A chapter in the 2011-12 British Social Attitudes Survey report examined public attitudes to the expansion and funding of higher education. Support for the continued expansion of higher education had fallen in England as the number of university places had increased. Opposition to students paying for tuition and taking out loans to cover their living costs had decreased (though the survey preceded the latest fee increase). Those who were most privileged educationally and economically were less likely to support university expansion, and more likely to support fees.
Source: Anna Zimdars, Alice Sullivan, and Anthony Heath, 'A limit to expansion? Attitudes to university funding, fees and opportunities' (in Alison Park, Elizabeth Clery, John Curtice, Miranda Phillips, and David Utting (eds.), British Social Attitudes 28: 2011-2012 Edition), SAGE Publications
Links: Chapter | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Dec
An audit report said that substantial savings could be made by reducing 'bureaucracy' in further education in England.
Source: Reducing Bureaucracy in Further Education in England, HC 1590 (Session 2010-2012), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | AOC press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Dec
The coalition government set out (following consultation) a programme of work designed to take forward its plans for reforming the further education and skills system for adults aged 19 and over in England.
Source: Further Education and Skills System Reform Plan: Building a World Class Skills System, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Work programme | Skills investment statement | Consultation responses | Hansard | DBIS press release | NIACE press release
Date: 2011-Dec
A paper examined the main characteristics and motivations for reforming higher education systems, first in England ('a successful process from the point of view of the policy-makers') since the early 80s, and then at the European level since the mid-90s.
Source: Jean Luc Demeulemeester, Reforming Higher Education Systems in Europe Since the 80s: Between utilitarianism and justice?, Working Paper 11/058, Centre Emile Bernheim (Universite Libre de Bruxelles)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined changes in higher education governance in England, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. The empirical evidence showed that governments continued to govern, and had not lost any of their policy-making power: but they had simply changed the way they steered higher education.
Source: Giliberto Capano, 'Government continues to do its job. a comparative study of governance shifts in the higher education sector', Public Administration, Volume 89 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined the impact of higher education qualifications on the earnings of graduates. There were high returns for women in all subjects. Degree class and postgraduate study had large effects in all subjects. A large rise in tuition fees had only a modest impact on relative returns.
Source: Ian Walker and Yu Zhu, 'Differences by degree: evidence of the net financial rates of return to undergraduate study for England and Wales', Economics of Education Review, Volume 30 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined higher education expansion in Scotland. In contrast to the general pattern of stable inequality observed in most nations, overall social inequalities in Scottish higher education enrolment had declined over time. However, this decline had not occurred in all sectors, being limited to the lowest-status institutions.
Source: Cristina Iannelli, Adam Gamoran, and Lindsay Paterson, 'Scottish higher education, 1987-2001: expansion through diversion', Oxford Review of Education, Volume 37 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
A report highlighted the 'critical role' that universities would play in reviving economic growth.
Source: Driving Economic Growth, Universities UK
Links: Report | UUK press release
Date: 2011-Dec
A report presented the findings from a small-scale study designed to explore the teaching of social policy in higher education institutions.
Source: Ruth Patrick, Kate Brown, and Emma Drever, The Current and Future State of Social Policy Teaching in UK HEIs, Social Policy Association
Date: 2011-Dec
A paper said that higher education expansion in Europe had brought about an increase in background-related inequality. This had mainly occurred in the previous decade, and had been concentrated in the bottom half of the background distribution.
Source: Francesco Vona, Does the Expansion of Higher Education Reduce Educational Inequality? Evidence from 12 European countries, Working Paper 2011-12, OFCE Sciences-Po and Sapienza University of Rome
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Dec
A paper examined the persistence of underemployment among higher education graduates. Underemployment was not a short-term phenomenon and was systematically related to a set of observable characteristics. Underemployment 6 months after graduation was positively related to underemployment 42 months after graduation – consistent with the view that the nature of the first job after graduation was important in terms of occupational attainment later in the life-cycle.
Source: Irene Mosca and Robert Wright, Is Graduate Under-employment Persistent? Evidence from the United Kingdom, Discussion Paper 6177, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined the relationship between the institutional stratification of higher education systems and graduate employment prospects in Germany and Britain. The vertical differentiation of British higher education institutions and degrees differentiated the transitions to the service class more strongly than in Germany.
