If memory is the residue of thought, what are we learning from AI?
AI use in student essays challenges traditional assessment by separating the end product from the critical thinking behind it.
Speeches
UK higher education in spring 2025: 10 ‘killer facts’
Good morning. It is wonderful to be here, even if the outlook for our sector does not feel quite as rosy as when I have appeared here in the past – and, given the new migration white paper from the Home Office, not as rosy as it felt just a…
WEEKEND READING: ‘Overstretched and under-resourced’? UK higher education on the cusp of the Spending Review
This is the text of a speech Nick Hillman delivered this week at the University of Bradford. Thank you for inviting me back to Yorkshire, and indeed to the bit of Yorkshire that sometimes feels like it has more universities per head of the population than anywhere else in the…
Weekend Reading: Rethinking the Cost of Higher Education – A Lecture Revisited
In a 2014 lecture, John Denham proposed radical reforms to halve tuition fees by redirecting public funding into teaching and diversifying university pathways.
Nick Hillman’s remarks to the HEPI / CDBU event on ‘Who Pays? Exploring Fairer Funding Models for Higher Education’
Entering into higher education policy by accident Like almost everyone else working in higher education policy, I fell into the area by accident. In the second half of 2007, I was invited to go and work as the Chief of Staff for the Shadow Cabinet member David Willetts. I had…
What is the Conservative approach to UK higher education now?
These are the remarks made by Nick Hillman, HEPI Director, at the HEPI / KCL Policy Institute fringe event at the 2024 Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. A sketch of his time at the Conference is here. What is the Conservative approach to UK higher education now? I’ve no idea…
What can we expect from the new Government?: Speech at the Opening of the Dyslexia Research and Education Hub, University of Buckingham
This speech was delivered by Nick Hillman (HEPI’s Director) in a personal capacity in his role as a Council Member at the University of Buckingham. Good morning. Thank you for inviting me to speak at this important event. Our overarching theme today is ‘Educating the Educators’. I have spent most…
‘An unenviable inheritance and a challenging start?’ – HEPI Director’s speech on higher education past and present
This speech looking back at the last 14 years of higher education policy and forward to what might come next was delivered yesterday by HEPI Director, Nick Hillman, to staff at the Open University. Introduction It is great to be back here at the Open University (OU). As I live…
Creating Robust Safeguarding Policies to Enhance the Student Experience
Before I worked at HEPI, I worked at the University of Bath, developing organisational policy – so I have a particular interest in how national policy and regulation translates into action, on the ground, in higher education providers. I’m speaking this morning about developing robust safeguarding policies to enhance the…
The Value of Higher Education in Developed Economies
Just over a month ago, our Prime Minister, Rt Hon Rishi Sunak, made a statement in his speech to the Conservative party conference. He said that: “The false dream of 50 per cent of children going to university […] was one of the great mistakes of the last 30 years.”…