Skip to content
The UK's only independent think tank devoted to higher education.

HEPI Guest Post

  • Reflections of an Afghan Chevening Scholar

    20 September 2021 by Naimatullah Zafary & Ruth Arnold

    Today’s blog was contributed by Naimatullah Zafary, an Afghan Chevening scholar and Ruth Arnold, Senior Advisor to Study Group and co-founder of the #WeAreInternational campaign. Ruth is on Twitter @RuthArnold.   On 28 August the last British flight evacuating civilians from Afghanistan left Kabul, bringing to an end an operation that…

  • To whom is Ofqual accountable?

    16 September 2021 by Dennis Sherwood

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dennis Sherwood who writes for HEPI about Ofqual, A levels and examinations. You can follow him on Twitter @noookophile. On 7 September 2021, the Education Select Committee met with the Minister for School Standards, Nick Gibb; the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education,…

  • The soft power benefits from international students are now more important than ever

    15 September 2021

    Today’s blog was kindly contributed by Linda Cowan, Managing Director at Kaplan International Pathways. Linda is on Twitter @LCpathways. Last week’s report, The costs and benefits of international higher education students to the UK economy, published by UUKi and HEPI with research from London Economics, showed the net economic benefit…

  • Adam Habib: We need deeper deliberation about international students and internationalisation

    13 September 2021 by Adam Habib

    This blog was kindly written by Adam Habib, Director at SOAS, University of London. Adam’s Twitter is @AdHabb. HEPI’s recently released report on internationa students, produced in conjunction with the Universities UK International Unit and London Economics, has been received with much fanfare. The report suggests that the 496,000 international…

  • Leadership during the pandemic: it comes back to community

    7 September 2021 by Mary Stuart & Ceri Nursaw

    Mary Stuart, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lincoln and board member of the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE), and Ceri Nursaw, Chief Executive of NCEE, talk about the future of leadership. The NCEE will report in early autumn 2021 on leadership in higher education following a survey of…

  • What can universities do about the Black recruitment gap?

    6 September 2021

    Today’s blog was kindly contributed by Dawid Konotey-Ahulu, Co-Founder and Trustee of 10000BlackInterns. Dawid is on Twitter @Dawid1. UK industry is predominantly male and pale. Everyone knows it and, in the last decade, various initiatives and campaigns have attempted to change at least the gender bias. The 30% Club, for…

  • Why the Government should never bail out a university

    1 September 2021 by Philip Booth

    Today’s blog is by Philip Booth, Director of the Vinson Centre for the Public Understanding of Economics and Professor of Economics at the University of Buckingham. Governments want many contradictory things. They desire high levels of government spending but not high levels of taxation. They want to reduce carbon emissions…

  • The dramatic rise of myopia in young people

    27 August 2021 by Annegret Dahlmann-Noor

    This blog was kindly contributed by Annegret Dahlmann-Noor, Consultant and Director of the Children’s Eye Service at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at UCL. You can find Annegret on Twitter @AnnegretNoor. Myopia, or short-sightedness, has always been common among young people in higher education. Many…

  • Higher education institutions are right to innovate teaching delivery, but students’ expectations must be managed to avoid disappointment

    26 August 2021 by Paul Raybould

    This blog was contributed by Paul Raybould, Marketing Director at QS Quacquarelli Symonds.  Over the past 18 months, higher education institutions have faced extraordinary challenges as they have navigated government lockdowns and re-openings in response to the COVID crisis. The logistical operations required to manage the shift to fully remote delivery…