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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].

  • How does a modern university seek purpose?

    3 November 2022 by Martin Betts, Ian Dunn and Ceri Nursaw

    This blog was co-authored by Martin Betts, Emeritus Professor at Griffith University, Australia, and Co-founder of HEDx, Professor Ian Dunn, Provost of Coventry University and Chair of the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE), and Ceri Nursaw, CEO of NCEE. It is the seventh in our series on leadership in partnership…

  • Key Facts and Figures about the Graduate Technical workforce

    2 November 2022 by Kostas Kollydas and Anne Green

    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.  HEPI is running a…

  • Learning with the lights off: students and the cost of living crisis

    1 November 2022 by Andrew Jones

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Andrew Jones, Head of Policy and Research, MillionPlus. Over recent months, the cost of living crisis facing students has quickly become one of the most discussed issues in higher education. Modest rises to student finance have been wiped out by record inflation and…

  • Universities stepping up to promote free speech and academic freedom

    31 October 2022 by Steve West

    As the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill returns to Parliament today, HEPI is running two blogs on the issue. This blog was kindly contributed by Professor Steve West, President of Universities UK and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE). Freedom of speech and academic…

  • Freedom of speech, lifts, and the importance of terminology

    31 October 2022 by Andrew. M. Boggs

    As the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill returns to Parliament today, HEPI is running two blogs on the issue. This blog was kindly contributed by Andrew. M. Boggs, University Clerk at Kingston University and Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies (OxCHEPs). He writes here…

  • Emotional labour in the ivory tower: highlighting the experiences of academics of colour

    31 October 2022 by Blessing Marandure

    HEPI is running a series of blogs on the changing faces of academia in collaboration with the British Academy. This post was kindly contributed by Dr Blessing Marandure, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Fair Outcomes Champion on the Decolonising DMU Project at De Montfort University. Emotional labour has several meanings, and…

  • New medical schools: the story so far

    28 October 2022

    In September, HEPI, with support from the University of Sunderland, hosted a roundtable dinner on the future of medical education in the UK. When the then health secretary, Thérèse Coffey, unveiled her winter plan, criticism focused on her failure to address shortages in the NHS workforce. This is a longstanding issue and…

  • Learning from failure in higher education institutions

    27 October 2022 by Adam Shore

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Adam Shore, Director of the School of Business and Management at Liverpool John Moores University, Chair of the Chartered Association of Business Schools’ Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Committee, and Board Director of the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE). This blog is the sixth…

  • Delivering the Future: How universities can leverage technical expertise to fuel innovation

    26 October 2022 by Trevor McMillan

    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.  HEPI is running a…