The Northern Ireland Executive published an independent review of the initiatives to encourage wider participation in higher education. The review recommended that the Executive should continue to encourage increased representation of under-represented groups, and to place greater emphasis on improving retention.
Source: FGS McClure Watters, Project Review of Widening Participation Funded Initiatives, Northern Ireland Executive
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Dec
A briefing paper examined the likely impact of the government's proposals for higher university fees on access to higher education and the goal of widening participation.
Source: Sue Hubble, The Government's Proposals on Higher Education Funding and Student Finance and their Impact on Access to Higher Education, Standard Note SN/SP/5791, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2010-Dec
The Scottish Government published a Green Paper on the funding of higher education in Scotland. It set out a range of options, including raising fees for students from the rest of the United Kingdom: but it ruled out tuition fees for Scottish students.
Source: Building a Smarter Future: Towards a sustainable Scottish solution for the future of higher education, Scottish Government
Links: Green Paper | Summary | Scottish Government press release | SNP press release | Universities Scotland press release | Times Higher Education report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Dec
A report highlighted the role that the higher education sector played in boosting the creative economy – an industry worth almost £60 billion to the economy. Sustaining that contribution with continued investment would became increasingly important to economic recovery.
Source: Creating Prosperity: The role of higher education in driving the UK's creative economy, Universities UK
Links: Report | UUK press release | UCU press release
Date: 2010-Dec
A report said that more than 1 in 3 (38 per cent) of higher education institutions in England were at risk of forced merger or even closure as a result of higher education funding changes proposed by the government. The report also examined the impact that universities had on their local economy by creating jobs and revenue.
Source: Universities at Risk: The impact of cuts in higher education spending on local economies, University and College Union
Links: Report | UCU press release | GuildHE press release | Newman UC press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Morning Star report
Date: 2010-Dec
A think-tank report said that universities could reduce potential student debt or protect teaching and research by being 'more imaginative' about how they were run – for example, by outsourcing functions such as maintenance and accommodation.
Source: Alex Massey, Higher Education in the Age of Austerity: Shared services, outsourcing and entrepreneurship, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | Times Higher Education report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Dec
An article examined the 'challenges' associated with the proposed funding cuts in higher education – and also the opportunities open to HE institutions such as franchising and various forms of integration.
Source: Paul Miller and Gertrude Shotte, 'Franchising education: challenges and opportunities for coping with the economic recession and the provision of higher education in the United Kingdom', Policy Futures in Education, Volume 8 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Dec
A think-tank report said that the government's proposals for higher student fees were more progressive than the existing system or that proposed in the Browne report: the highest-earning graduates would pay comparatively more on average, while lower-earning graduates would pay back less. But the new system was less transparent, more complex, and generated 'perverse' incentives.
Source: Haroon Chowdry, Lorraine Dearden and Gill Wyness, Higher Education Reforms: Progressive but Complicated with an Unwelcome Incentive, Briefing Note 113, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note | Summary | Public Finance report
Date: 2010-Dec
The government published an interim equality impact assessment of its proposals (made in November 2010) for increased fees for higher education students. It said that measures were in place that were expected to 'assist in preventing' any worsening of the existing participation gap between lower and higher socio-economic groups. But it said that there might be a negative impact on part-time students.
Source: Urgent Reforms to Higher Education Funding and Student Finance: Interim Equality Impact Assessment, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Impact assessment | Guardian report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Dec
A study found that students from comprehensive schools were likely to achieve higher class degrees at university than independent and grammar school students with similar A-levels and GCSE results.
Source: Catherine Kirkup, Rebecca Wheater, Jo Morrison, Ben Durbin and Marco Pomati, Use of an Aptitude Test in University Entrance: A validity study, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Dec
A think-tank report said that students from private schools were 55 times more likely to be given a place at Oxford or Cambridge University, and 22 times more likely to go to any top-ranked university, than state school students who were eligible for free school meals. The government's new 'national scholarship programme' would have little impact on access to the most prestigious universities. Access agreements between universities and the regulator (OFFA) should include an explicit commitment to proven outreach work such as summer schools and mentoring schemes. Universities should agree targets with OFFA for a five-year period, covering a basket of new measures for widening participation in higher education more generally, and ensuring fair access to their own university.
Source: Responding to the New Landscape for University Access, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | Million+ press release | UCU press release | Times Higher Education report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Dec
A paper examined ways of funding higher education, comparing upfront tuition fees with graduate taxes. Graduate taxes reduced work incentives, but provided incentives to improve teaching quality. Yet if tax revenues were distributed evenly among universities there was 'free riding'. To solve this problem each university should be allocated the revenue generated by its own alumni. A budget-balancing graduate tax would encourage more people to attend university than would the equivalent upfront tuition fee.