Source: Kathrin Leuze, 'How structure signals status: institutional stratification and the transition from higher education to work in Germany and Britain', Journal of Education and Work, Volume 24 Issue 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Nov
A report said that further education colleges in England needed to do more to engage with, and respond to, learners and their local communities.
Source: A Dynamic Nucleus: Colleges at the heart of local communities – Final Report, Independent Commission on Colleges in their Communities
Links: Report | AOC press release | NIACE press release | Training Journal report
Date: 2011-Nov
A think-tank report examined risk-based regulation in relation to higher education under coalition government plans.
Source: Roger King, The Risks of Risk-Based Regulation: The regulatory challenges of the higher education White Paper for England, Higher Education Policy Institute
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Nov
A paper estimated the returns to higher education qualifications for graduates with different degree majors, class of first degree, and postgraduate qualifications.
Source: Ian Walker and Yu Zhu, Differences by Degree: Evidence of the net financial rates of return to undergraduate study for England and Wales, Working Paper 33, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium (Italy)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Nov
A report by a committee of MPs said that plans for universities in England to compete for some student places should be delayed, and only be brought in at least 12 months after the planned rise in tuition fees (to a maximum of £9,000 per year from autumn 2012). It also called for a rethink on the financial support given to poorer students: more money should be given to cover living costs while students were at university rather than in the form of fee waivers.
Source: Government Reform of Higher Education, Twelfth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 885, House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Additional written evidence | BIS press release | Labour Party press release | 1994 Group press release | Russell Group press release | UCU press release | University Alliance press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Nov
The coalition government began consultation on a framework for post-16 educational studies (following recommendations by the Wolf review). All students under 19 who did not have GCSE qualifications (at grades A-C) in English and/or maths would be required as part of the programme to take a course that either led directly to those qualifications or provided significant progress towards them.
Source: Study Programmes for 16-19 Year Olds, Department for Education/Young People s Learning Agency
Links: Consultation document | DE press release
Date: 2011-Oct
The higher educations admissions body began consultation on reforming the admissions process. It said that the combined effect of predicted grades, insurance choices, and clearing had led to a system that was complex, lacked transparency for many applicants, and was inefficient and cumbersome for higher education institutions. Only the best informed applicants and advisers – often linked to private schools – were able to optimize applications, and there was an 'undesirable divide' between those applicants who received effective advice and those who did not.
Source: Admissions Process Review: Consultation, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service
Links: Consultation document | DBIS press release | ASCL press release | Labour Party press release | NAHT press release | NASUWT press release | NIACE press release | Russell Group press release | UCU press release | UUK press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Oct
A study found that the majority of black and minority-ethnic staff in higher education had experienced damaging effects on their careers by being treated as subordinates or excluded because of their race.
Source: Valerie Hey, Mairead Dunne, Sarah Aynsley, Maki Kimura, Alice Bennion, John Brennan, and Jiten Patel, The Experience of Black and Minority Ethnic Staff in Higher Education in England, Equality Challenge Unit
Links: Report | ECU press release
Date: 2011-Oct
A study examined the impact of higher education for part-time undergraduate students. There were significant employment advantages to those who improved their skills by upgrading their existing qualifications from below a level 3 through part-time study.
Source: Claire Callender, David Wilkinson, Abigail Gibson, and Caroline Perkins, The Impact of Higher Education for Part-Time Students, Evidence Report 36, UK Commission for Employment and Skills
Date: 2011-Oct
The coalition government began consultation on proposals to simplify the funding system for post-16 education. Schools and colleges would be paid on a per student basis, rather than by reference to the number of qualifications a student took.
Source: 16-19 Funding Formula Review: Consultation, Department for Education/Young People s Learning Agency
Links: Consultation document | DE press release | YPLA press release | NAHT press release
Date: 2011-Oct
A report examined national policies in the European Union on access to higher education, funding, and student support. It said that countries needed to adapt their higher education systems to meet the challenges resulting from rapid societal change. In particular, they needed to open up opportunities for more people to benefit from higher education, matching this objective with coherent measures, funding, and monitoring.
Source: Modernisation of Higher Education in Europe: Funding and the social dimension, European Commission
Links: Report | Summary | European Commission press release
Date: 2011-Sep
An article examined the diverging policies of England and Scotland since 1999 on the issue of tuition fees.
