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].

  • Book Review: Preventing and Responding to Student Suicide: A Practical Guide for FE and HE Settings by Sharon Mallon and Jo Smith (eds.) (London, 2022)

    16 February 2022 by Laura Brassington

    HEPI’s Policy Manager, Dr Laura Brassington, reviews Sharon Mallon and Jo Smith (eds.). 2022. Preventing and Responding to Student Suicide: A Practical Guide for FE and HE Settings. With a foreword by Rosie Tressler, OBE. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 978-1-78775-418-8. 400pp. £40.00.  The publication of Preventing and Responding to Student Suicide: A…

  • Changing Fees, Changing Lives?

    15 February 2022 by John Cater

    This blog was contributed by Dr John Cater, Vice-Chancellor of Edge Hill University. Throughout the past decade, and to some extent for the 15 years that preceded it, politicians, the media, families, graduates and aspiring graduates have obsessed about student tuition fees and maintenance grants and loans. And for good…

  • What influences the geographical mobility behaviour of university graduates?

    14 February 2022 by Kostas Kollydas

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Kostas Kollydas, Research Fellow at City-REDI/ WMREDI, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham (@KKollydas, @WMREDI). Introduction University graduates comprise a special subgroup of the workforce, as they accumulate high levels of human capital and can improve a region’s skills base. They can make a positive impact on…

  • The Importance of a Differentiated Sector

    11 February 2022 by Saskia Loer Hansen and David Phoenix

    This blog was kindly contributed by Saskia Loer Hansen, Interim Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Aston University, and Professor David Phoenix, Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University and Chief Executive of LSBU Group. While it was a disappointment that higher education funding was left out of the autumn budget, it was…

  • Universities, Research, Development and Innovation and the Levelling Up White Paper

    10 February 2022 by Giles Carden

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Giles Carden, Chief of Staff at Lancaster University. The Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper was finally launched on 2 February 2022. It sets out a complete ‘system change’ of government working, with the aim of levelling up the UK. Central to the new…

  • Drowning in data? Is there a ‘tyranny of metrics’ in education?

    9 February 2022 by Nick Hillman

    This post by HEPI Director Nick Hillman: considers the arguments for and against the use of big data in higher education; looks at the reasons behind the growing use of metrics; and ends with a discussion on the increasing demands to contexualise metrics before using them for important decisions. The…

  • Predicting Careers 2032: an optimistic future for student and graduate recruitment

    8 February 2022 by Joanne Patterson

    This blog was contributed by Joanne Patterson, Head of Marketing & Communications, Education & Employer, EMEA at Handshake (@JoinHandshakeUK). Despite the backdrop of COVID-related uncertainty, there is reason to be optimistic about the future of student and graduate recruitment. A combination of technological advancement, reflection and the mass change in…

  • We’ve reached a tipping point on apprenticeships

    7 February 2022 by John Cope

    This blog was contributed by John Cope, Director of Strategy, Policy & Public Affairs, UCAS. There isn’t an education minister in living memory who didn’t at some point say they wanted to bring ‘parity of esteem’ between higher education and apprenticeships. Most believed it when they said it. Not many…

  • OfS, TEF and Student Outcomes

    4 February 2022 by Scott Kelly

    Scott Kelly lectures in British Politics at New York University in London and has worked for many years as a policy adviser to the Rt Hon. John Hayes MP, who was Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (2010-12). He previously worked for the Learning and Skills Network and…

  • Realising the Civic University

    3 February 2022 by Ian Matthias and Mike Boxall

    Ian Matthias is head of higher education at PA Consulting and Mike Boxall is a higher education expert at PA Consulting. Click here for more information on PA’s work in higher education or download a copy of ‘A Differentiated Future’ here and PA’s paper on ‘Tomorrow’s Universities, Today’ here. Having…