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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.

  • Student accommodation costs across 10 cities in the UK

    26 October 2023 by Unipol and HEPI

    In the last three years there have been big changes in rent levels and the supply of student accommodation, driven and shaped by global and national economic turbulence. High inflation, high energy costs, high building costs and high interest rates have combined to produce unprecedented rises in rent. Because of…

  • 2023 English Social Mobility Index

    19 October 2023 by Professor Dave Phoenix OBE

    The English Social Mobility Index, which is compiled by London South Bank University (LSBU) and published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), compares the performance of individual English higher education providers. The Index measures the social distance travelled by graduates from each institution as well as the proportion of…

  • The Robbins Report at 60: Essential facts for policymakers today

    12 October 2023 by Nick Hillman

    The Robbins Report at 60: Essential facts for policymakers today (HEPI Policy Note 49) by HEPI Director Nick Hillman is also available in an html version below. The Robbins Report at 60: Essential facts for policymakers today The 1963 Robbins Report was undoubtedly one of the most important official social…

  • Election 2024: Three Vice-Chancellors’ Manifestos

    2 October 2023 by Professor Sir Chris Husbands of Sheffield Hallam University, Professor Sasha Roseneil

    In the run up to what is widely expected to be the most hotly contested general election for many years, three experienced vice-chancellors from English universities outline what they want the political leaders to include in their manifestos. Their ideas range across the full range of higher education and research…

  • Looking back on the 2022/23 academic year: HEPI’s Annual Review

    27 September 2023

    In the last academic year, 2022/23, HEPI produced more publications, hosted more events and secured more engagement with its work than ever before, finally leaving the worst impacts of the pandemic behind. As explained in our new 2022/23 Annual Review, this was a fitting way to mark the organisation’s twentieth…

  • How to Beat a Cost-of-Learning Crisis: Universities’ Support for Students

    14 September 2023 by Josh Freeman

    This HEPI Report considers the strategies adopted by higher education institutions to support students affected by the cost-of-living crisis. It finds they are adopting a range of measures, such as supporting students with the costs of food and drink, providing means-tested and unconditional funding, subsidising student activities, and opening food…

  • Because you’re worth it: Are vice-chancellors worth the pay they get?

    31 August 2023 by Lucy Haire

    In this HEPI Debate Paper, Lucy Haire probes the issue of how to set the rate of vice-chancellors’ pay fairly. Vice-chancellors bear huge responsibility as leaders of high-revenue organisations, and they are paid less than their colleagues at universities in both the USA and Australia. The report argues that rather…

  • Over one-quarter of the world’s countries are headed by someone educated in the UK and another quarter are headed by someone educated in the US – HEPI’S 2023 SOFT-POWER INDEX 

    22 August 2023 by Nick Hillman

    The Higher Education Policy Institute (www.hepi.ac.uk) has published the results of its seventh annual Soft-Power Index. The Index measures the number of serving world leaders (monarchs, presidents and prime ministers) educated at a higher level in countries other than their own. Both the US and the UK are far ahead of every other…

  • The relationship between teaching and research in UK universities – what is it and does it matter? 

    20 July 2023 by Nicola Dandridge

    This Report by Nicola Dandridge considers the different approaches taken by higher education institutions, students, academics and policymakers towards the relationship between teaching and research. It notes how frequently the concept of research-informed teaching is invoked, yet how obscurely it is implemented. The relationship appears to mean different things to…

  • UK higher education – policy, practice and debate during HEPI’s first 20 years 

    12 July 2023

    This collection of pieces by people long associated with higher education policy marks HEPI’s 20th birthday, as the organisation was founded in 2002/03. Each chapter considers how different aspects of UK higher education have changed, for better or worse, over the past two decades. The topics covered include HEPI’s own…