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].
HEPI’s Director of Partnerships, Lucy Haire, reflects on party conference season. Tariq (not his real name), the Warrington taxi driver who drove me the final 20 miles of my journey blighted by multiple train cancellations from London to the recent Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, asked what brought me northwards.…
This blog was kindly contributed by Professor Ian Dunn, Provost of Coventry University. It is the third in our series of blogs on leadership in partnership with the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE). There are very good reasons for the traditions that have been built into higher education. Working in higher…
Midlands Innovation is a strategic research partnership of eight research intensive universities in the Midlands. Funding was awarded by Research England in 2020 for ‘TALENT’ – a transformation programme to advance status and opportunity for technical skills, roles and careers. The TALENT Commission report was published in 2022. Professor Sam Kingman, Pro-Vice Chancellor…
This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Rasha Kassem, research project team lead for ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Staff in UK Higher Education – A Comparative Analysis across the Four UK Nations’ at the Open University. The consequences of the pandemic have been immense and felt across society, industries, and organisations; however, little…
HEPI is running a series of blogs on the changing faces of academia in collaboration with the British Academy. The first blog in the series was kindly contributed by Dr Louise Folkes, Lecturer in Social Sciences, University of Gloucestershire, UK. Starting university when you have no idea what to expect…
This blog was kindly provided by Professor Andrew Linn, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Westminster. On 19 May 2022 I wrote a blog for HEPI, reflecting on the recently-announced results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF2021). The question then was whether it had been a good REF and what we might…
This blog was contributed by Fergus Green, Senior Climate Campaigns Coordinator at student campaigning charity People & Planet. On 28 September 2022, Birkbeck, University of London was announced as the first UK higher education institution to end fossil fuel industry recruitment on campus. This decision, which arose from in-depth dialogue…
This blog was kindly contributed by Professor Kevin Kerrigan, Pro Vice-Chancellor Business and Enterprise, Sheffield Hallam University. It is the second in our series of blogs on leadership in partnership with the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE). We live in interesting times While the terror of the ‘demographic dip’ may have…
Midlands Innovation is a strategic research partnership of eight research intensive universities in the Midlands. Funding was awarded by Research England in 2020 for ‘TALENT’ – a transformation programme to advance status and opportunity for technical skills, roles and careers. The TALENT Commission report was published in 2022. Jiteen Ahmed, Head of Technical…
This blog was kindly contributed by Anthony McClaran, GuildHE Chair and Vice-Chancellor of St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Small and specialist universities have long been anchors within their communities and specific sectors in the economy. Frequently located in smaller towns, on the edge of cities, or in rural or coastal locations,…