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Scrapping ‘dead-end’ courses will ‘ensure students get their money’s worth’ as universities set to charge higher tuition fees 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. In a higher education white paper, ministers will ask for the publication of detailed information about the employment and earning outcomes of specific degrees. David Willetts, the universities minister, believes too many courses are not valued by employers. Ministers recognise some graduate professions, such as teaching or nursing, are less well paid than others. But they are concerned that only nine out of 141 computer gaming-related courses , for example, are accredited by the industry body. Scrapping or overhauling “dead-end” courses would 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. A Whitehall source said: “The reforms are all about ensuring that students get their money’s worth. We’re asking graduates to contribute more once they are earning, so it is only right that universities deliver for students. Universities will become more accountable to students and they will have to be far more transparent about what they are offering.” Universities will be required to publish comparable data on teaching hours and accommodation costs, and to account for how fee income is spent. The government will expect them to publish online student surveys of lectures and courses, to stimulate competition between academics. 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. Ministers want teenagers to have better information when choosing A-levels by asking universities to publish the qualifications of previously successful applicants. The Russell group, for example, favours traditional subjects : maths, English, geography, history, the three pure sciences and languages. Sir Steve Smith, president of Universities UK, which represents the sector, said: “Students are not in a position to make critical decisions if they don’t have access to transparent and comparable information. But does everyone get the same access to information? “Amongst 18-year-olds, those in higher socioeconomic groups have their parents, and those in lower socioeconomic groups rely on [school] careers guidance. There is pressure on schools to increase their tariff scores, so they might get you to do an A-level that is not accepted by the most demanding institutions.” The white paper is also expected to free up recruitment of the 50,000 students a year who achieve grades AAB or higher at A-level. Today, universities have a fixed number of government-funded places for home undergraduates each autumn, and are fined if they over-recruit. Expansion by grades would reward selective schools. Nearly a third of students achieving AAB or above are at private schools – about 16,000 – and 20% of those achieving the top grade at state sixth forms are in grammar schools. The Office for Fair Access, the government watchdog which vets proposals to charge fees above £6,000, has been privately warning universities that they must set higher targets for admissions of low-income students. One highly-ranked university, which did not want to be named, was told by Offa it was not enough to measure itself against its rivals. “Our aim is to improve the performance of the sector as a whole and we therefore need you to improve your absolute performance … as well as measure how you are doing compared to others,” the watchdog wrote. “Please consider this issue as soon as possible and make any amendments you think appropriate …” The white paper is expected to propose scaling back of student quotas under a model known as “core-margin”. A reduced number of places will be given as a coreallocation, and institutions will be invited to bid for the rest by demonstrating strength of demand and value for money. Universities charging fees beneath a set threshold – thought to be £7,500 a year – are expected to be permitted to expand their places. A poll of employers has found intense competition for graduate jobs, with an average of 83 candidates chasing each vacancy. The number of applications per job has reached the highest ever recorded, according to the survey by the Association of Graduate Recruiters. Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the association, said this was partly because job-hunters were making multiple applications and partly because of pressure from those who had failed to get a toehold on the ladder in previous years. The poll finds a sustained recovery of the graduate recruitment market is under way with vacancies expected to rise by 2.6% this year. For the first time in two years, employers predicted that graduate starting salaries would increase, with the average salary expected to reach £25,500. Ucas, the universities and colleges admissions service, released figures on Monday giving a final portrait of applications for 2011 ahead of exam results in August. The figures show applications are up 1.4% overall, to 647,008. There is a rise of 5.6% in the number of 19-year-olds applying, indicating that many candidates squeezed out last year may be having another go. Higher education Students Tuition fees Education policy Jeevan Vasagar Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk