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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.

  • Higher Education Supply and Demand to 2020

    2 February 2011 by Robbie Coleman and Bahram Bekhradnia

    This is the sixth report on demand for higher education that HEPI has published, updated each year in the light of the most recent information. The previous report considered the extent of latent demand from under-represented groups – particularly males and disadvantaged social groups, as well as regional variations. It also showed…

  • The government’s proposals for higher education funding and student finance – an analysis

    11 November 2010 by John Thompson and Bahram Bekhradnia

    The government has recently announced its policy intentions towards higher education and student finance, in response to the Browne Review’s recommendations.  In this report we first provide a summary of the differences between the Browne Review and the government’s proposals. We then look at whether these proposals meet the two…

  • The Independent Review of Higher Education Funding: an analysis

    15 October 2010 by John Thompson and Bahram Bekhradnia

    The Independent Review of Higher Education and Student Finance, by Lord Browne, was published earlier this week.  This report is HEPI’s response to the proposals. A new version of the report was uploaded on 19 October 2010.

  • Male and female participation and progression in Higher Education: further analysis

    4 July 2010 by John Thompson and Bahram Bekhradnia

    This report supplements the research published by HEPI in June 2009 on “Male and female participation and progression in Higher Education”. It is in two parts. The first part provides further information on the employment outcomes of graduates, using more up-to-date data than was available when the original report was…

  • Comparability of degree standards?

    3 June 2010 by Roger Brown

    This report discusses the issues involved in comparability of degree standards. It is in two parts. Part 1 begins by outlining the means by which individual universities and colleges and the academic community collectively protect the standards of UK degrees. It then describes the historical attachment to comparability and the…

  • Funding selectivity, concentration and excellence – how good is the UK’s research?

    25 March 2010 by Jonathan Adams and Karen Gurney

    This report assesses the strength of the UK’s research base, and at a high level examines how that strength is distributed between institutions. It concludes that a very small number of institutions and individuals within them produce the truly exceptional research that puts the UK among the world’s leaders in…

  • Postgraduate education in the UK

    21 January 2010 by Ginevra House

    In 2004 HEPI produced a report reviewing the extent and nature of postgraduate education. The present report updates the 2004 study and looks in more depth at a number of issues: Nature of postgraduate education Students – current numbers, profile and trends Institutional differences and regional disparities Costs and benefits of postgraduate…

  • Oxford and Cambridge – how different are they?

    19 November 2009 by Juliet Chester and Bahram Bekhradnia

    This study  looks at Oxford and Cambridge universities and considers the extent to which they are distinctive compared to the rest of the UK higher education sector. It looks at the nature of their undergraduate student bodies, the outcomes of their teaching, the extent and quality of the research done…

  • Proposals for the Research Excellence Framework – a critique

    15 October 2009 by Bahram Bekhradnia

    The UK higher education funding bodies have published their proposals for the design and conduct of the Research Excellence Framework (REF), which will replace the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) as the method by which research will be assessed for the purpose of the allocation of their research funds. This paper…