/22 and on, hosted by Unipol. The event also saw the launch of an excellent new paper on International Students and Factors Affecting Accommodation in the UK. When it comes to demand from home students,…

  • How many of the Chinese Communist Party elite were educated at a UK university?

    3 September 2021 by Michael Natzler

    This blog was written by Michael Natzler, HEPI’s Policy Officer. Michael is on Twitter @Michael_Natzler. Yesterday, we published the 2021 HEPI Soft-Power Index, by Nick Hillman, outlining where around the globe world leaders have been educated. While the UK comfortably keeps the number two spot, having provided education for 57…

  • Why the Government should never bail out a university

    1 September 2021 by Philip Booth

    Today’s blog is by Philip Booth, Director of the Vinson Centre for the Public Understanding of Economics and Professor of Economics at the University of Buckingham. Governments want many contradictory things. They desire high levels of government spending but not high levels of taxation. They want to reduce carbon emissions…

  • The dramatic rise of myopia in young people

    27 August 2021 by Annegret Dahlmann-Noor

    This blog was kindly contributed by Annegret Dahlmann-Noor, Consultant and Director of the Children’s Eye Service at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at UCL. You can find Annegret on Twitter @AnnegretNoor. Myopia, or short-sightedness, has always been common among young people in higher education. Many…

  • Higher education institutions are right to innovate teaching delivery, but students’ expectations must be managed to avoid disappointment

    26 August 2021 by Paul Raybould

    This blog was contributed by Paul Raybould, Marketing Director at QS Quacquarelli Symonds.  Over the past 18 months, higher education institutions have faced extraordinary challenges as they have navigated government lockdowns and re-openings in response to the COVID crisis. The logistical operations required to manage the shift to fully remote delivery…

  • Listen to students on their own terms

    25 August 2021 by Ben Vulliamy

    This blog was kindly contributed by Ben Vulliamy, Chief Executive of the University of York Students’ Union. Ben is on Twitter @bvulliamy When reading through the recently published set of essays produced by HEPI under the headline of When and how universities and policymakers should listen to students, I found…

  • The future of exams: two fundamental principles that must be honoured

    24 August 2021 by Dennis Sherwood

    This blog is by Dennis Sherwood who has been writing about the unreliability of grades for HEPI for many years. You can follow Dennis on Twitter @noookophile. Grade inflation strikes again Now that this year’s school exam results have been declared, attention is focusing on what will happen in summer…

  • Mature students: a silent or silenced voice?

    21 August 2021 by Cath Brown

    This week we have been running, in partnership with FE News, a selection of chapters from our recently released report, ‘What is the student voice? Thirteen essays on how to listen to students and how to act on what they say‘, edited by HEPI’s Policy Officer, Michael Natzler. Today’s piece is…

  • The importance of the NUS for representing the voices of students

    20 August 2021 by Aaron Porter

    This week we are, in partnership with FE News, running a selection of chapters from our recently released report, ‘What is the student voice? Thirteen essays on how to listen to students and how to act on what they say‘, edited by HEPI’s Policy Officer, Michael Natzler. Today’s piece is by…