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The UK's only independent think tank devoted to higher education.

Publications

In recent years, HEPI has produced over 20 reports a year. They are all available free of charge here on our website and all our longer reports are also available in hard copy from the HEPI office.

The version on the website should be regarded as the version of record.

  • Reforming BTECs: Applied General qualifications as a route to higher education

    23 February 2017 by Scott Kelly

    The dramatic rise in the number of university students holding BTECs raises important questions about the purpose of the qualification and whether it should be treated by policymakers as part of an academic or vocational pathway. Scott Kelly discusses these issues and makes a number of recommendations for policymakers and…

  • Rebooting learning for the digital age: What next for technology- enhanced higher education?

    2 February 2017 by Sarah Davies, Joel Mullan and Paul Feldman

    This publication shows where digital technology can support higher education leaders and policymakers to boost student outcomes, increase teaching quality and enhance the student experience. It identifies some of the most promising practice from the UK and around the world, and sets out the key opportunities to make the most…

  • The determinants of international demand for UK higher education

    12 January 2017 by Gavan Conlon, Rohit Ladher and Maike Halterbeck

    These two reports were commissioned by HEPI and Kaplan from London Economics as the first major econometric assessment of the big changes facing the UK higher education sector – including Brexit – and what they mean for institutions and students. Among the wealth of data, they show any further crackdown on international students…

  • Alternative providers of higher education: issues for policymakers

    5 January 2017 by John Fielden and Robin Middlehurst

    In this HEPI paper, two authors with considerable expertise in evaluating higher education systems around the world assess higher education institutions that are not funded directly by taxpayers – known in the UK as alternative providers. Since the start of the century, alternative providers have been growing rapidly. This raises…

  • International university rankings: For good or ill?

    15 December 2016 by Bahram Bekhradnia

    Rankings of universities have become increasingly influential in recent years. This report demonstrates the dangers that this represents. It shows that international rankings are almost entirely based on research-related criteria, and if universities are to move up the rankings the only way of doing so is to focus on their…

  • 2016 HEPI Annual Lecture by Dr Martha J. Kanter, former US Under Secretary of Education (2009-13) and now Executive Director of the College Promise Campaign and Senior Fellow, New York University’s Steinhardt Institute of Higher Education Policy

    8 December 2016

    The 2016 HEPI Annual Lecture was delivered on the evening of Thursday 8th December by Dr Martha J. Kanter, former US Under-Secretary of Education in President Barack Obama’s first administration (2009-13) and now Executive Director of the College Promise Campaign and Senior Fellow, New York University’s Steinhardt Institute of Higher Education Policy.…

  • Protecting the Public Interest in Higher Education

    13 October 2016 by Bill Rammell

    This new pamphlet by Bill Rammell, Vice Chancellor for the University of Bedfordshire and a former Higher Education Minister, argues the Government’s obsession with market competition ignores the fundamental purpose of universities to serve the public interest. He argues that the public interest should be reflected in legislation and calls…

  • The invisible problem? Improving students’ mental health

    22 September 2016 by Poppy Brown, with a Foreword by the Rt Hon. Norman Lamb MP

    Students are less happy and more anxious than the general population, including other young people, and a minority suffer from serious mental disorders. It is stressful to live away from home without access to past support networks, while learning in new ways, taking on large debts and facing an uncertain…

  • Tackling Wicked Issues: Prestige and Employment Outcomes in the Teaching Excellence Framework

    8 September 2016 by Paul Blackmore, Richard Blackwell and Martin Edmondson

    Successive governments have tried to improve teaching quality in universities. The proposed Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) is the latest attempt. This new pamphlet explores two of the most difficult issues that need more attention and offers some solutions. In the first chapter Paul Blackmore considers why research has a higher…

  • Higher Education in New Zealand: What might the UK learn?

    28 July 2016 by Sam Cannicott

    Since 2014, HEPI has undertaken major comparative studies of higher education in Australia and Germany. Now, we turn our attention to New Zealand. Although the New Zealand higher education sector is small compared to the UK’s, it performs very well in international league tables. Moreover, policymakers in Wellington have given…