Publications

This is the fourth report on demand for higher education that HEPI has published since 2003, updated each year in the light of the most recent information. Last year’s report extended the review to 2020. This year’s takes a first look beyond, to 2030. The purpose of the report is…

This report deals with the practicalities and the implications of the 2006 Leitch report into adult skills and the Government’s proposals so far. It looks at elements of the emerging skills agenda – in particular, targeting older learners, employer engagement in higher education, and routes into HE for young learners…

This report considers the relationship between vocational and academic Level 3 qualifications, in particular whether vocational qualifications may be regarded as equivalent to academic qualifications as preparation for university study.

This report discusses the proposals of Research Councils UK for the reform of the Research Councils’ (RCs’) peer review system for giving project grants. It treats the RCUK report in the wider context of the dual support system and argues that unless the RCs retain a distinctive role in a…

In March 2006, with a grant generously provided by the Higher Education Academy, the Higher Education Policy Institute commissioned Opinionpanel Research to undertake a survey of first and second year full time undergraduate students in English universities. 23,000 students were asked about aspects of their university experience, including the amount…

This report estimates the increase in the revenues and spending power of English universities in the period 2003-04 to 2010-11, and aims to establish, in the light of those estimates and the various calls on their income, the extent to which improvements may be possible in the quality of the…

In his Budget speech in March, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced major reforms to the way research is assessed and funded. He announced that the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) would be discontinued, and in an associated document (‘Science and Innovation Investment Framework: Next Steps’) a consultation was promised on…

Conventional indicators of research performance provide a simple measure of the average performance of the national research base but no explanation of the distribution of quality. This report concerns a new way of looking at research quality by profiling that distribution and thereby gaining novel insights. A report carried out…

The Government has announced its “firm intention” to discontinue the Research Assessment Exercise as the basis for allocating the research funds provided by HEFCE, and replacing it with ‘metrics’, based largely on the success of universities in securing external research income. This report analyses the financial and behavioural implications of…

Analysis of English HEIs’ dependence, or otherwise, on their income from international student fees; and the impact of a hypothetical 25% drop in international fee income.