The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and GW4 (an alliance of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter universities) have jointly published a report entitled Who cares? How postgraduate parents fall through the gap for government childcare grants, and how to fix it. The report shines a light on the unacknowledged gap…
At a recent HEPI Partners’ dinner, Sir Anthony Seldon cited his new book coauthored with Tom Egerton ‘The Conservative Effect 2010-2014 – 14 Wasted Years?’ He provided some thoughts on what in higher education had changed for better or worse during this period. It will not have gone unnoticed that…
What are select committees? With a new Parliament will come new select committees to scrutinise the Government. In the House of Commons, these committees are usually composed of 11 MPs. Most Commons committees are headed by a Chair elected in a secret ballot by all MPs. Committees are overtly cross-party…
At the recent Universities UK (UUK) Conference on Higher Education Regulation, I was invited to contribute to a session exploring institutional approaches to managing UK franchising. This topic is close to my heart, given my role in developing and managing our UK and global partnership network at the University of…
What matters to students continues to evolve as the world around them changes. Through QS data and analytics – including the International Student Survey which collates the perspectives and motivations of over 115,000 international students annually – it is becoming clear that a greater awareness of environmental and social sustainability…
It is not difficult, with the power of hindsight, to identify the three Grey Rhinos, and institutions’ responses to them, that have underpinned the current crisis facing UK universities. Grey Rhinos are defined as “highly probable, high impact but yet neglected” systemic disruptions; they are not random surprises (like Black…
As Keir Starmer’s first cabinet begins to govern, HEPI takes a look back to where and what the new cabinet members studied for their undergraduate degrees. Our analysis finds: The two undergraduate subjects studied by the most members of Starmer’s cabinet are Law and Politics, Philosophy and Economics (each studied…
And so it is decided. After weeks of debates and polls, elephant traps and memes, the election is over. Labour wins a majority of 172 seats and shows assurance as it takes the reins of government. It’s been a long wait. With it, something else begins — the long hard…
Universities are invaluable to the national economy and important anchor institutions in their regions. In 2021-22 around 285 higher education providers across the UK hosted 2.9m students and contributed £71bn to UK GDP. However, both the UK’s regions and our universities are facing times of change and challenge, leading to…
In autumn 2022, HEPI and Midlands Innovation released a ten-part blog series on technical talent, reflecting a growing interest in technicians in the higher education and research sectors. There is a particular interest in understanding employment quality for technicians, encompassing skills utilisation, career development opportunities, pay and contract terms. Information…