HEPI — The Higher Education Policy Institute

The Higher Education Policy Institute, known universally as HEPI, is an Oxford-based charity that describes itself as the United Kingdom's only independent think tank devoted to higher education. Founded in 2002 to bring evidence into the higher education policy debate, HEPI has spent more than two decades producing research reports, convening policymakers and university leaders, and shaping public conversation about universities in the United Kingdom. It is UK-wide, independent and non-partisan, and it is funded by higher education institutions, businesses and income from its own events rather than by government or political parties.

Based at 99 Banbury Road in Oxford, HEPI operates as a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. Its small core team, supported by a wider network of trustees, advisory board members and corporate partners, produces a steady stream of reports, policy notes, debate papers and regular surveys that are widely read inside universities, Whitehall and the higher education press. Its work is freely available: every HEPI report can be downloaded at no charge from the organisation's website at www.hepi.ac.uk.

Origins and Foundation

HEPI was established in 2002 to influence the higher education debate with evidence. Its founding president, Bahram Bekhradnia, had previously been Director of Policy at the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and he brought with him a deep understanding of how higher education policy was made and where the gaps in the evidence base lay. The Institute was created on the principle that universities and the policies that govern them deserved the same level of serious, independent policy analysis that other sectors of public life received.

The Institute marked its twentieth birthday in 2022/23. By that point it had published 160 full-length reports, 48 policy notes and 32 debate papers, as well as numerous other projects. That anniversary was celebrated with a publication looking back over twenty years of higher education policy, in which HEPI's Director reflected that the evidence the Institute had marshalled suggested all political parties would be wise to adopt policies recognising the potential of universities to contribute to economic growth, skills, and a stronger society.

What HEPI Does

HEPI's stated purpose is to promote research into and understanding of all aspects of higher education and to disseminate the useful results of that research for the education of policymakers and the general public in the United Kingdom. In practice this means a programme of written research, regular survey work, public events, and commentary on the issues of the day in higher education.

The Institute's publications come in several formats. Full-length reports explore single topics in depth. Policy notes are shorter, more focused interventions. Debate papers set out contrasting or provocative positions to stimulate discussion. All of them are free to download, reflecting HEPI's charitable mission to make research widely accessible rather than to keep it behind paywalls or within a small circle of subscribers.

Annual Surveys and Signature Indexes

One of the most distinctive parts of HEPI's output is its portfolio of regular surveys and indexes, many produced in partnership with other organisations. The HEPI / Advance HE Student Academic Experience Survey tracks the academic experience of students at UK universities. The HEPI / Kortext Student Generative AI Survey examines how students are using artificial intelligence tools in their studies. The HEPI / Unite Students Applicant Index follows the views and expectations of prospective students.

HEPI also publishes the annual HEPI / LSBU English Social Mobility Index and a Soft-Power Index, which considers the influence that UK higher education exerts internationally. These recurring publications give the Institute a unique longitudinal perspective on trends in student life, university performance and the sector's place in the world, and they are frequently cited in the media and in parliamentary debate.

Research Themes

HEPI's full-length reports cover a remarkably broad range of topics within higher education. Themes addressed in recent years include the role of third-space research professionals, the experiences of Black early-career researchers, awarding gaps by gender at Oxford and Cambridge, and the educational underachievement of boys and young men.

Other reports have examined how well school and college curricula prepare pupils for higher education, what twenty years of devolution have meant for universities across the UK's nations and regions, the impact of menstruation on learning, the continuing decline of language learning in schools and universities, and entrepreneurial leadership in higher education. The breadth of the programme reflects HEPI's conviction that higher education policy touches everything from classroom teaching to the economy and society at large.

People: Leadership and Governance

HEPI is led by its Director, Nick Hillman, who has headed the Institute since January 2014. Its President is Bahram Bekhradnia, the Institute's founder. The Chair of Trustees is Professor Dame Sally Mapstone, the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of St Andrews University, who took over from Professor Sir Ivor Crewe, formerly Master of University College, Oxford, in October 2021.