Source: Tom McKenzie and Dirk Sliwka, Universities as Stakeholders in Their Students' Careers: On the benefits of graduate taxes to finance higher education, Discussion Paper 5330, Institute for the Study of Labor
Links: Paper | CASS press release
Date: 2010-Nov
A briefing paper examined the government's proposed reforms of higher education fees in England, how these compared with the Browne review recommendations and with the existing system, and how they would affect universities and public spending.
Source: Paul Bolton, Changes to Higher Education Funding and Student Support from 2012/13, Standard Note SN/SG/5753, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2010-Nov
A report said that the government's proposal to withdraw the state from the direct funding of universities was 'deeply ideological'. The approach taken by the government could not be expected to save significant sums of money – indeed, it was just as likely that in the long term the government's proposals would cost more than they would save.
Source: John Thompson and Bahram Bekhradnia, The Government's Proposals for Higher Education Funding and Student Finance: An analysis, Higher Education Policy Institute
Links: Report | Summary | Annexes | Times Higher Education report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Nov
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published a business plan for the period 2011-2015.
Source: Business Plan 2011-2015, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Plan
Date: 2010-Nov
A paper examined trends in the number of applicants and entrants to higher education institutions since the mid 1990s.
Source: Paul Bolton, Entrants to Higher Education, Standard Note SN/SG/1446, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2010-Nov
An article examined university 'spin-offs' in Northern Ireland. It was found that the companies involved were 'technology lifestyle' businesses rather than start-ups with a high growth potential. The prominence given to spin-offs in the analysis of technology transfer, and in discussions of the economic impacts of universities, was misplaced.
Source: Richard Harrison and Claire Leitch, 'Voodoo institution or entrepreneurial university? Spin-off companies, the entrepreneurial system and regional development in the UK', Regional Studies, Volume 44 Number 9
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Nov
An article said that widening participation was unlikely seriously to dilute the overwhelmingly middle-class complexion of higher education. Any further expansion would instead strengthen the role of higher education as a distinctive and normal middle-class life-stage. Higher education was strengthening, and would continue to strengthen, the distinction between an upper-middle class and the rest of the middle class.
Source: Ken Roberts, 'Expansion of higher education and the implications for demographic class formation in Britain', Twenty-First Century Society: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences, Volume 5 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Nov
A report said that the government's proposals for increasing higher education fees were likely to have an adverse impact on social mobility and participation, and would lead to 60-65 per cent of graduates being worse off than under the existing system – with the greatest impact on middle-income earners.
Source: Fair, Progressive and Good Value?, Million+/London Economics
Links: Report | Million+ press release | Bedfordshire University press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Nov
A report set out the findings of a pilot exercise that was designed to test the feasibility of assessing the impact of research in higher education institutions, and to develop the method of assessment for use in the research excellence framework (REF). The pilot covered five units of assessment, including social work and social policy. The report said that it was possible to assess impacts arising from research in these disciplines.
Source: Research Excellence Framework Impact Pilot Exercise: Findings of the expert panels, Higher Education Funding Council for England/Scottish Funding Council/ Higher Education Funding Council for Wales/ Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland
Links: Report | HEFCE press release | UUK press release
Date: 2010-Nov
The Welsh Assembly Government announced that Welsh-domiciled students would not have to pay the extra higher education fees proposed by the United Kingdom government, as the cost would be met by the Welsh Assembly Government.
Source: Press release 30 November 2010, Welsh Assembly Government
Links: WAG press release | BBC report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Nov
The government published (following consultation) a statement of its vision for the further education sector, based on its new skills strategy. It set out proposals to remove unnecessary interference from intermediary agencies; streamline the organizational 'skills landscape'; remove unnecessary regulation; and introduce new freedoms and flexibilities.
Source: Further Education – New Horizon: Investing in skills for sustainable growth, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Statement | Consultation responses | Speech | UCU press release
Date: 2010-Nov
A think-tank report called for the government to end 'institutionalized discrimination' against private higher education providers. The government should make use of the capital and expertise in the private education sector, and encourage private providers to step in and take over failing universities, in whole or in part.
