Education and labour policy makers, tech-believers and business followers should realise that for a graduate ‘entering the job market’ is not about one’s first job. On the contrary, it is preparing to manage a very extensive career, holding several occupations and even different professions (with diverse contract typologies and affiliations) throughout one’s life – a much longer life than for previous generations. More...

The UK’s Augar Review of Post-18 Education and Funding (2019) has reported on a shameful and costly neglect to those who do not participate in higher education. In its Foreword, the report emphasises that older workers too are worthy of attention where upskilling and reskilling are crucial in a changing labour market. Some of these older adults, including highly-skilled ones, form part of the higher education workforce and they will increasingly form part of an ageing workforce too. This reflects the ageing population and that the State Pension Age is rising. By 2020 it will be 66 for men and women, rising to 67 by 2028. More...

The Office for Students is over a year old now, and today gain its full regulatory powers. Even during their initial year, they have made significant interventions in higher education on widening participation, safeguarding students and contextual offers, as well as focusing on getting providers onto the register. More...

It’s hard to remember a time when universities faced so many unknowns. Will the Augar Report recommendations ever become reality? How much money will the sector have? What will Brexit mean? Will the economy nosedive? What kind of government will we have by Christmas. More...

At a recent HEPI roundtable on the future for global research the focus of discussion was the major recent study by Elsevier, produced in partnership with Ipsos Mori, which set out three future research scenarios – Brave open world, Tech titans, and Eastern ascendance – and explored how they could play over the medium to long-term. More...

If student unions score so poorly, is it time for universities to dip their hands in their pockets to fund a new NUS International Students' Officer?
My response to last week’s National Student Survey results focused on question 26, which is generally ignored by everyone but is actually the question which always seems to score the lowest results of all. More...

The first and fundamental assumption is that NSS scores reflect teaching quality. The OfS describes it as gathering ‘students’ opinions on the quality of their courses’, which is obviously slightly different: it is a proxy measure. This is not to say that students’ perspectives are not valuable – they are – but pedagogy takes many forms, and a session or course may work well one year and not the next, or well for some groups and not for others. More...

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. More...

Unconditional offers: Taking your foot off the gas in the last few months of school is the sort of decision you take as a child and regret as an adult
Our universities are among the best in the world because they enjoy such high levels of autonomy, including over admissions. But we are in the midst of a battle to protect that autonomy, and the continuing expansion of “conditional unconditional” offers is making it harder to win. More...

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 14). More...