This blog was kindly authored for the HEPI 20th Anniversary Collection by Alex Bols, Deputy Chief Executive of GuildHE, and Graeme Wise, Head of Engagement and Knowledge Exchange at the University of London. In August, we are running chapters from the Anniversary Collection as a series of blogs. This piece is the eighth chapter from that collection. At the time of HEPI’s foundation in 2003, higher education was one of the key issues in politics and public policy.