Publications

HEPI Policy Note 1, Misunderstanding Technical and Professional Education: Six Category Mistakes, considers six areas: Parity of esteem: The new T-Levels are supposed to give technical education the same status as academic education. But they have a different purpose and structure to A-Levels. So they will succeed only if they…

John Cater, the Vice-Chancellor of Edge Hill University, looks at the history of teacher training over the past half a century. Most of the recent reforms – such as a push for more school based teacher training – have antecedents. But policymakers have often missed the lessons from the successes…

Richard Garner is the UK’s longest-serving education correspondent and has worked at the Times Educational Supplement, the Mirror and the Independent. In this HEPI Occasional Paper, he questions whether universities are making the most of their opportunities to work with the media. Through a series of colourful anecdotes, he reveals…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…