Publications

Too many earlier attempts to use R&D investment for ‘levelling up’ have started with big ambitions but not survived long enough to deliver economic benefit. The purpose of regional R&D investment needs greater clarity. This report unpicks assumptions about the spread of research funding across the UK and finds them…

The key findings of a poll of students’ personal lives published in Sex and Relationships Among Students: Summary Report (HEPI Policy Note 30) by Nick Hillman, HEPI’s Director, include: most students (58%) regard making friends as more important than finding sexual partners and just one-in-ten students (10%) expected to have sex during…

Key findings Two-thirds of undergraduate students (66%) say they have not received any financial reimbursement from their university or accommodation provider as a result of the pandemic. Around a fifth (19%) have received reimbursement from their accommodation provider, 13% from their university and 2% from both. Two-thirds of students (66%)…

In early 2021 the Government announced a review of the current admissions system. This edited collection explores the opportunities and challenges surrounding any move to post-qualification admissions. Among the topics considered are: Should the UK admissions system move to a model of post-qualification admissions and if so which: post-qualification applications,…

In this paper, Professor David Phoenix, the Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University, proposes a new English Social Mobility Index. Incorporating the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the distance they travel after they enter their higher education institution, the English SMI provides a new way of understanding the…

In this HEPI debate paper on the media and higher education, Rosemary Bennett provides a commentary on the interaction of the two sectors and proposes ideas on how universities might best engage with journalists to promote themselves and their research.

Student funding remains hotly contested. In this HEPI Debate Paper, Alan Roff considers the findings of the Office for Budget Responsibility, which has come to regard the past treatment of student loans in the national accounts as a ‘fiscal illusion’. Roff argues for a different approach to student finance, which…

A short guide to non-continuation in UK universities (HEPI Policy Note 28) by Nick Hillman, HEPI’s Director, looks at the scale of the problem, including showing that the UK has the lowest drop-out rate of any OECD country. It also considers which students are most at risk of not completing their…

Key findings More than half of full-time undergraduate students (59%) say they are very or quite satisfied with the online learning that has replaced face-to-face teaching, up from 42% in June 2020 and 49% in March 2020. Half of students (51%) are receiving some face-to-face teaching whereas 49% are receiving…