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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].

  • A Free Speech Champion or Censor?

    16 July 2022 by Dean Machin

    Dean Machin is Head of Public Policy at the University of Portsmouth. He is a former philosopher who has advised David Willetts. In 2015, he wrote a report on data-sharing for the Social Mobility Commission. Dean is writing here in a personal capacity. By the time the Free Speech Bill returns…

  • BTEC cull? Unpalatable impacts for Health & Social Care and Engineering progression

    15 July 2022 by Mary Curnock Cook

    This blog was kindly contributed by Mary Curnock Cook CBE, Chair of Pearson Education Ltd, the UK-regulated qualifications arm of Pearson. You can find Mary on Twitter @MaryCurnockCook. The start of 2022 opened with a strong show of support for the Level 3 BTEC and Applied General qualifications, with more…

  • Why aren’t more graduates going into SMEs when they leave college or university?

    13 July 2022 by Lucy Haire and Laura Brassington at HEPI in conversation with Clare Adams, Joanne Patterson and Michael Harbaugh at Handshake

    By Lucy Haire and Laura Brassington at HEPI in conversation with Clare Adams, Joanne Patterson and Michael Harbaugh at Handshake. Handshake are on Twitter @joinhandshakeuk. Around 500,000 new graduates are leaving UK universities and colleges up and down the country this summer. Those long years of study, never-ending nights of revision and…

  • Examining the elusive ‘nexus’ between teaching and research 

    12 July 2022 by Joanna Thornborough

    This blog was written by Joanna Thornborough, Senior Policy Adviser (HE & Skills) at the British Academy. With uncertainty surrounding the UK’s association to Horizon Europe and a resurgence of COVID-19 cases threatening to cause more chaos when terms start afresh in September, academics could be forgiven for wanting to block out all thoughts…

  • The Textbook Problem and How to Solve It

    8 July 2022 by Rod Bristow

    This blog was written by Rod Bristow, who has worked internationally in assessment, qualifications and publishing for 40 years. Rod was President, Global Online Learning & UK at Pearson and is Past President of the Publishers Association. He is Visiting Professor at the UCL Institute of Education, an academy and…

  • Developments in higher education policy: the good, the bad and the ugly

    7 July 2022 by Nick Hillman

    This morning, HEPI Director Nick Hillman is delivering this short speech to the Annual Conference for the staff of UPP, a long-standing HEPI Partner. Introduction Although it didn’t happen on this occasion, I often get asked before speaking at conferences to submit what I am going to say many weeks…

  • The Open Access Opportunity: Building the Third Space

    6 July 2022 by Matt Flinders

    See our ‘Open Access 101’ by Dr Fiona Counsell, Head of Open Access Operations & Policy at Taylor & Francis, here. In her recent blog, Victoria Gardner explored whether open access was ‘the end or the means’? In this blog Matt Flinders argues that open access represents little more that the latest stage of a complex and…

  • Quality and Compassion: Reframing Academic Integrity

    5 July 2022 by Darren de Souza

    This blog has been contributed by Darren de Souza, Policy & Projects Officer of London Higher – the representative body for the UK’s largest regional higher education powerhouse in London. Darren is on Twitter @darren_desouza. UK higher education has a world-renowned reputation for academic excellence and student experience. As the UK’s…