Source: Oivind Bratberg, 'A long path to divergence: English and Scottish policies on tuition fees', Higher Education Policy, Volume 24 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Sep
A paper examined the effect of increases in postgraduate education on wage inequality. Workers with a postgraduate qualification had seen their relative wages rise over time as compared with all workers, and more specifically compared with graduates with only a college degree.
Source: Joanne Lindley and Stephen Machin, Rising Wage Inequality and Postgraduate Education, DP1075, Centre for Economic Performance (London School of Economics)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Sep
The watchdog for access to higher education said that the 'large majority' of universities and colleges in England were meeting their statistical targets on promoting access by under-represented groups; and that it had 'complete confidence' that institutions would wish to redouble their efforts to protect and improve access after the trebling of fees. A quarter of institutions had missed targets for access.
Source: Access Agreement and Widening Participation Strategic Assessment Monitoring: Outcomes for 2009-10, Office for Fair Access/Higher Education Funding Council for England
Links: Report | OFFA press release | Russell Group press release | Teach First press release | Universities UK press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Sep
A paper said that less generous student financial support arrangements in England and Wales had had a 'significant negative impact' on university enrolment. Raising tuition fees to £9,000 per annum (the new maximum introduced by the coalition government) would reduce demand for higher education from boys by 7.5 percentage points and from girls by 4.9 percentage points.
Source: Peter Dolton and Li Lin, From Grants to Loans and Fees: The demand for post-compulsory education in England and Wales from 1955 to 2008, DP127, Centre for the Economics of Education (London School of Economics)
Date: 2011-Sep
A think-tank report said that the typical beneficiaries of capping student fees at £6,000 per year (as proposed by the Labour party) would be graduates in their 50s earning £72,500 per year. The policy was regressive, because virtually no one in the bottom half of the earnings distribution, and virtually no one under the age of 35, would stand to gain from it.
Source: Tim Leunig, An Analysis of Labour's Proposed £6,000 Undergraduate Degree Cap, CentreForum
Links: Report | Guardian report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Sep
The Scottish Government announced a reform plan for post-16 education and training. It said that it would involve faster progression from college to university, greater collaboration between colleges – including mergers where appropriate – and a closer match between skills and employer needs.
Source: Putting Learners at the Centre: Delivering our ambitions for post-16 education, Scottish Government
Links: Plan | Scottish Government press release | ASSCS press release | UCU press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Sep
A report said that universities had a central role to play in realizing the government's plans for economic growth.
Source: Growing the Future: Universities leading, changing and creating the regional economy, University Alliance
Links: Report | University Alliance press release
Date: 2011-Sep
The coalition government announced that it was reversing a previous decision to withdraw free further education courses from people on 'inactive' benefits (benefits that were not conditional on seeking work). Colleges in England would instead be given discretion over which courses would be fully subsidized – but no additional central funding would be made available.
Source: Press release 9 August 2011, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: DBIS press release | AOC press release | UCU press release
Date: 2011-Aug
A report analyzed the coalition government's White Paper on the future of higher education. It said that the policies would succeed in reducing the level of tuition fees, but at the cost of much greater government control over universities. The reforms were likely to lead to a polarized sector, with a small number of institutions charging the maximum fee of £9,000 and the majority reducing their fees to around £7,500. There were also serious doubts about whether the new funding arrangements would lead to savings on the scale predicted by the government.
Source: John Thompson and Bahram Bekhradnia, 'Higher Education: Students at the Heart of the System': An Analysis of the Higher Education White Paper, Higher Education Policy Institute
Links: Report | Summary | UCU press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Aug
The coalition government began consultation on detailed proposals designed to take forward its strategy for further education and skills. Detailed consultations covered the introduction of student loans for FE courses, and 'refocusing' government support for informal adult and community learning.
Source: New Challenges, New Chances: Next steps in implementing the further education reform programme, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills | New Challenges, New Chances: Next steps in implementing the further education reform programme – Further education loans, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills | New Challenges, New Chances: Next steps in implementing the further education reform programme – Review of informal adult and community learning, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Overall consultation document | Consultation document (FE loans) | Consultation document (adult learning) | DBIS press release | Unionlearn press release
Date: 2011-Aug
A think-tank report set out a strategy for the reform of higher education. It said that those institutions where research was the primary activity should continue to focus resources on carrying out world-class research and designing research-led syllabuses. Other institutions should concentrate on better teaching, improving the student experience, and competing to provide good degrees at a lower cost.
