Higher Education Advisory

At Counterculture we pride ourselves not only on our deep expertise in higher education policy but our ability to bring the flair, creativity, and passion for place-based policy, which are the hallmarks of all our work.

We provide rigorous policy analysis specialising in research, innovation, and broader education policy, coupled with a full suite of professional services in governance, legal, finance, and broader advisory work. There are few organisations working in education who can bring together an intimate knowledge of the higher education sector with the vision of a future to drive lasting organisational change.

Our education work is led by James Coe. James is a renowned expert in higher education policy, he is the author of The New University Local Solutions to a Global Crisis, the associate editor for research and innovation at Wonkhe, and the former Head of Sustainability, Policy, and Civic Engagement, at the University of Liverpool. James holds a MPA where he specialised in the public sector after covid for which he achieved a Distinction

Our offer includes

  • Strategic development: working on addressing long-term challenges from sustainability to internationalisation agenda, to brand, and beyond.
  • Civic and cultural policy: we bring our creative flair to developing place-based policies which make a difference to places and the people who live there.
  • Policy advice: providing insight, evidence, and programme support, on the full range of higher education issues.
  • Public affairs: reviewing communications, positioning, and messages, to ensure your work in the higher education in reaching appropriate decision makers.
  • Governance and legal advice: our team consists of former university and college board members, higher education reviewers, and lawyers, who can provide a full suite of governance advice.
  • Risk assurance: the regulation of the higher education sector is complex and continually changing. We work with your teams to flag risk and understand the steps to mitigate it.
  • Training, development, and mentoring: universities are about people. We provide mentoring, both one off and ongoing training, and mentoring for teams, to get the most out of their talent.

We are passionate about the higher education sector and its impacts. We are higher education experts, but we are also socially minded legal, governance, finance, audit, and cultural practitioners, committed to change.