The trustees include senior figures from across the university world and beyond, among them Sir David Bell, Mary Curnock Cook, Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow, Professor Dame Helen Wallace, Professor Sir Chris Husbands and Professor Nick Pearce. An advisory board, refreshed periodically, provides oversight of HEPI's work and includes figures such as Alison Allden, Professor Julie Sanders, Anne-Marie Canning and Professor Iyiola Solanke. The governance structure is designed to safeguard the Institute's independence and non-partisan character.

Partners and Funding

HEPI is funded in part by organisations and universities that wish to see a vibrant higher education debate, as well as through income from its own events. Its corporate partners have included Advance HE, Chegg, Curio London, Elsevier, GatenbySanderson, Instructure, iQ Student Accommodation, Jisc, Kaplan, Kortext, Lloyds Bank, Mills & Reeve, QS, Research England, Studiosity, Taylor & Francis, TechnologyOne, Times Higher Education, Unite Students and the UPP Group.

The Institute's 2024/25 annual review reported that the number of corporate partners was at its highest ever level, and that, aside from the previous year which had included the 2024 general election, the number of publications and events was at record levels. The available evidence also suggested that HEPI's work was having more impact among policymakers, regulators and institutional leaders than ever before.

Events and Convening Power

Alongside its written output, HEPI hosts a regular programme of events, roundtables and annual reviews that bring together vice-chancellors, policymakers, regulators, students and sector bodies. These events provide a neutral space in which controversial issues — from university funding to freedom of speech to the value of different subjects — can be discussed on the basis of evidence rather than assertion.

HEPI publishes a short annual review each year summarising its work. The annual reviews record the Institute's publications, events and partnerships over the preceding twelve months and give a public account of how the charity has pursued its mission. They also document the growth of the Institute's influence: by 2024/25, HEPI was producing publications and events at record levels.

Independence and Non-Partisanship

HEPI stresses that it is a think tank rather than a lobby group. It is UK-wide, independent and non-partisan, and its analysis is intended to serve the debate rather than any particular political position. This positioning has allowed its research to be taken up by ministers and officials of different political complexions, by select committees, and by university leaders seeking an evidence base for their decisions.

The Institute's non-partisan status is protected by its charitable structure and by the breadth of its funding base, which spans universities, businesses and event income rather than depending on any single source. Its trustees and advisory board members are drawn from across the higher education sector and beyond, providing intellectual diversity and external challenge to the Institute's work.

Impact and Influence

Over its two decades, HEPI's research has repeatedly shaped public and political debate. Its surveys on student experience have become established fixtures in discussions of university quality. Its work on social mobility, generative AI, language learning and the experiences of under-represented groups has informed government reviews, parliamentary inquiries and institutional practice.

The Institute's willingness to take on unfashionable or difficult subjects — from the financial sustainability of universities to the educational underachievement of boys — has earned it a reputation for intellectual independence. In the afterword to its twentieth-anniversary publication, the Director noted that HEPI's evidence showed it was hard, perhaps impossible, for the major parties to achieve their goals on economic growth, skills gaps and social cohesion without universities playing a major part in education, research and civic engagement.

Contact and Further Information

HEPI is based at 99 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6JX, and can be reached through its website at www.hepi.ac.uk, where all of its reports, policy notes, debate papers and annual reviews are available to download free of charge. The Institute maintains an active presence in the higher education press and on social media, where its directors and staff regularly comment on policy developments.

For journalists, policymakers and researchers, HEPI's "notes for editors" describe the Institute in consistent terms: established in 2002 to shape the higher education policy debate through evidence, the United Kingdom's only independent think tank devoted to higher education, a non-partisan charity funded in part by organisations and universities that wish to see a vibrant higher education debate. That self-description has remained essentially unchanged for more than twenty years, and it captures what makes HEPI distinctive in the crowded landscape of British policy research.