Source: Alex Massey and Greg Munro, Higher Education in the Age of Austerity: The role of private providers, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release
Date: 2010-Nov
The government announced an increase in fees for higher education in England (in response to an official review published in October 2010). There would be a new 'graduate contribution threshold' of £6,000 per year (almost double the existing amount). In exceptional cases, universities would be able to charge higher contributions, up to a limit of £9,000, subject to meeting conditions on widening participation and fair access. Students from families with annual incomes of up to £25,000 would be entitled to an increased student maintenance grant. Graduates would not make a contribution towards tuition costs until they were earning at least £21,000 per year, up from the existing £15,000. A real rate of interest would be charged on loan repayments, up to a maximum of retail price inflation plus 3 per cent.
Source: Debate 3 November 2010, columns 924-946, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Hansard | DBIS press release | Conservative Party press release | HOC briefing | Browne report | ASCL press release | ATL press release | BMA press release | CBI press release | GuildHE press release | HEFCE press release | ICG press release | IFS press release | Million+ press release | NIACE press release | NUS press release | NUT press release | OFFA press release | UCU press release | UUK press release | Voice press release | Times Higher Education report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Public Finance report
Date: 2010-Nov
A think-tank report said that students in England could be required to spend up to five times as much as they currently did for university degree courses if tuition fees were completely unregulated – based on a study of what had happened to unregulated fees for overseas and postgraduate students in 20 universities.
Source: Richard Murphy and Stephen Machin, Increasing University Income from Home and Overseas Students: What impact for social mobility?, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | UCU press release | Universities UK press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | Times Higher Education report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Oct
A report said that students in Scotland might have to pay towards the cost of their degrees after they graduated. Higher education should be free at the point of entry and throughout study: but graduates should be asked to contribute towards the cost of higher education. There should be a minimum income threshold for payment of the contribution, and a relatively higher level of contribution from graduates on high incomes.
Source: Towards a Scottish Solution, Universities Scotland
Links: Report | BBC report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Oct
A report examined the supply of part-time higher education. The existing funding model financially disadvantaged institutions providing part-time courses and failed adequately to cover the additional costs and risks associated with delivering part-time courses. However, if proposals in the Browne Report on higher education (October 2010) were introduced, the proportion of part-time students qualifying for government-funded student loans would increase substantially.
Source: Claire Callender, Anne Jamieson and Geoff Mason, The Supply of Part-Time Higher Education in the UK, Universities UK
Links: Report | Public Finance report
Date: 2010-Oct
An independent review (led by Lord Browne) recommended that universities in England should be able to charge unlimited fees, and that the existing £3, 290 cap should be scrapped. Universities that charged more than £6, 000 per year would lose a proportion of the fee to help cover the cost of student borrowing: but even when charging £12, 000, they would be able to keep almost three-quarters of the fee. Students would continue to be eligible for a loan to cover the fee cost: they would not have to start repaying it until their earnings reached £21, 000 per year (up from £15, 000), but they would pay an interest rate set at the government's rate of borrowing, plus inflation – rather than inflation alone.
Source: Securing a Sustainable Future for Higher Education, Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance
Links: Report | Summary | Review press release | Hansard | DBIS press release | HOC research brief | AGR press release | AOC press release | ASCL press release | BMA press release | CBI press release | CMI press release | Conservative Party press release | GuildHE press release | HEA press release | HEFCE press release | HEPI press release | ICG press release | IFS press release | Labour Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | MCB press release | Million+ press release | NIACE press release | NUS press release | NUT press release | OFFA press release | Open University press release | QAA press release | Sutton Trust press release | TUC press release | UCU press release | UKYP press release | Universities UK press release | Voice press release | Work Foundation press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Oct
Four linked papers estimated the impact of different arrangements for student fees, grants, and maintenance loans on higher education participation and higher education institutions.
Source: Lorraine Dearden, Emla Fitzsimons and Gill Wyness, The Impact of Higher Education Finance on University Participation in the UK, Research Paper 11, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills | Emma Pollard, Peter Bates, Pam Coare, Will Hunt and Linda Miller, Assessing the Impact of the New Student Support Arrangements (NSSA) on Higher Education Institutions, Research Paper 12, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills | Claire Crawford and Lorraine Dearden, The Impact of the 2006-07 HE Finance Reforms on HE Participation, Research Paper 13, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills | Peter Urwin, Matthew Gould and Lionel Page, Are There Changes in Characteristics of UK Higher Education Around the Time of the 2006 Reforms, Research Paper 14, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Paper 11 | Paper12 | Paper 13 | Paper 14
Date: 2010-Oct
A think-tank report proposed a hybrid funding system under which students would no longer be charged upfront fees for undergraduate degrees, removing the need for them to take out tuition loans. Instead, tuition costs would be met by universities borrowing from the government and repaying their loans through the earnings of their graduates.
