The UK Government’s Restoring Control over the Immigration System white paper (May 2025) proposes a 6% levy on international students’ tuition fees to invest in ‘the higher education and skills system’. Further details are expected in the autumn Budget. HEPI has used the latest available data (for 2023/24) to calculate the cost…
A new report from the Higher Education Policy Institute, The Languages Crisis: Arresting decline by Megan Bowler (HEPI Report 192), sponsored by Duolingo, shows a big drop in formal language learning. The report starts with the current state of language learning in UK’s schools and universities: The paper includes a Foreword…
At the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), we aim to: Promote research into and understanding of all aspects of higher education and to disseminate the useful results of such research for the education and benefit of policy makers and the general public in the United Kingdom. Your insights will help…
A new report from the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) highlights the significant yet underacknowledged impact of menstruation on students’ attendance, academic engagement and wellbeing in UK universities. Authored by Rose Stephenson, HEPI’s Director of Policy and Advocacy, The Hidden Impact of Menstrual Cycles on Higher Education Studies is based…
This HEPI blog was kindly authored by Maggie Smart, UCAS Director of Data and Analysis As we pass the 30 June deadline for this year’s undergraduate admissions cycle, UCAS’ data offers an early view of applicant and provider behaviour as we head into Confirmation and Clearing. It also marks a…
Today, Unite Students is launching the 2025 edition of its Applicant Index in partnership with HEPI. Student wellbeing has surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time, according to a new report. The Unite Students 2025 Applicant Index, conducted in partnership with Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), found that university applicants…
The higher education sector is navigating one of the most challenging periods in its history, marked by financial uncertainty, rapid technological transformation, demographic shifts and rising public and political scrutiny. A new collection of 10 essays published today by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and curated by the National…
This note is by HEPI Director, Nick Hillman. I’m over the moon and completely surprised to have had my work in higher education policy since 2007 recognised through the award of an OBE. I’ve been very lucky in my career, most notably in having the chance to support a brilliant…
A record 68% of students now work during term time, reshaping study habits amid rising cost-of-living pressures.
In a new HEPI Debate Paper, Universities are boxed in: Is there a way out?, Professors Diana Beech and André Spicer of City St George’s, University of London, argue UK higher education institutions are boxed in on six sides: The authors outline the many ways in which university leaders are responding…