Source: Gill Wyness, Degrees of Quality: How to deliver the courses we need at prices we can afford, CentreForum
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Aug
A paper said that tuition fees had had a 'significant negative effect' on participation in higher education. A £1,000 increase in fees was estimated to result in a decrease in participation of 3.9 percentage points. Non-repayable support in the form of maintenance grants had a positive effect on participation, with a £1,000 increase in grants resulting in a 2.6 percentage point increase in participation.
Source: Lorraine Dearden, Emla Fitzsimons, and Gill Wyness, The Impact of Tuition Fees and Support on University Participation in the UK, Working Paper 11/117, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Aug
A report said that students from low-income backgrounds at further education colleges found it more difficult to get into elite jobs and top universities than their counterparts in school sixth-forms. The FE sector was undermined by comparative under-funding, lack of policy attention, and low status.
Source: Emma Norris, Not Enough Capital? Exploring education and employment progression in further education, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce
Links: Report | Charity Times report
Date: 2011-Aug
The report of an official review (led by Willy Roe) said that the post-16 education and vocational training arrangements in Scotland should be strengthened and better integrated with other parts of the education and employment systems. It identified a set of 12 key principles that defined what a learner-centred system would look like, and what each of the principles implied.
Source: Review of Post-16 Education and Vocational Training in Scotland, Scottish Government
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Aug
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published its annual report for 2010-11.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2010-11, HC 1001, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jul
The education inspectorate in Wales said that further education colleges needed to do more to ensure that learners from deprived areas realized their potential. Only a small number of colleges and work-based learning providers compared the achievements of students from different backgrounds; and they made too little use of data on enrolment to analyze whether they were offering the right courses to attract learners from deprived areas.
Source: The Impact of Deprivation on Learners Attainment in Further Education and Work-Based Learning, HM Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales
Links: Report | HMCIETW press release
Date: 2011-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that the coalition government's policy on student visas risked compromising the high standard of education provided by higher education institutions in Scotland, and threatened the valuable contribution of international students to Scottish society.
Source: The Student Immigration System in Scotland, Fifth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 912, House of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report part 1 | Report part 2 | BBC report
Date: 2011-Jul
A study examined employers perceptions of the employability skills of new graduates. Attempts by higher education institutions to address graduate employability seemed 'highly variable'.
Source: Kevin Lowden, Stuart Hall, Dely Elliot, and Jon Lewin, Employers Perceptions of the Employability Skills of New Graduates, Edge Foundation
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jul
The report was published of an 'independent' adviser on access to higher education in England. It made a series of recommendations designed to improve equality of access. All schools in England should offer university scholarships to pupils from families on very low incomes.
Source: Simon Hughes MP (Advocate for Access to Education), Report to the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister from the Advocate for Access to Education: The Hughes Report , Cabinet Office
Links: Report | DBIS press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Million+ press release | NIACE press release | 1994 Group press release | NUT press release | OFFA press release | UCU press release | Universities UK press release | Voice press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Notes: Simon Hughes is deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, one of the partners in the coalition government.
Date: 2011-Jul
A report said that there was no evidence to support the idea that research excellence in higher education institutions was correlated with scale.
Source: Evidence Ltd, Funding Research Excellence: Research group size, critical mass & performance, University Alliance
Links: Report | University Alliance press release | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Jul
The watchdog for access to higher education said that the estimated average fee that would be charged by universities in 2012-13 would be £8,393 – contrary to statements by the coalition government that fees over £6,000 would be exceptional. 47 out of 123 institutions would charge the maximum £9,000.
Source: Press release 12 July 2011, Office for Fair Access
Links: OFFA press release | DBIS press release | HEFCE press release | Labour Party press release | Million+ press release | Russell Group press release | UCU press release | Universities UK press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Jul
An interim report said that further education colleges needed greater freedom from over-elaborate funding restrictions and other limitations in order to achieve their full potential for the benefit of their wider communities.
Source: A Dynamic Nucleus: Colleges at the heart of local communities, Independent Commission on Colleges in Their Communities
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that the coalition government had failed to respond to a recommendation for migration policy to be based on sounder evidence. It criticized the government's dismissal of its own impact assessment of changes to the student visa regime.
