University reforms: ‘dead-end’ courses to be named and shamed

Higher education white paper promises to give students more power to ensure they get their money’s worth, but Labour brands reforms a ‘complete shambles’ University courses with a poor track record of employment will be “named and shamed” under government proposals to give students a clearer choice of degree and curb the costs of tuition fee loans. Measures to open up the sector and give more power to students to ensure they get their money’s worth are reforms tied to the government’s plans to triple tuition fees to £9,000 from 2012, due to be outlined in the government’s long-awaited white paper on higher education on Tuesday. In what is seen as the most radical shakeup of the higher education system in decades, the white paper is expected to contain measures to allow popular universities to take in any student who gains at least two A grades and a B at A-level, allowing these institutions to grow. Universities charging low fees, including higher education colleges, could also be told that they can increase their numbers in a move that will be seen as a way to encourage institutions to lower their fees. The proposals were criticised by Labour and the National Union of Students, who warned that the reforms would see the quality of degree courses suffer and leave students open to “market chaos” in the higher education sector. The government also wants to see courses that are not valued by employers either scrapped or overhauled. Ministers will ask for the publication of detailed information about the employment and earning outcomes of specific degrees, to limit losses to the taxpayer from students who fail to repay their loans. At present, two-thirds of universities are seeking to charge the maximum £9,000 fee from next year, despite wide variations in employability. Universities will be required to publish comparable data on teaching hours and accommodation costs, and to account for how fee income is spent. In a round of broadcast interviews given ahead of the publication of the white paper, David Willetts, the universities minister, said the government was looking for a “transformation” in the amount of information students receive. “There are some courses that are far better at preparing young people for the world of work than others. At the moment, the student finds it very hard to get that information,” he told BBC Breakfast. “In future, they are going to be able to see ‘if I do biological sciences at one university, I have got a much better chance of a job in a pharmaceutical company than if I do biological sciences at a different university’. Yes, all that information should be out there and we are insisting for the first time that it should be available for prospective students.” Willetts said he wanted to see education institutions compete both on fees, but also on the “quality of the experience” for students as the government dismantles the system of quotas on student places. He told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme that UK universities should dispense with the public sector “mindset”. “They are not, they do not belong to the public sector. What they do receive is a large amount of public money … what we will be saying today is if there are alternative providers that come in they may be FE colleges, of course should have the opportunity of offering higher education but they should be regulated on the same basis as everyone else and I think there’s a great opportunity here. “Existing universities have been over-regulated so we’re going to cut back the burden of regulation The ones outside the system often have not been regulated at all.” John Denham, the shadow business secretary, branded the reforms a “complete shambles” and accused the government of “making it up as it goes along”. “Whatever we get this afternoon wasn’t any part of the proposals that were put to the House of Commons last December,” Denham told Sky News. “Remember, the government cut higher education funding by 80%, which is why we have this huge increase in fees. They then said very few universities would charge £9,000 – most of them want to charge £9,000. “So what’s happening here is that they’re trying to drive down the cost of some courses, but I fear very much at the expense of quality of higher education and the stability of some universities and we will do our students no favours if we give them a cut-price, low-quality degree when what they need is a really good quality higher education.” Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, said the reforms would leave the majority of students facing “complete market chaos”. “To use proposals for more information as a justification for lifting the cap on fees to £9,000 is outrageous and will not fool students and their families. It’s the price, rather than educational standards, that will have tripled,” said Porter. “Ministers are at risk of creating stability for the perceived best but complete chaos for the rest. The vast majority of university entrants, who don’t get the very best grades, will be treated to complete market chaos and real uncertainty about their universities and courses.” The white paper comes as research revealed that graduates are facing record levels of competition for jobs, with more than 80 fighting for every position, research suggests. Employers are now receiving 83 applications on average for each job – almost double the numbers of two years ago (49), and nearly treble compared with three years ago (31) according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters. Higher education Students Student finance David Willetts University funding Jeevan Vasagar Jessica Shepherd Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 28, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.