“I can call up 50 academics who will tell me how to design the perfect pension system, but I can’t find any who can tell me how to improve the one we have now.” – New Labour minister 
Like all such statements, the words aren’t literally true, yet successfully convey an important message. There is too often a disconnect between the language spoken by academics and that spoken by policy makers, a disconnect which can make it harder for the world-class research taking place in our universities to influence policy. More...

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that there will be a general election before the year is out – perhaps as early as September. I once thought a second referendum was more likely than a general election but, at this moment, it seems I was almost certainly wrong. More...

We now have a new Prime Minister. I have written before about what Boris Johnson thinks of higher education. But his first impact on higher education will be the formation of his government. More...

As the dust begins to settle after a historic reshuffle, we take a look at the new Cabinet and their higher education backgrounds. Our initial analysis reveals:

• 91% went to university (one was at Sandhurst, one at Agricultural College)
• Two thirds (67%) went to a Russell Group university
• Nearly half (45%) were at Oxbridge (10 at Oxford and 5 at Cambridge). 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...

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...

The annual conversation about whether or not people should be offered places in higher education only after receiving their exam results, known as PQA, is well underway.
But many important points tend to be overlooked in this regular conversation. More...