There were a lot of warm words expressed about both HEPI and Wonkhe at last week’s Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) event on bridging academia and policymaking. It was clear from the various senior speakers present that both organisations have filled a gap in providing accessible policy-focused information.
But HEPI and Wonkhe are very different organisations, not least in their legal make up: HEPI is primarily a charity, with charitable objectives and Trustees, while Wonkhe is a private company with ‘1 active person with significant control’. Each organisation is better for the existence of the other one, showing the benefits of competition in action.
There’s a notable distinction between the two organisations’ output on some really big issues, including topical ones like free speech. For example, Wonkhe launched a full-throated attack on HEPI’s most recent (peer-reviewed) report on the issue, attacking it as ‘troubling’, full of ‘problems’ and ‘weird’.