Source: Student Visas: Follow-Up, Eleventh Report (Session 2010-12), HC 1445, House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Migration Watch UK press release | Guardian report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Jul
A study examined how the higher education sector in England and its partners could increase the uptake of high-quality work experience by students and graduates, including broadening the range of employers that offered placement opportunities. More could be done to inform the participants – universities, students, and employers – of the benefits of internships.
Source: Oakleigh Consulting Ltd and CRAC, Increasing Opportunities for High Quality Higher Education Work Experience, Higher Education Funding Council for England
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jul
The coalition government said its plans to cut the number of foreign students could cost the public purse £2.4 billion more than they would save. They would cut net migration by 230,000 by 2015.
Source: Reform of the Points Based Student (PBS) Immigration System: Impact Assessment, Home Office
Links: Impact assessment | BBC report
Date: 2011-Jun
An article examined the extent to which the outcomes of the 2008 research assessment exercise in higher education, determined by peer review, could be explained by a set of quantitative indicators. The results supported the use of quantitative indicators in the assessment process, particularly a journal quality index. The judgement of the research assessment exercise panels was biased in favour of 'Russell Group' universities (20 universities that together received two-thirds of research funding).
Source: Jim Taylor, 'The assessment of research quality in UK universities: peer review or metrics?', British Journal of Management, Volume 22 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jun
A report by a committee of MPs said that the coalition government's proposed reforms to higher education in England could create a funding gap of several hundred million pounds. Ministers had underestimated the amount that would have to be lent to students to pay higher tuition fees – set to rise to the maximum £9,000 per year at most institutions.
Source: Regulating Financial Sustainability in Higher Education, Thirty-sixth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 914, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | HEFCE press release | UCU press release | Universities UK press release | BBC report | Public Finance report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Jun
A new book examined how value and worth were attributed to activities in higher education.
Source: Murray Saunders, Roni Bamber, and Paul Trowler, Reconceptualising Evaluation in Higher Education: The practice turn, Open University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Jun
A think-tank report said that the higher education system was not meeting the needs of employers, and that further education colleges could play a stronger role.
Source: Ralph Hartley, Vocational Value: The role of further education colleges in higher education, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Jun
The coalition government published a White Paper on the higher education system in England. It said that proposed reforms would ensure that universities were held accountable for an improved student experience. The proposals would seek to:
• Ensure better information for students before they applied, better teaching while at university, and better preparation for the job market.
• Encourage universities to engage actively with employers to accredit or 'kitemark' courses to indicate to students that they were valued by them.
• Make universities more accountable to students for teaching quality: students could trigger quality reviews where there were grounds for concern.
• 'Free up' student number controls by making around 85,000 places contestable among universities in 2012-13 – through unrestrained recruitment of high-achieving applicants, and by creating a 'flexible margin' of places to reward quality providers charging an average of £7,500 per year or less for tuition.
• Ensure that the Office for Fair Access was properly resourced so that it could improve access for students from lower-income families and widen participation.
• Enable a wider range of providers to join the sector to offer more choice for students.
• Reduce regulation and bureaucracy for universities.
Source: Higher Education: Students at the Heart of the System, Cm 8122, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, TSO
Links: White Paper | DBIS press release | Conservative Party press release | AOC press release | Bridge Group press release | HEFCE press release | IES press release | IOD press release | Million+ press release | NIACE press release | 1994 Group press release | NUS press release | OFFA press release | Russell Group press release | Unionlearn press release | Universities UK press release | University Alliance press release | Times Higher Education report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Jun
A think-tank report said that universities yielded benefits that went far beyond the individual financial returns to students and human capital gains for the economy. Just three social outcomes – greater political interest, higher interpersonal trust, and better health – contributed a benefit of £1.31 billion to society over and above the economic benefits.
Source: Faiza Shaheen, Degrees of Value: How universities benefit society, New Economics Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | UCU press release | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Jun
An article examined the returns to higher education as indicated by chances of access to the professional and managerial salariat. There was no evidence of any increase in education-based, meritocratic selection to the salariat. Rather, the growth of the salariat appeared to be associated with some decline in its selectivity in terms of both qualifications and cognitive ability, with this decline being more marked in its managerial than in its professional components.
