News Archives

New HEPI report reveals over 350,000 more higher education places will be needed in England by 2035 to keep up with demand, while Scotland will see a decline in demand for places over the same period, despite increased participation in higher education

22 October 2020

The Higher Education Policy Institute has published a new report looking at future demand for higher education places in the UK over the next fifteen years. The report, Demand for Higher Education to 2035 by Rachel Hewitt, builds and expands on HEPI’s long history of exploring demand for higher education. The…
Access to higher education before, during and after the pandemic – by Chris Millward, Director for Fair Access and Participation

30 September 2020 by Chris Millward

This blog was kindly contributed by Chris Millward, Director for Fair Access and Participation at the Office for Students, who is taking part in a free HEPI webinar later today. I last wrote for HEPI in December 2019, responding to its pamphlet on social mobility and elite universities. Since then, higher education has…
New polling shows students’ support for the Labour Party has grown under Keir Starmer and students have become more politicised since the start of 2020

24 September 2020

Students’ voting patterns are often assumed but, as our recent report on the role of student voters in the last four elections has shown, their role can often be misunderstood. Today, we publish new YouthSight data on students’ voting intentions, which finds: The Labour Party continues to hold the greatest support among…
At the 2019 General Election, Labour’s vote share was 25 percentage points higher in student constituencies – and the Conservatives’ vote share was 25 percentage points lower

17 September 2020 by Nick Hillman

The Higher Education Policy Institute has published a new report on student voters at the last four UK general elections (2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019). Student voters: Did they make a difference? (HEPI Report 133) by Nick Hillman focuses on the results in the 25 parliamentary constituencies in England, Scotland and…
HEPI’s Annual Soft-Power Ranking, 2020: The UK slips further behind the US

27 August 2020 by Nick Hillman

The Higher Education Policy Institute has published the HEPI Annual Soft-Power Ranking 2020, which looks at the countries that have educated the most serving world leaders. The results show the UK, which had educated the most world leaders in 2017 but slipped relative to the US in both 2018 and…
Call for a new approach on the affordability, regulation and cost of student accommodation

6 August 2020

The Higher Education Policy Institute has published a new report on the burgeoning student accommodation sector. Student Accommodation: The Facts (HEPI Analytical Paper 2) by Sarah Jones and Martin Blakey shows 1.2 million students rent their housing, split between university-provided accommodation (28%), private purpose-built student accommodation (27%) and shared student houses (45%). The…
New report calls for the decolonisation of universities in order address a ‘silent crisis’

23 July 2020

The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has published a new report with original testimony and practical guidance for UK universities on decolonising higher education. The report establishes that the decolonisation of UK universities is vital for the improvement of course curricula, pedagogical practice, staff wellbeing and the student experience. Miseducation:…
New report shows 67% of PhD students want a career in academic research but only 30% stay in academia three years on

16 July 2020

The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has published a new report on the career ambitions of PhD students – people who are studying for doctoral degrees. PhD students and their careers by Bethan Cornell uses previously unpublished data to find out how PhD students feel their doctorate impacts on their career choices. The key…
Universities and Brexit: Past, Present and Future

11 July 2020

HEPI’s Director, Nick Hillman, has written about ‘Universities and Brexit: past, present and future‘ for today’s Long Read from ‘The UK in a Changing Europe’. The piece argues: Standing (largely) aside in the Scottish referendum and then getting stuck in on one side of the Brexit referendum were both defensible…
Universities should redouble their engagement with China while reaffirming their commitment to free intellectual enquiry

9 July 2020

The Higher Education Policy Institute (www.hepi.ac.uk) have published a new collection of essays on the challenges and complexities of the relationship between UK universities and China. UK Universities and China covers topics including: self-censorship; the importance of UK-China scientific research; and the recruitment and integration of Chinese students. The diverse…