Source: Ian Mulheirn and Ryan Shorthouse, Funding Undergraduates, Social Market Foundation
Links: Report | SMF press release
Date: 2010-Oct
A think-tank paper outlined a proposed reform of student loans, under which interest repayments on loans would match the actual cost of borrowing by the government.
Source: Nicholas Barr, Designing Student Loans to Protect Low Earners, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release
Date: 2010-Oct
A report said that achieving an innovation-based economy would require increased investment in higher education, science, and research. Consideration needed to be given to increasing private investment in, and private delivery of, higher education – in order to ensure that any reduction in public investment did not harm future economic growth.
Source: Libby Aston and Liz Shutt, 21st Century Universities: Engines of an innovation-driven economy – How do we reduce the fiscal deficit without damaging growth?, University Alliance
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Oct
Four linked reports examined the consequences of the economic recession – and subsequent cuts in public funding – for the higher education sector.
Source: Geoffrey Crossick, The Future Is More Than Just Tomorrow: Higher education, the economy and the longer term, Universities UK/Higher Education Funding Council for England | Adapting Business Models in a Changing Environment, Universities UK/Higher Education Funding Council for England | Changes in Student Choices and Graduate Employment, Universities UK/Higher Education Funding Council for England | PriceWaterhouseCoopers, The Global Picture, Universities UK/Higher Education Funding Council for England
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | Report (3) | Report (4) | UUK press release | BBC report
Date: 2010-Sep
A report examined the career destinations of research graduates three years after graduation. Employment rates for doctoral graduates were consistently high with fewer than 2 per cent unemployed.
Source: Karen Haynes, Janet Metcalfe and Tennie Videler, What Do Researchers Do? First destinations of doctoral graduates by subject, Vitae
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Sep
A report said that government leadership and funding incentives were needed in order to expand provision of part-time student places.
Source: Claire Callender, Anne Jamieson and Geoff Mason, The Supply of Part-Time Higher Education in the UK, Universities UK
Links: Report | NIACE press release | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Sep
A new book examined the development by university managers of instruments of control designed to ensure that academics worked for commercial goals – focusing on housing and urban studies.
Source: Chris Allen and Rob Imrie, The Knowledge Business: The commodification of urban and housing research, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Sep
A new book said that universities and colleges were often unsystematic in the ways in which they identified schools and colleges for outreach work and other initiatives aimed at widening participation.
Source: Alexander Singleton, Educational Opportunity: The geography of access to higher education, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Sep
A think-tank report said that, contrary to popular belief, there was a need for more graduates in the economy; and that the only viable option for financing this would be to increase higher education fees.
Source: Laurence Hopkins and Charles Levy, Shaping Up For Innovation: Are we delivering the right skills for the 2020 knowledge economy?, Work Foundation
Links: Report | Work Foundation press release
Date: 2010-Sep
A report examined how higher education tuition fees could be abolished, and student debt reduced by at least £10,000, through the introduction of a graduate tax. A graduate tax had the potential to secure a fair funding settlement for students, graduates, universities, and government.
Source: Gavan Conlon and Annabel Litchfield, A Graduate Tax: Would It Work?, Million+
Links: Report | Million+ press release | NUS press release
Date: 2010-Sep
A paper examined the impact of local economic conditions on students' choice of degree subject. It was found that local labour market signals did encourage individuals to take up particular degrees in preference to others – raising several policy issues.
Source: Philip Wales, Geography or Economics? A micro-level analysis of the determinants of degree choice in the context of regional economic disparities in the UK, Discussion Paper 56, Spatial Economics Research Centre/London School of Economics
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Sep
An article examined the factors influencing post-16 learners in Wales and their choice of higher education institutions.
Source: Gwenda Rhian Jones, 'Factors influencing choice of higher education in Wales', Contemporary Wales, Volume 23 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Sep
The watchdog for access to higher education said that, according to commissioned research, disadvantaged young people had not been influenced by the size of bursary on offer when making university choices. In the light of the finding, it would be asking universities to consider diverting some of their bursary money to targeted outreach work with schools and colleges.
Source: Mark Corver, Have Bursaries Influenced Choices Between Universities?, Office for Fair Access
Links: Report | OFFA press release | DBIS press release | Russell Group press release | UCU press release | UUK press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Sep
An article said that the expansion of higher education in the 1980s, combined with New Labour reforms of the 'A-level' examination, had mainly benefited the middle classes and undermined social mobility.