Source: Erzsebet Bukodi and John Goldthorpe, 'Social class returns to higher education: chances of access to the professional and managerial salariat for men in three British birth cohorts', Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, Volume 2 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-May
The European Commission published plans for new European targets on the employability and the mobility of students. They included reducing early school leaving, increasing the share of higher education graduates, and getting more adults to participate in lifelong learning. A new benchmark on the mobility of students would measure the share of young people with learning experiences abroad. A new benchmark on education and training for employability would monitor the success rate of young people with different education levels in the labour market in the years after graduation.
Source: Commission Staff Working Paper on the Development of Benchmarks on Education and Training for Employability and on Learning Mobility, European Commission
Links: Working document | European Commission press release
Date: 2011-May
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills published a revised business plan, covering the period 2011-2015.
Source: Business Plan 2011-2015, Department for Business Innovation and Skills
Date: 2011-May
An article examined the transformation of higher education policy in the European Union from the mere co-ordination of educational curricula by national governments to the embodiment of the Lisbon Agenda's 'governance architecture', together with its impact on national policies, institutions, and actors.
Source: Giliberto Capano and Simona Piattoni, 'From Bologna to Lisbon: the political uses of the Lisbon "script" in European higher education policy', Journal of European Public Policy, Volume 18 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-May
A report examined ways of improving performance outcomes for black and minority-ethnic students in higher education.
Source: Jane Berry and Gary Loke, Improving the Degree Attainment of Black and Minority Ethnic Students, Higher Education Academy/Equality Challenge Unit
Links: Report | HEA press release
Date: 2011-May
A think-tank report examined the implications of recent developments in the provision of private higher education. Private providers could bring benefits to students, governments, and society more widely, as long as measures were in place to ensure high quality. However, the existing regulatory environment had developed piecemeal, and new legislation was needed. Private providers should be treated on the same footing as public providers, and differences in their treatment should exist only where fully and explicitly justified.
Source: Robin Middlehurst and John Fielden, Private Providers in UK Higher Education: Some policy options, Higher Education Policy Institute
Links: Report | QAA press release | UCU press release | BBC report | Public Finance report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-May
A report examined the 'critical differences' between apprenticeships and higher education, and how the two pathways could best complement each other.
Source: Apprenticeships and Higher Education: Good sound-bites, bad policy making, Centre for Innovation in Learning (Learning and Skills Network)
Date: 2011-May
A study found that: 1 in 6 black students had experienced racism in their existing institution; one-third did not trust their institution to properly handle complaints; and one-third felt that their educational environment left them unable to bring their perspective as black students to lectures and tutorial meetings.
Source: Mandeep Rupra-Daine and Stephanie Neave, Race for Equality: A report on the experiences of Black students in further and higher education, National Union of Students
Links: Report | NUS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-May
A think-tank report examined university research funding. It said that if the coalition government concentrated even more research funding in a small number of universities, it would undermine its own objectives of promoting innovation and economic growth.
Source: Research that Matters, Million+
Links: Report | Million+ press release
Date: 2011-May
A think-tank report examined ways to ensure that universities offered value for money in return for being allowed to charge higher fees. Rather than giving universities a quota of places, and allowing them to set their own prices, universities should be required to bid for places, which would be awarded to those institutions that offered good value.
Source: Tim Leunig, Universities Challenged: Making the new universities system work for students and taxpayers, CentreForum
Date: 2011-Apr
A paper examined the determinants of females' decisions to invest in post-secondary education in Europe.
Source: Alessandra Casarico, Paola Profeta, and Chiara Pronzato, Great Expectations: The determinants of female university enrolment in Europe, Working Paper 44, Dondena Research Centre (Bocconi University, Milan)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Apr
An audit report said that the new funding framework for the higher education sector in England was likely to increase the level of financial risk. There was already wide variation in the financial performance of institutions. The government needed to 're-think fully' the regulatory framework.
Source: Regulating Financial Sustainability in Higher Education, HC 816 (Session 2010-11), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | HEFCE press release | UCU press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Mar
The government announced (following consultation) that the rules for student visas would be tightened, in order to cut their number by up to 80,000 per year – about one-quarter of the existing total.
Source: Press release 22 March 2011, Home Office
Links: Home Office press release | AoC press release | Million+ press release | REC press release | Russell Group press release | UCU press release | Universities UK press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Mar
A report set out a model designed to measure the economic value of the government-funded qualifications provided by the post-19 further education sector – including colleges, private training providers, and voluntary and charity sector providers. Further education participants generated an additional £75 billion for the economy over their lifetimes, with apprenticeships generating around £40 for each £1 of government investment.
