HEPI

The Higher Education Policy Institute was established in 2002 to shape the higher education policy debate through evidence. We promote research into and understanding of all aspects of higher education and disseminate the useful results of such research for the education and benefit of policy makers and the general public. We are UK-wide, independent and non-partisan, and we are funded by organisations and universities that wish to see a vibrant higher education debate as well as through our own events.


Latest reports

Because you’re worth it

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at whether vice-chancellors are worth the pay they get. In this HEPI Debate Paper, Lucy Haire probes the issue of how to set the rate of vice-chancellors’ pay fairly. Vice-chancellors bear huge responsibility as leaders of high-revenue organisations, and they are paid less than their colleagues at...

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Not heard of this

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at employers’ perceptions of the UK’s Graduate Route visa. The Graduate Route visa was introduced in 2021 and allows international students to stay in the UK to work for two years (or three years for doctoral students), with none of the wage or job restrictions that apply...

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How can you help me?

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at students’ perspectives on careers services and employment. The Higher Education Policy Institute polled 1,105 students via the National Union of Students (NUS) for their views on careers services and employment. The results have been published as How can you help me?: Students’ perspectives on careers services and...

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Reforming the UCAS personal statement

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at making the case for a series of short questions on university application forms. The UCAS personal statement is a 4,000 character / 47-line essay that applicants submit when applying for UK undergraduate programmes. There is growing recognition that the UCAS personal statement needs reform, including from...

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Opportunities to improve university governance in England

This report from UK think tank HEPI identifies opportunities for enhancing university governance in England. Dr Alison Wheaton considers how university governing body members in England perceive their roles and what this means for the higher education sector. The report, which is based on Dr Wheaton’s recent PhD, finds a shift towards more interactive governance...

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Research leadership matters: Agility, alignment, ambition

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at what research leadership is and why it matters. Professor Flinders identifies, at worst, a research leadership vacuum and, at best, a leadership lag and far-reaching concern about lost leaders. These findings go to the core of broader questions concerning talent management, equality and inclusion, and how...

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No platform

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at speaker events at university debating unions and examines concerns about bias and no-platforming. The new research by Josh Freeman, published as No Platform: Speaker Events at University Debating Unions (HEPI Report 153), is based on statistical analysis of student events and interviews with student organisers to...

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From Horizon Europe to Plan B

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at Horizon Europe and Plan B research funding and turning adversity into opportunity. The European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe, will soon start its third year but UK participation remains uncertain. This uncertainty, arising originally from the outcome of the Brexit referendum and...

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Thirty years on

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at leadership convergence between newer and older universities. The report shows that while the vice-chancellors of post-1992 universities used to serve much longer terms than those at older universities, tenures at both types of university are now around eight years. In the five years from 1992, immediately...

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Could universities do more to end homelessness?

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at how universities could do more to track and prevent homelessness amongst students. This report argues universities should do more to track and prevent homelessness among their students and could play a wider role in supporting efforts to end all forms of homelessness. It says universities have...

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Why university governors should do more to protect academic quality

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at the growing responsibility that boards of higher education institutions have on issues of academic quality. A new report from the Higher Education Policy Institute, Why it is time for university governors to do more on academic quality (HEPI Policy Note 36), notes the growing responsibility that...

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Gypsies, Roma and Travellers

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at the ethnic minorities most excluded from UK education. Written by Dr Laura Brassington, Policy Manager at HEPI, Gypsies, Roma and Travellers: The ethnic minorities most excluded from UK education (HEPI Report 151) shows: Gypsy, Roma and Travellers of Irish heritage have the widest attainment gap in...

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‘You can’t say that!’

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at what students really think of free speech on campus. The Higher Education Policy Institute has polled 1,000 full-time undergraduates on free speech issues via YouthSight, a market research company specialising in students’ views. The questions were identical to those posed by HEPI via the same polling...

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Digging in? The changing tenure of UK vice-chancellors

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at the length of stay for UK university Vice-Chancellors. The Higher Education Policy Institute, with support from executive search firm GatenbySanderson, has published a new paper on the changing tenure of UK university vice-chancellors over the past half a century. Digging in? The changing tenure of UK...

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Holding talent back? What is next for the future of Level 3?

This report from UK think tank HEPI looks at defending proven qualifications for school leavers. In this new paper, 11 different authors consider the Westminster Government’s controversial reforms to Level 3 qualifications, including BTECs. While the Government has confirmed that many Applied General qualifications can continue to play a role in the Level 3 landscape,...

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