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].
After teaching for 31 years in primary and middle schools, including eleven as head teacher, I retired (at the age of 52) in 1997 and a year later created my first website, which contained, in addition to an assortment of personal material, an education section consisting of the essays and…
To measure is to know Attributed to William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824–1907) As HEPI marks 20 years of debate and constructive criticism on matters relating to higher education in the UK and beyond, it has invited expert researchers, practitioners and commentators to reflect on the way that tertiary education…
It may seem difficult to believe now that, only 30 years ago, there was limited interest in the working and funding of the nation’s universities or in the opportunities they offer to their students. By the start of the twenty-first century though, that had changed and there was a role…
In the spring of 2002 I approached Sir Howard Newby, recently appointed Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), where I had been Policy Director for more than 10 years, with the proposition that HEFCE might support me in establishing a think tank devoted to higher…
Where, and to whom, we are born are among the strongest forces affecting our life expectancy, our work careers, health outcomes, and the amount of taxes we pay over a lifetime. What do we mean by ‘disadvantaged’? We refer to specific student characteristics, which make it less likely those pupils…
Thank you for inviting me to speak here in Wolverhampton. It is a huge pleasure for three particular reasons. First, despite working in higher education policy for well over 15 years and despite having visited nearly every UK university, I have never visited the University of Wolverhampton before. Secondly, it…
*** Register here for our webinar with UCAS Chief Executive Clare Marchant, taking place at 11am on Monday 14th August. *** As reported by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), a record number of UK Higher Education institutions missed the published 31 May 2023 submission deadline for the student return…
Nearly ten years ago I started a conversation between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield City Council after a change in the way people could register to vote. The new system – known as Individual Electoral Registration – meant universities could no longer register students ‘en bloc’ and we were…
Videos recently emerged of disruption to graduation ceremonies at the University of Edinburgh. Disappointed at receiving only an apology note in lieu of a degree certificate and angry at the failure to resolve the dispute, students chanted and carried protest signs on stage. On encouragement by a student speaker, many…
Politicians should think big. They should think about the next frontier. They should focus government on difficult issues. Keir Starmer has committed Labour to five ambitious missions, of which the fifth is squarely focused on educational transformation. The mission is stated simply and squarely: ‘Labour will shatter the glass ceiling…