Source: Trevor Fisher, 'The death of meritocracy: exams and university admissions in crisis', FORUM: for promoting 3-19 comprehensive education, Volume 52 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Aug
A study examined the impact of the 'Aimhigher' programme on learner attainment and progression in England. (Aimhigher was launched in April 2004 with the aim of raising the aspirations, and developing the abilities, of non-traditional entrants to higher education.)
Source: Rowena Passy and Marian Morris, Evaluation of Aimhigher: Learner attainment and progression – Final report, Higher Education Funding Council for England
Date: 2010-Aug
The watchdog for access to higher education said that in 2008-09 higher education institutions spent over one-quarter of their additional fee income on access measures, including over £304 million on bursaries and scholarships for students from lower-income backgrounds or other under-represented groups: this was broadly in line with proportions of expenditure in previous years.
Source: Access Agreement Monitoring: Outcomes for 2008-09, Office for Fair Access
Links: Report | OFFA press release | Guild HE press release | HEA press release | Million+ press release | NUS press release | 1994 Group press release | UUK press release
Date: 2010-Aug
The new coalition government announced that it was 'interested in looking' at the feasibility of changing the system of financing student tuition so that the repayment mechanism was variable graduate contributions tied to earnings. It had been assured by the independent review of student finance (let by John Browne) that this issue was being examined.
Source: Speech by Vince Cable MP (Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills), 15 July 2010
Links: Text of speech | AGR press release | GuildHE press release | HEA press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Million+ press release | 1994 Group press release | NUS press release | Russell Group press release | UCU press release | UUK press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Jul
A report said that male graduates were far more likely to be unemployed than their female counterparts, due to complacency and 'general hopelessness'.
Source: John Thompson, Male and Female Participation and Progression In Higher Education: Further analysis, Higher Education Policy Institute
Links: Report | HEPI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jul
A report made recommendations about how the existing public funding and regulatory environment could be improved in order to support universities more effectively.
Source: Libby Aston and Liz Shutt, Efficiency, Leadership And Partnership: An approach that delivers shared economic priorities, University Alliance
Links: Report | University Alliance press release | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Jul
The government began consultation on ways in which the funding system and methodology for post-19 further education and skills could be simplified, in order to ensure greater transparency for learners and employers and to reduce burdens on further education colleges and training organizations.
Source: A Simplified Further Education and Skills Funding System and Methodology, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Consultation document | DBIS press release | NIACE press release
Date: 2010-Jul
The report of an independent review examined issues surrounding co-investment in further education. It said that government funding for co-funded provision should follow and support the choices and contributions of learners and employers, based on a principle of matched funding.
Source: Christopher Banks, Independent Review of Fees and Co-Funding in Further Education in England: Co-investment in the skills of the future, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | Summary | DBIS press release | NIACE press release | SFA press release
Date: 2010-Jul
The new coalition government announced a one-year delay in order to review further the 'impact' requirement in the research excellence framework in higher education. The review would attempt to establish whether there was a way of assessing impact that was methodologically sound and acceptable to the academic community.
Source: Press release 9 July 2010, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: DBIS press release | HEFCE press release | UCU press release | GuildHE press release
Date: 2010-Jul
A report examined the financial position of further education colleges in England. It said that achieving value for money had hitherto been a 'peripheral' concern compared with widening participation and delivering high-quality provision.
Source: KPMG LLP, Delivering Value for Money Through Infrastructural Change, Learning and Skills Council
Links: Report | Times Education Supplement report
Date: 2010-Jun
A think-tank report said that Scottish university graduates should contribute towards the cost of their higher education as a deferred fee, to be paid once they earned more than the average salary.
Source: Ben Thomson, Geoff Mawdsley and Alison Payne, Power to Learn, Reform Scotland
Links: Report | Reform Scotland press release | Telegraph report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Jun
A think-tank report examined the issues involved in comparability of degree standards. It considered whether genuine comparability was still feasible, and what options might be open to higher education if it were found to be impracticable.
Source: Roger Brown, Comparability of Degree Standards?, Higher Education Policy Institute
Links: Report | Summary | QAA press release | UUK press release | GuildHE press release | HEA press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jun
A report said that drastic funding cuts to university and research budgets would imperil the 'massive contribution' to economic, social, and cultural life made by the humanities and social sciences.