Source: Measuring the Economic Impact of Further Education, Research Report 38, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | DBIS press release
Date: 2011-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government's proposals to reform the student immigration system could have serious unintended consequences. It cautioned the government against introducing measures that could damage the educational export sector.
Source: Student Visas, Seventh Report (Session 2010-11), HC 773, House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | 1994 Group press release | RSS press release | Russell Group press release | UCU press release | UUK press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined the theory that continued expansion of higher education was necessary to service the high-skill labour requirements of a knowledge economy. The relationship between employability and employment was far from straightforward: the data suggested that traditional labour market disadvantage still appeared to be an impediment to achievement, regardless of the extent to which graduates developed employability skills during their undergraduate studies.
Source: Nick Wilton, 'Do employability skills really matter in the UK graduate labour market? The case of business and management graduates', Work, Employment and Society, Volume 25 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined the 'contradictory' political economy of the higher education sector. Even after government reforms, students would still not be charged the full market price of delivering degree programmes: higher education institutions would therefore continue to be redistributive mechanisms providing long-term welfare-enhancing transfer payments to their overwhelmingly middle-class student base.
Source: Matthew Watson, 'The contradictory political economy of higher education in the United Kingdom', Political Quarterly, Volume 82 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined how school pupils from disadvantaged socio-economic groups perceived the prospect of studying at university.
Source: Yvonne Moogan, 'An analysis of school pupils' (with low social economic status) perceptions of university, regarding programmes of study', Educational Studies, Volume 37 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Feb
A think-tank report said that tens of thousands of genuine international students were at risk of being turned away from universities and colleges, costing the United Kingdom economy billions of pounds, in pursuit of an artificial target for cutting immigration.
Source: Sarah Mulley and Alice Sachrajda, Student Migration in the UK, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report | IPPR press release
Date: 2011-Feb
Government guidance said that universities wanting to charge over £6,000 for their courses from 2012 would have to work 'much harder' to recruit students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Source: Guidance to the Director of Fair Access, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Guidance | Hansard | DBIS press release | Liberal Democrats press release | OFFA press release | ATL press release | GuildHE press release | Russell Group press release | 1994 Group press release | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Feb
An article examined the effectiveness of European Union co-operation in policy-making on higher education.
Source: Anne Corbett, 'Ping pong: competing leadership for reform in EU higher education 1998-2006', European Journal of Education, Volume 46 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Feb
A report presented a range of options for increasing income for universities in Scotland, as well as setting out scenarios on the possible future funding gap between Scotland and England (based on increased tuition fees in England).
Source: Report of the Scottish Government-Universities Scotland Technical Group on Higher Education, Scottish Government
Links: Report | Scottish Government press release | Universities Scotland press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Feb
An article examined performance by students at A-level and their first and final university years. Students from private schools performed better at A-level than those from state schools, but not at their university examinations, other things being equal.
Source: Ron Johnston and Anthony Hoare, 'Widening participation through admissions policy – a British case study of school and university performance', Studies in Higher Education, Volume 36 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Feb
A report examined the extent of likely unmet demand for higher education in the period to 2020.
Source: Robbie Coleman and Bahram Bekhradnia, Higher Education Supply and Demand to 2020, Higher Education Policy Institute
Links: Report | Summary | QAA press release | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2011-Feb
A new book examined the 'marketization' of higher education institutions in Europe.
Source: Marino Regini, European Universities and the Challenge of the Market: A comparative analysis, Edward Elgar Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Feb
A think-tank paper raised concerns that the National Scholarship Programme (designed to help the poorest students go to university) was at risk of becoming a 'postcode lottery'. It said that the limited funds allocated to the scheme should be used to provide the very poorest students with additional non-repayable maintenance grants during their studies.
Source: The National Scholarship Programme: A National Scheme or a Postcode Lottery?, Million+
Links: Paper | Million+ press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Jan
A report examined the representation and achievement of black and minority-ethnic (BME) students at universities. BME students were under-represented at the most prestigious universities, and were less likely to be awarded a high-ranking degree than their white counterparts.
Source: Debbie Weekes-Bernard (ed.), Widening Participation and Race Equality, Runnymede Trust
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Jan
