High Stakes
Fabian Society warns English universities face structural strain from interacting pressures on higher education funding and student loans, arguing a looming crisis could hit institutional sustainability and access unless policies change.
UK policy, filtered.
Everything government, Parliament, the statistical agencies and the major policy institutes published — read, summarised and ranked so you can skim the day in a minute.
5,510 articles · 37 live sources · updated Just now
Performance Tracker 2026: Schools
Performance Tracker 2026: Schools assesses recent school system performance across key metrics, updating the Institute for Government’s annual monitoring of standards, pupil outcomes and government delivery in education.
A home is not an add-on: why accommodation belongs at the heart of access and participation
Argues student accommodation must be central to access and participation policy: for care‑experienced and estranged students housing is fundamental to continuation, attainment and completion, not an add‑on student service.
Graduate underemployment: a detour not a dead end
Reflects on graduate underemployment as a temporary detour rather than a terminal outcome, drawing on the author’s NHS Alliance and University of Bath experience to discuss skills, career pathways and how graduates can recover professional trajectories.
The students with the most to gain from university are still the least likely to get there
Socio-economic differences in who attends university have remained effectively unchanged over the past two decades, with students from less advantaged backgrounds — described as those who would gain most from higher education — still least likely to enrol.
Labour Send changes at risk as parents rush to secure support, say experts
Experts warn that Labour’s planned changes to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support may be undermined as parents rush to secure existing support, putting reforms at risk of unequal access.
Universities urged to double down on access and support for poorest students
New analysis finds the poorest students gain most from attending university and urges higher education institutions to increase outreach and support aimed at low-income pupils to improve access and boost life-time returns to degrees for disadvantaged groups.
WEEKEND READING: HERA 2.0: aligning higher education regulation with England’s integrated skills economy
Calls for a HERA 2.0 to update the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, shifting regulation away from market‑entry and competition toward alignment with England’s integrated skills economy, authored by Professor Dave Phoenix of The Open University.
Does compassion have to end where compliance begins? Cultures of compliance and compassion don’t have to be mutually exclusive
A HEPI blog argues that higher and further education institutions can balance compassionate responses with compliance needs in areas such as mitigating circumstances, reasonable adjustments, harassment, appeals and conduct, urging cultures that combine care with accountability.
What is a degree for?
Opinion piece argues the need to clarify what a university degree actually delivers for students and employers, questioning the value proposition prospective students face when weighing the cost of higher education.
Universities cannot leave social mobility to their widening participation teams alone
Argues universities must integrate widening participation across institutions rather than rely on isolated teams, warning that siloed summer schools and programmes will limit universities’ impact on social mobility.
Burnham's public service reforms still need a plan for schools
Analysis argues that Andy Burnham’s wider public service reform agenda lacks a clear plan for schools, urging detailed proposals on funding, outcomes and local delivery to align education with broader devolution ambitions.
Every student needs a minimum AI requirement
Argues for a compulsory, minimum AI literacy requirement for all university students so they can both use and critically evaluate AI, rather than leaving such skills to optional workshops.
Putting a million neets into work
ONS counted 981,000 16–24-year-old NEETs in April–June 2026, with 393,000 actively unemployed. The number has risen for four years and only Romania now has a higher NEET rate in the EU, the paper argues for urgent labour-market reform.
Pay universities for results
Argues for outcome‑based university funding as many UK institutions struggle: over a third reported deficits in 2024–25, forecast to rise to four in ten in 2025–26, with study visa applications down nearly a third in early 2026, squeezing revenues.
Mixed messages on higher education: thoughts after the Conservative Party Conference 2026
After the 2026 Conservative conference, HEPI reflects mixed messages on higher education policy from the party, offering observations on rhetoric and likely implications for universities and students without proposing detailed policy remedies.
WEEKEND READING: When academic misconduct becomes an identity: what happens after the sanction?
Dr Manesha Peiris examines how sanctions for plagiarism, fabrication, collusion or use of generative AI can become part of a student’s identity, exploring consequences for individuals and how institutions might support students after penalties end.
Digital foundations for a changing sector: a response to Sir Chris Husband’s New Choices essay
Liam Earney of Jisc responds to Sir Chris Husbands’ HEPI essay New Choices, reflecting on digital foundations for a changing higher education sector and arguing for consideration of digital infrastructure and strategy in future planning.
New HEPI and CUP&A Report: ‘Soft Power Index 2026’
HEPI and Cambridge University’s Centre for Parliamentary and Political Affairs publish the 10th Soft Power Index, finding the US and UK together educated 126 current world leaders, underscoring higher education’s global influence on leadership.
Put down the matches: why higher education needs evolution, not revolution
Rose Stephenson argues for evolutionary reform of higher education, favouring incremental policy changes over radical overhaul in a Universities UK debate with John Blake, emphasising continuity and measured improvement rather than disruptive restructuring.
‘If you could change one thing about higher education policy, what would be it be?’ Part Two
At HEPI’s June 2026 annual conference, sector colleagues were asked which single higher education policy they would change; this Part Two publishes a selection of their brief reflections and suggested reforms from across the sector.
WEEKEND READING: UUK Contextual Admissions Guidance: A Response
Five researchers from HERE@Manchester (Tom Fryer, Charlie Deeks, Sylvie Lomer, Paul Smith and Steven Jones) provide a response to Universities UK’s 10 July 2026 guide on contextual admissions, analysing its guidance on fair and transparent contextual admissions practice.
September Round-up
Monthly round‑up highlighting the Resolution Foundation’s September work, notably a deep dive titled First Jobs, New Barriers on how technology can help young people without degrees transition into work.
New HEPI and Ellucian Policy Note ‘Risk and Resilience: What UK higher education can learn from the United States’
HEPI and Ellucian’s new policy note warns financial pressure compounds over time, drawing lessons from US university failures to explain how interconnected problems can drive UK institutions into decline and how they might spot and reverse those trends.
Access isn’t enough: why universities must make the hidden curriculum visible
Argues that increased access to higher education must be matched by making the ‘hidden curriculum’ explicit, so students from underrepresented backgrounds can navigate academic and institutional expectations and succeed once admitted.
WEEKEND READING: Before saying yes: the missing test in provider exit
When a higher education provider closes, the immediate concern is student relocation; Professor Randall Whittaker argues decision-makers must also apply a ‘receiving’ test to ask why a particular institution should be chosen to take those students.
WEEKEND READING: When prestige trumps skills: rethinking excellence in higher education
Professor David Mba argues that higher education’s emphasis on prestige over practical skills has produced mismatches: newly qualified nurses struggling to find nursing jobs even as the NHS reports workforce shortfalls, prompting a call to redefine ‘excellence’.
Sutton Trust response to DfE’s vocational GCSE plans
The Sutton Trust responds to the Department for Education’s plans to introduce vocational, job‑focussed GCSE subjects, setting out its views on potential impacts on social mobility and attainment from these proposed qualifications.
Summer Schools 2026: seeing potential come to life
Reflects on the Sutton Trust’s 2026 UK Summer Schools programme, describing outcomes and participant experiences from this year’s courses aimed at raising aspirations and widening access to higher education across the UK.
‘Who’s looking after the researchers?’ The missing conversation in research culture
Argues that research culture overlooks support for researchers conducting emotionally challenging work, calling for explicit institutional conversations and better safeguarding, supervision and wellbeing practices within higher education.