Source: Past, Present and Future: The public value of the humanities & social sciences, British Academy
Links: Report | British Academy press release
Date: 2010-Jun
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government set out a series of measures designed to free further education colleges from 'unnecessary bureaucracy'. All colleges apart from poor performers would be able to move money between budgets, allowing them to respond quickly to local demand. The government would 'work to remove' the requirement for inspections of colleges rated as outstanding, unless their performance dropped.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 17 June 2010, columns 53-54WS, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Hansard | DBIS press release | NIACE press release | AOC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jun
A think-tank report examined how to make England's further education system genuinely responsive to learner demand, as well as stable, affordable, and of high quality.
Source: Alison Wolf, How to Shift Power to Learners: Encouraging FE dynamism, replacing centralised procurement, Centre for Innovation in Learning/Learning and Skills Network
Links: Report | Times Education Supplement report
Date: 2010-Jun
A study examined the career decision-making and career development of part-time higher education students. Government-funded financial support for part-time study was based on the assumption that students could afford the related costs because they were working or that their employers would pay for them: but only a minority of students received any help with their fees from their employer – around 41 per cent.
Source: Claire Callender, Rebecca Hopkin and David Wilkinson, Career Decision-Making and Career Development of Part-Time Higher Education Students, Higher Education Careers Services Unit
Links: Report | Times Higher Education report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jun
A report by research-intensive universities said that the financial sustainability of the leading universities was 'severely at risk'. It said that graduates should be made to pay higher interest rates on their student loans in order to help avert a university funding crisis.
Source: Staying on Top: The challenge of sustaining world-class higher education in the UK, Russell Group
Links: Report | Russell Group press release | UCU press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-May
A report by the watchdog for access to higher education said that participation at the top one-third of selective universities from the least advantaged 40 per cent of young people had remained almost flat since the mid-1990s. Able young people from disadvantaged backgrounds were less likely to attain high grades at school than their advantaged peers of comparable ability and less likely to choose GCSE and A level subjects that kept their options open to apply to selective universities. This 'attainment gap' accounted for most of disadvantaged students' under-representation, with disadvantage affecting a young person's educational attainment from an early age. Even when they were highly qualified, students from disadvantaged backgrounds were less likely to apply to the most selective universities than their advantaged peers.
Source: Martin Harris, What More Can Be Done to Widen Access to Highly Selective Universities?, Office for Fair Access
Links: Report | OFFA press release | DBIS press release | UCU press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | BBC report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-May
A report compared, by ethnicity, the characteristics of the United Kingdom-domiciled entrants to full-time, first degree courses in England in 2002-03 as well as their progression routes through their first degree studies. White finalists were 25 percentage points more likely to get a 'good' degree mark than black finalists, and 20 percentage points more likely than Pakistani and Bangladeshi finalists: some, but not all, of these differences could be explained by the differing profiles of the students.
Source: Student Ethnicity: Profile and progression of entrants to full-time, first degree study, Higher Education Funding Council for England
Links: Report
Date: 2010-May
A report by a committee of MPs examined the new structures that the government had put in place to administer further education. Although the transition from the Learning and Skills Council to the Skills Funding Agency appeared to have been well managed, the result had been the creation of an even more complex structure. It expressed 'grave concerns' that the increased complexity might prove to be both cumbersome and unwieldy.
Source: The Skills Funding Agency and Further Education Funding, Tenth Report (Session 2009-10), HC 347, House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | People Management report
Date: 2010-Apr
The percentage of young entrants to full-time first degree courses who came from state schools rose from 88 per cent in 2007-08 to 88.5 per cent in 2008-09. The percentage from 'low participation neighbourhoods' rose from 9.7 per cent to 10.1 per cent. But there were 23 higher education institutions where students from the lowest-income groups made up less than 5 per cent of the intake.
Source: Performance Indicators in Higher Education in the UK 2008/09, Higher Education Statistics Agency
Links: Report | HESA press release | UUK press release | Russell Group press release | Million+ press release | GuildHE press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Apr
A think-tank report examined some of the trade-offs that would be involved in reforming the existing system of fees and loans applying to full-time undergraduate study.
Source: Lorraine Dearden, Alissa Goodman, Greg Kaplan and Gill Wyness, Future Arrangements for Funding Higher Education, Commentary 115, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Report | IFS press release
Date: 2010-Apr
A paper examined the determinants of higher education participation among individuals from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Poor attainment in secondary schools was more important in explaining lower HE participation rates among students from disadvantaged backgrounds than barriers arising at the point of entry into HE (such as credit constraints). These findings highlighted the need for earlier policy intervention to raise HE participation rates among disadvantaged youth.
