The Positioning of UK higher education and research

Ellen was asked to reflect on the Positioning of UK higher education and research for the 20th-anniversary publication of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), based in Oxford, UK.

The 20th anniversary of HEPI merits reflection on the positioning of the United Kingdom in the context of changes internationally in higher education (HE). What is particularly striking to me is that throughout the 20th century and earlier, the UK played a critical role in helping to shape the global and European higher education landscape. In contrast, at a time when the values of higher education and transnational collaboration are vulnerable to the crosscurrents of a geopolitically contested world, the UK’s position has become more ambiguous.

Read : Geopolitics of Rankings and the Positioning of UK Higher Education and Research, in UK higher education – policy, practice and debate during HEPI’s first 20 years (2023) ed. H. Carasso (Oxford: HEPI), https://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/UK-higher-education-Policy-practice-and-debate-during-HEPIs-first-20-years.pdf