This research, conducted for BIS, explains the wider macroeconomic benefits of a more highly-educated workforce. Higher education (HE) significantly contributes to long-run productivity and economic growth.

  Background The availability of bank finance to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is important to allow SMEs to start up and finance investment for growth. There has been widespread comment regarding the continued difficulty SMEs perceive in obtaining external finance since the...

Research Study 4, Department of Education and Employment. Published 1996 (London: HMSO) For further information click here.

This paper uses qualitative data from interviews with university lecturers to examine the effect of tuition fees on students' demands and expectations. Lecturers identified four main changes: a higher proportion of students enter higher education for career reasons than in the past; students are...

Mental health problems, including stress, account for a high proportion of sickness absence and result in loss of employment. The paper presents findings from a recent qualitative research study into employers' policies and practices in relation to mental health and stress. A number of problems...

In the UK, of all the professions, law has some of the most demanding entry requirements and is one in which family connections and Oxbridge credentials ease the path to entry. At the same time, the popularity of undergraduate law courses at UK universities has rocketed in recent years and...

The study re-interviewed respondents to the 2007- 08 citizenship survey who had reported discrimination in the labour market. It examined in detailed why respondents felt they had been discriminated against.