Source: Haroon Chowdry, Claire Crawford, Lorraine Dearden, Alissa Goodman and Anna Vignoles, Widening Participation in Higher Education: Analysis using linked administrative data, Working Paper W10/04, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Apr
A think-tank report said that the government should abolish the cap on university tuition fees, leaving institutions free to sell their services at whatever price they chose.
Source: James Stanfield, The Broken University: What is seen and what is not seen in the UK higher education sector, Adam Smith Institute
Links: Report | ASI press release | BBC report | Times Education Supplement report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report said that plans from both the main political parties for an 'Americanisation' of higher education would lead to greater financial instability, higher tuition fees, and grade inflation.
Source: Privatising Our Universities, University and College Union
Links: Report | UCU press release | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Mar
A paper said that the zero real rate of interest charged on student loans was 'profoundly mistaken', being costly both in fiscal and in policy terms. Instead, the interest rate should be based on the government's cost of borrowing, with targeted subsidies for low earners.
Source: Nicholas Barr and Alison Johnston, Interest Subsidies on Student Loans: A better class of drain, DP114, Centre for the Economics of Education/London School of Economics
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Mar
A report by an employers' association said that employers should be given tax breaks to encourage them to hire more young graduates. It also said that the government target of getting 50 per cent of people under 30 into higher education should be scrapped, because it had driven down standards and 'devalued the currency' of a degree.
Source: Talent, Opportunity, Prosperity, Association of Graduate Recruiters
Links: Report | AGR press release | UCU press release | Million+ press release | Personnel Today report | BBC report | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Mar
There was a 2 per cent increase in 2008-09 in the higher education participation rate for young people. The provisional rate was 45 per cent, up from the 2007-08 final figure of 43 per cent.
Source: Participation Rates in Higher Education: Academic Years 2006/2007-2008/2009 (Provisional), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | DBIS press release | OFFA press release | Million+ press release | UCU press release | BBC report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report said that students from private schools were more likely to study for a postgraduate degree than state school students, even though students from the same class and background from state schools were more likely to get a good university degree than similar students at private schools.
Source: Stephen Machin and Richard Murphy, The Social Composition and Future Earnings of Postgraduates, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | Times Education Supplement report
Date: 2010-Mar
A government-commissioned report said that the value of postgraduate education was 'under-researched and under-appreciated', and that more should be done to highlight its economic and social value. But it said that postgraduate provision needed to be tailored to deliver the skills sought by the business sector.
Source: Adrian Smith et al., One Step Beyond: Making the most of postgraduate education, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | RCUK press release | UUK press release | 1994 Group press release | Russell Group press release | GuildHE press release | Million+ press release | QAA press release | ECU press release | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report recommended raising the level of corporation tax in the United Kingdom to the G7 countries' average, in order to raise enough money to abolish all university tuition fees – and make business pay a fair contribution in return for the numerous benefits it received from public spending on higher education.
Source: In Place of Fees: Time for a business education tax?, University and College Union/Compass
Links: Report | UCU press release | Times Education Supplement report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Mar
A think-tank report said that a very small number of institutions, and individuals within them, produced the 'truly exceptional' research that placed the United Kingdom among the world's leaders in research. But although the present policy of selectively funding excellent research had had the effect of concentrating research funds in a relatively small number of institutions, there was no general case for explicitly funding research according to historical institutional characteristics.
Source: Jonathan Adams and Karen Gurney, Funding Selectivity, Concentration and Excellence: How good is the UK's research?, Higher Education Policy Institute
Links: Report | Summary | 1994 Group press release
Date: 2010-Mar
A think-tank report examined the challenges facing further education colleges and how these challenges might affect teaching methods, building design, the way colleges coped with a diverse student body, the way they worked with local partners, and how they balanced meeting the needs of business while also delivering social value.
Source: Tony Dolphin and Jonathan Clifton (eds.), Colleges 2020, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Summary | IPPR press release
Date: 2010-Mar
A report examined the growth of private universities. The distinction between for-profit and not-for-profit was becoming less relevant, as many publicly funded universities undertook commercial activities alongside their public service obligations. But quality and standards were not uniform across the private sector, and the experience offered to students by private providers was rarely the same as that in publicly-funded institutions.
Source: John Fielden, The Growth of Private and For-Profit Higher Education Providers in the UK, Universities UK
Links: Report | UUK press release | GuildHE press release
Date: 2010-Mar
The government announced (in the 2010 Budget) a one-off funding injection of £270 million for universities in England in 2010-11, designed to support the creation of an extra 20,000 student places in subjects including science, technology, and maths.
