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  • US extends its lead over the UK in HEPI’s annual soft-power rankings

    5 September 2019

    A new Policy Note from the Higher Education Policy Institute, The soft-power benefits of educating the world’s leaders, shows the UK continues to fall behind the US when it comes to educating people who go on to lead their own countries. Two years ago, the UK had educated one more…

  • University governance in a new age of regulation

    29 August 2019

    The Higher Education Policy Institute is today publishing University governance in a new age of regulation: A conversation between Professor Steven Jones and Nick Hillman, with a Foreword by Professor Michael Shattock (HEPI Report 119). The report looks at the changing roles of, and growing demands on, governors of higher education institutions.…

  • What will Brexit mean for student demand?

    8 August 2019

    The Higher Education Policy Institute is today publishing a new report looking at the impact of Brexit on student demand. Two sides of the same coin? Brexit and student demand (HEPI Policy Note 15) contrasts two sources of information: the best available economic modelling, which forecasts a sharp drop in…

  • Most students think universities should take the background of applicants into account – but only half support lower grade offers

    25 July 2019 by Hugo Dale-Harris

    Contextual admissions have been hotly debated for years, but the Office for Students recently complained, ‘There has been minimal research on students’ views of contextual offers.’ So the Higher Education Policy Institute is publishing an opinion poll of students in What do students think of contextual admissions? (HEPI Policy Note…

  • HEPI asks: is it time for university governors to be paid?

    11 July 2019

    The Higher Education Policy Institute has published a new report on whether university governors should be paid.   Payment for university governors? A discussion paper  (HEPI Report 118) by Alison Wheaton looks at practice in other sectors, including the NHS, housing associations and companies, as well as practice abroad. She argues…

  • Comment on the National Student Survey results (and why the NSS needs another revamp)

    3 July 2019

    Responding to the new National Student Survey results from the Office for Students, Nick Hillman, the Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said: It is good that student satisfaction is rising, if only slightly and not everywhere. But as our own surveys show, you need to get underneath the student satisfaction data…

  • Why it is so important to protect free speech in universities

    27 June 2019

    The Higher Education Policy Institute has published a robust defence of free speech in universities, Free Speech and Censorship on Campus (HEPI Occasional Paper 21) by Corey Stoughton. The author is the Advocacy Director and previous Acting Director of the Human Rights organisation Liberty and served as senior counsel to the Assistant…

  • Second consecutive year of students reporting better value for money

    13 June 2019 by Nick Hillman

    The 2019 Student Academic Experience Survey of over 14,000 full-time undergraduate students from the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and Advance HE shows rising value-for-money perceptions. The key findings in the 2019 Student Academic Experience Survey by Jonathan Neves, Head of Business Intelligence and Surveys at Advance HE, and Nick Hillman,…