This speech was delivered by Nick Hillman, Director of HEPI, at Heriot-Watt University earlier today. Introduction It is a huge pleasure to be back here at Heriot-Watt. The organisation I lead, the Higher Education Policy Institute or HEPI, is a specialist think tank that seeks to build bridges between policymakers and…
In a new HEPI Policy Note, The Future of Digital Learning Resources: Students’ Expectations versus Reality (HEPI Policy Note 41) by Dr Laura Brassington, HEPI and Kortext present the findings of polling carried out by UCAS on student experiences of digitally enhanced learning. Digital learning is not a new phenomenon, but its adoption…
The UCAS personal statement is a 4,000 character / 47-line essay that applicants submit when applying for UK undergraduate programmes. There is growing recognition that the UCAS personal statement needs reform, including from UCAS itself and from the former Minister for Higher Education, Michelle Donelan. However, we have a limited understanding of…
A new Policy Note published by the Higher Education Policy Institute, Student belonging and the wider context (Policy Note 39) by Dr Richard Vytniorgu, uses structured interviews with students to explore the sense of belonging among students. The Policy Note shows students’ sense of belonging in their higher education institution is best…
In a new paper, Opportunities to improve university governance in England (HEPI Report 155), Dr Alison Wheaton considers how university governing body members in England perceive their roles and what this means for the higher education sector. The report, which is based on Dr Wheaton’s recent PhD, finds a shift towards more…
In a new report, Research Leadership Matters: Agility, Alignment, Ambition (HEPI Report 154), Matthew Flinders, Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield, asks what research leadership is and why it matters. Professor Flinders identifies, at worst, a research leadership vacuum and, at best, a leadership lag and far-reaching concern about lost leaders.…
This speech was delivered this morning by Nick Hillman, Director of HEPI, to the GSA / HMC University Admissions Conference. Recovering from COVID Thank you for inviting me to speak at this annual conference on university admissions once more. I first did so back in November 2014, exactly eight years ago.…
A new report by the Higher Education Policy Institute shines a light for the first time on university debating unions and the speakers they invite onto campus. The new research by Josh Freeman, published as No Platform: Speaker Events at University Debating Unions (HEPI Report 153), is based on statistical analysis of…
The European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe, will soon start its third year but UK participation remains uncertain. This uncertainty, arising originally from the outcome of the Brexit referendum and now prolonged by the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol, has led to less participation in EU-funded…
A new Policy Note published by the Higher Education Policy Institute, Thirty years on: Leadership convergence between newer and older universities (HEPI Policy Note 37) by Rohan Selva-Radov, explores the changing tenure of UK university vice-chancellors. The report shows that while the vice-chancellors of post-1992 universities used to serve much longer terms…