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].
Paul Woodgates is an independent adviser and non-executive director in the HE sector. Perhaps we always suspected that student debt would take its toll on graduates. But in their HEPI Report, Hidden Voices: Graduates’ Perspectives on the Student Loan System in England, Claire Callender and Ariane de Gayardon present a…
‘Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.’ This blog was contributed by John Claughton, Co-Founder of WoLLoW: The World of Languages and Languages of the World and Honorary Research Fellow in Classics Ancient History and Egyptology within the School of Arts Languages and cultures at…
This blog was contributed by David Woolley, Director of Student and Community Engagement at Nottingham Trent University. The Government has expressed its intention to refocus the entire Access and Participation regime. This should not be a surprise; there have long been questions over the impact of the significant sums spent…
The Government is about to redefine higher education to include courses that are no higher than A-Level or GCSE standards. We should all be worried, says HEPI’s Founder and President, Bahram Bekhradnia. Dumbing down in higher education is to be deplored. Government rhetoric about this has been consistent and clear, not…
As we enter Advent, the higher education sector is gearing up for expected new consultations from the Department for Education. Here HEPI Director, Nick Hillman, takes stock of current policy debates, the impending industrial action and the continuing impact of COVID. The calm before the storm It may seem extraordinary,…
This blog was contributed by Fiona Ellison, Director of the Unite Foundation. It is estimated that there area over 16,000 estranged and care experienced young people at university across the UK. In its latest insight brief, Office for Students acknowledges that, over the past 20 years, higher education has become…
Dear John, Congratulations on your new appointment! We don’t know each other well but I have long admired your career from afar. You clearly care passionately about learners and ensuring they meet their potential. It is a huge and brilliant job that you are taking on, in fact one of…
HEPI Director Nick Hillman delves into the biography of the most important UK civil servant of modern times, Jeremy Heywood, to search out lessons on how higher education policy is set at the centre of Whitehall. During a recent period of COVID-induced isolation, I finally got around to reading What Does…
This blog was contributed by Professor David Latchman, Vice-Chancellor at Birkbeck, University of London. After 18-months of enforced online learning, it is not surprising that most students were keen to return to onsite teaching and the unique opportunities that in-person university life presents. There are good reasons why the in-person model…
This blog was contributed for Sophie Cloutterbuck, Director of London Engagement, London Metropolitan University. As the majority of restrictions in the UK are now lifted, the push for a pre-pandemic, semi-normal festive break ensues. A period where we can see friends and family, shop on the high street, and gather…