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

Blog

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].

  • Does it feel better to work in a school or a university?

    12 April 2023 by James Fuller

    This guest blog has been kindly written for HEPI by James Fuller, who supports the senior team at Lancaster University having previously worked in secondary school leadership. In this blog, he considers some similarities and differences between the school and higher education sectors and considers himself very lucky to be in…

  • Challenge Labs – a new way of doing research and teaching

    11 April 2023 by Philippa Page and Jennifer Richards

    This guest blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Philippa Page and Jennifer Richards of Newcastle University’s Humanities Research Institute.  HEPI’s recent paper on the state of the humanities in the UK today can be read here. King’s College London is hosting an event to discuss the issues in…

  • Student number caps: For the many not the few (But what if the few matter too?)

    6 April 2023 by Nick Hillman

    In HEPI’s final blog before the Easter break, HEPI Director Nick Hillman returns to the thorny issue of student number caps, arguing they’re for the many not the few when – in this instance – it’s the few that matter more. After a record-breaking three months in terms of engagement with HEPI’s output, we’re…

  • TRIFURCATION? The Shape of Higher Education in 2030

    5 April 2023 by John Cater

    On 22 June 2023, John Cater will complete three decades as the Director and Vice-Chancellor of Edge Hill University, rendering him the longest-serving head of a higher education institution in the UK. HEPI is marking the occasion by publishing his thoughts on higher education in 2030. Thirty years ago, I was a…

  • What is the future for student assessment in the light of AI and ChatGPT?

    4 April 2023 by Melissa Bowden

    This blog was kindly written by Melissa Bowden from Kortext, in conversation with Sir Tim O’Shea. ChatGPT is a hot topic in higher education, with concerns about how it will impact on academic integrity and student assessment. We spoke to eminent computer scientist and former Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the…

  • Beyond employability

    3 April 2023 by Dr Doug Cole and Jon Down

    This guest blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Dr Doug Cole, Associate Director – Academic at Nottingham Trent University (@DougFCole), and Jon Down, the Director of Development at Grit Breakthrough Programmes, which delivers intensive personal development and coaching in UK universities (@grit_2017). As the access and participation agenda moves beyond broadening…

  • WEEKEND READING: What can data tell us about student wellbeing?

    1 April 2023

    This blog was kindly contributed by Leo Hanna, Executive Vice President at TechnologyOne. The TechnologyOne Showcase in London on Thursday, 27 April 2023 will explore emerging trends and challenges in the higher education sector with international and UK experts.  UCAS projects that by the end of the decade, we could see up…

  • Stronger together: the power to attract overseas investment through partnership working

    31 March 2023 by Professor Nick Jennings

    Midlands Innovation is a strategic research partnership of eight research intensive universities. Universities in the Midlands and the pan-regional growth body, the Midlands Engine, are piloting how universities can work together to attract foreign direct investment into regional research and development. HEPI’s report, The Role of Universities in Driving Overseas Investment into…

  • Public attitudes to higher education – what does the evidence tell us?

    30 March 2023 by Richard Brabner and Nick Hillman

    Today’s HEPI blog is in the form of the Foreword to the recent HEPI / UPP Foundation report on Public Attitudes to Higher Education (February 2023). The Foreword was jointly written by Richard Brabner, the Director of the UPP Foundation, and Nick Hillman, the Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute. This…

  • Innovation in student unions

    29 March 2023 by John Abell

    This blog has been kindly written for HEPI by John Abell, Chief Executive of Coventry University Students’ Union, and is part of HEPI’s current series of blogs with NCEE. On the morning of Thursday, 30 March 2023, HEPI and the UPP Foundation will be running a free event on ’Public Attitudes…