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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].

  • Revolutionising Virtual Learning Environments: A Policy Perspective on the London School of Economics and Political Science Transformation

    20 December 2023 by Michael Frantzis

    The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) recently confronted a pressing challenge in the realm of education technology. Its University of London (International) programme students exhibited a reluctance to embrace the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) as enthusiastically as expected. Feedback from students indicated that the existing VLE system…

  • Higher education funding fallacy: the folly of rewarding A while hoping for B

    19 December 2023 by Aleks Subic

    A growing consensus suggests that the higher education (HE) funding system in England is not fit for purpose. It fails to meet the needs of students, graduates, universities, and business. Through both teaching and research, universities play a pivotal role in fostering the skills necessary to be competitive in the…

  • Flexible Learning Pathways: how to provide them?

    15 December 2023 by John Brennan

    Increasing flexibility is a common feature of the changes taking place in higher education, but how this is being done can differ considerably between institutions. It can provide students with more options, and with the challenges of choosing the right ones and the risks of choosing the wrong ones. And…

  • Flexible Learning Pathways – a new HE or something else?

    14 December 2023 by John Brennan

    Higher education is changing. And so is the student experience. For a long time, students had to make two key decisions when applying to enter higher education:  choosing their subject and choosing their university. But today, the diversity and flexibility of higher education brings a lot more decisions for potential…

  • Part-time work is here to stay, but how can it be better?

    13 December 2023 by Dr Adrian Wright, Dr Mark Wilding, Mary Lawler and Louise Hoole

    HEPI research suggests more universities are encouraging part-time work and that more students are undertaking paid employment to cope with the increased cost of living. Alongside this, research has documented the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on student belongingness, as decisions made from financial necessity can impact students’ connection and…

  • Higher degrees or higher ambitions? A new approach to PhDs

    12 December 2023 by Christopher Smith

    The modern PhD in the UK is usually dated to the years immediately after the First World War.  It is a relative latecomer then, and the complex articulation of a three-cycle process (undergraduate, masters, doctorate) through the Bologna Process is even more recent, and dates to the end of the…

  • Funding the Higher Education Sector: More funding, with wiser spending

    11 December 2023 by Antony Moss

    Regulators Committee expressed surprise at the university regulator’s assessment that our finances are “in good shape”. To the contrary, the Committee were unequivocal that “the current model for funding higher education is unsustainable”. In a recent piece on this site, Dr Mark Corver presented an alternative model for funding higher…