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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].

  • International postgraduate research students matter if the UK wants to become a science superpower. Here is what we can do to attract and retain them.

    14 June 2022 by Joana Westphal

    This blog was written by Joana Westphal, Policy Advisor (Research Policy & Transnational Education) at Universities UK International. Joana is on Twitter @JoanaWestphal. International postgraduate research (PGR) students are critical to the UK’s research and development (R&D) capability and its future talent pipeline. And the diverse community of PGR students is…

  • The state of university admissions in 2022

    14 June 2022 by Nick Hillman

    This is the text of a speech delivered by Nick Hillman, HEPI Director, to the Russell Group Admissions Forum at the University of Warwick yesterday afternoon. Introduction It is wonderful to be back at an in-person meeting and it is wonderful to be back here at the University of Warwick.…

  • Ministers should not politicise the work of the OfS: discuss

    13 June 2022 by Susan Lapworth

    This blog was written by Susan Lapworth, Interim Chief Executive of the Office for Students. You don’t need to hang around on higher education Twitter for long before certain positions become familiar. One of these is that the Office for Students (OfS) is an independent arm’s length body and it is…

  • WEEKEND READING: Thank you! Finally, there is strategic senior support for moving away from a helicopter model of social mobility to focusing on systemic change

    12 June 2022 by Professor Anna Mountford-Zimdars and Dr Neil Harrison

    This blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Professor Anna Mountford-Zimdars, Academic Director of the Centre for Social Mobility, and Dr Neil Harrison, Associate Professor of Education and Social Justice, from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Exeter. Katharine Birbalsingh, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission,…

  • Employability Blog Series: What have we learnt?

    10 June 2022 by Saskia Loer Hansen and Kathy Daniels

    The final contribution to this weekly series of blogs on employability was written by Saskia Loer Hansen, Interim Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, and Professor Kathy Daniels, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor (Engagement) at Aston University. Over the last four months, a number of colleagues from across the higher education sector have shared their experiences of…

  • Open Access 101

    9 June 2022 by Fiona Counsell

    In this blog post, Dr Fiona Counsell provides an overview of the many faces and facets of Open Access. Dr Fiona Counsell is Head of Open Access Operations & Policy at Taylor & Francis and has been working in a multi-faceted open access role since 2016, before which she managed…

  • Living Black at University Blog Series: How I found a sense of belonging and a home far from home

    8 June 2022 by Zoe Olawore

    Tomorrow, Thursday 9 June 2022, HEPI is hosting its annual conference, ‘Challenges for the future? The student experience, good governance and institutional autonomy’. Register here. The fourth in this blog series on Living Black at University was written by Zoe Olawore, an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge. Zoe has authored several articles for Varsity, Cambridge…

  • 10 ‘killer facts’ about higher education finance by @nickhillman

    7 June 2022 by Nick Hillman

    On Thursday, 9 June 2022, HEPI will be hosting its first in-person Annual Conference since 2019 at One Great George Street in central London, sponsored by UPP and with media support from Times Higher Education – the title for the day is ‘Challenges for the future? The student experience, good…

  • How are public perceptions of universities being shaped by campus visits?

    6 June 2022 by Lucy Haire

    On Thursday, 9 June 2022, HEPI will host its Annual Conference in central London. Titled ‘Challenges for the future?’, the day will include the launch of the Advance HE / HEPI 2022 Student Academic Experience Survey. Register here. Last bank holiday, I took my 13-year-old son to visit Royal Holloway, University of…