Source: Budget 2010: Securing the Recovery, HC 451, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Report | Hansard | HMT press release | UUK press release | HEFCE press release | Million+ press release | GuildHE press release | UCU press release | NUS press release | BBC report | Children & Young People Now report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Mar
An independent review (chaired by Lord Browne) set out its initial findings on the existing regime for higher education funding and student finance, and called for further views on how the system should be funded in the future.
Source: Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance, Call for Proposals, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | DBIS press release | ATL press release | Times Education Supplement report
Date: 2010-Mar
A think-tank report said that proposals from research-intensive universities to concentrate postgraduate provision would have a negative effect on the economy, damage innovation, undermine expansion and accessibility, and weaken the international competitiveness of the sector.
Source: A Postgraduate Strategy for Britain: Expanding excellence, innovation and opportunity, Million+
Links: Report | Million+ press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Times Education Supplement report
Date: 2010-Mar
There were 570,556 applicants to higher education institutions as at 22 January 2010 – a rise of 106,389 or 22.9 per cent over 2009.
Source: Press release 8 February 2010, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service
Links: UCAS press release | DBIS press release | OFFA press release | UUK press release | 1994 Group press release | Million+ press release | GuildHE press release | UCU press release
Date: 2010-Feb
A report examined ways in which higher education institutions could develop inclusive policies and practice that improved the learning experience of all students, whatever their background or individual learning entitlements.
Source: Helen May and Kath Bridger, Developing and Embedding Inclusive Policy and Practice in Higher Education, Higher Education Academy
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Feb
A think-tank report said that the government needed to raise the cap on top-up fees in order to avoid a serious deterioration in the quality of universities. Students from the wealthiest households should be removed from the public student loans scheme, and offered a loan from a regulated private loan scheme at a below-commercial rate of interest instead.
Source: Anna Fazackerley and Julian Chant, More Fees Please? The future of university fees for undergraduate students, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | UCU press release | ATL press release | 1994 Group press release | Million+ press release | GuildHE press release | Telegraph report | Times Higher Education report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Feb
A report examined how universities might respond to growing demand for higher education courses from older learners.
Source: Chris Phillipson and Jim Ogg, Active Ageing and Universities: Engaging older learners, Universities UK
Links: Report | UUK press release | BBC report
Date: 2010-Feb
A report said that ethnic minorities were better represented in higher education than their share of the general population.
Source: Race into Higher Education: Today's diverse generation into tomorrow's workforce, Business in the Community
Links: Report | Summary | Million+ press release | BBC report | Personnel Today report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Feb
In 2009, 481,854 applicants were accepted by universities or colleges – an increase of 8.7 per cent compared with 2008, and of 44 per cent compared with 1999.
Source: Press release 21 January 2010, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service
Links: UCAS press release | OFFA press release | UUK press release | UCU press release | ATL press release
Date: 2010-Jan
A study found that there had been a 'substantial and sustained' increase in the higher-education participation rate of young people living in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England since the mid-2000s. Young people from those areas were 30 per cent more likely to enter higher education than they were five years previously. Participation rates had also increased in advantaged neighbourhoods over this period, but less rapidly.
Source: Mark Corver, Trends in Young Participation in Higher Education: Core results for England, Higher Education Funding Council for England
Links: Report | HEFCE press release | OFFA press release | UUK press release | UCU press release | Million+ press release | GuildHE press release | Times Higher Education report | BBC report | Guardian report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Jan
A think-tank report called for a single fees system for full-time and part-time students in higher education. It highlighted the inequality of treatment for part-time students in the existing fees system, including lack of access to any student loans.
Source: Fair Funding for All, Million+
Links: Report | Million+ press release | Bedfordshire University press release | NUS press release
Date: 2010-Jan
A study examined the role and importance of finance in the decision-making process of English-domiciled people from different groups who were considering entering full-time higher education. Financial factors tended not to dent higher education aspirations among those planning to apply: they tended to be outweighed by a range of non-financial factors. Insofar as finance was important in decision-making, it was in determining where to apply and study rather than what to study or whether to study at all.
Source: Thomas Usher with Susanna Baldwin, Miranda Munro, Emma Pollard and Freddie Sumption, The Role of Finance in the Decision-Making of Higher Education Applicants and Students, Research Paper 9, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | UCU press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jan
A report said that new income from variable tuition fees had helped to stabilize the financial position of universities in England, enabling them to improve all aspects of the student experience.
Source: Making It Count: How universities are using income from variable fees, Universities UK
Links: Report | UUK press release
Date: 2010-Jan
