Please join us in WBW LG.11 for the next HERG@KCL lunchtime session. For those who can’t come in person, the online meeting link is here: Click here to join the meeting

Amid growing concerns that UK universities are on an unsustainable path, with many institutions under financial strain caused by the declining value of domestic tuition fees and lower overseas recruitment, the future of higher education programme is exploring the increasingly pressing challenges the sector is facing.

In this session, Eliel Cohen will discuss the key outcomes of the Future of Higher Education programme to date, including a UK-wide poll of public attitudes to universities, and a summary of the key policy and political challenges and debating points that we have encountered. Contextualising this work within the broader context of the Policy Institute, the session will also invite discussion around shared interests with HERG.

Eliel Cohen identifies mainly as a sociologist of higher education. His longest running interest is in how higher education policy and practice can make universities more accessible and inclusive. His other main interest has been around the relationship between research policies and academic identities. His book, The University and its Boundaries: Thriving or Surviving in the 21st Century, draws from this research to explore some of the challenges and opportunities for universities and policymakers who aim to make the most of what is distinctive, and distinctively valuable, about universities. His current main projects are: the Future of HE programme; how academics working on Artificial Intelligence (loosely defined) interpret and engage with the 'impact agenda' for academic research (ESRC); and what makes for successful interdisciplinary research (UKRI/DSIT Metascience Unit).