The HEPI Blog aims to make brief, incisive contributions to the higher education policy landscape. It is circulated to our subscribers and published online. We welcome guest submissions, which should follow our Instructions for Blog Authors. Submissions should be sent to our Blog Editor, Josh Freeman, at [email protected].
In a recent speech to a Universities UK conference, I pooh-poohed various conspiracy theories doing the rounds on the recent higher education green paper, such as the idea that the Government wants to put the right to raise the undergraduate tuition fee cap in the hands of a Secretary of State…
The publication of the higher education green paper a few days ago was a big moment for English policymaking – even if the chilling events in Paris have made such parochial concerns seem less important, as well as serving to remind people of an atrocity in which students at a Kenyan University were murdered in April.…
This guest blog has been contributed by Bright Blue, a centre-right think tank that has today published an important new report on the decline in part-time study and what to do about it. There has been a significant and worrying decline in the number of UK and other EU part-time entrants…
HEPI recently published a lengthy collection of essays on the crisis in part-time study. The book included data on the problem, suggestions for how to tackle it and a chapter from London Economics on how the Government have almost certainly exaggerated the non-repayment of student loans from part-time students. This…
This blog post is based on a speech by Nick Hillman, Director of HEPI, to a Pearson UK Hot Breakfast on 9th November 2015. First, there weren’t many surprises. Mark Leach of Wonkhe has said ‘For UK higher education, the world changed on Friday.’ I’m not so sure. The green…
This guest blog post is written by Dean Machin, who works for Trilateral Research. Learning analytics is arriving on university campuses. To universities it offers higher student retention rates and, at £9000pa per student, many are keen. Learning analytics uses a combination of data about students and their university engagement to trigger…
Rumours of the demise of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (established in 1992) continue to grow. HEPI will have more to say about the Government’s overall approach to higher education – pros and cons – once the green paper is published in the next few days. But, for…
This is an extract from a speech made by Nick Hillman, HEPI Director, to the Committee of University Chairs Autumn Plenary, held in central London on Friday, 16th October 2015. The instructions I have received for this event advise that ‘our most successful speakers are those who encourage the audience to reflect on what…
There’s quite a bit of chatter here at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester about the Government’s commitment to double the proportion of people from the least well-off socio-economic groups that make it to higher education. Joy Carter, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Winchester, mentioned it, for example, at…
On Tuesday, 29th September 2015, HEPI co-hosted a roundtable discussion at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton. It focused on some new research exploring students’ views on applying to higher education, alternatives to higher education and employability. A similar event will be taking place at the Conservative Party Conference in…