University Alliance have made their submission to the Autumn budget, which will be announced in November this year.
The submission highlights how professional and technical universities are a crucial component of the education skills system and have a vital role to play in kickstarting economic growth and other key government priorities.
To enable universities to achieve their full potential in contributing to the UK’s critical national priorities, University Alliance have made recommendations in three key areas in their budget submission.
- A long-term sustainable funding settlement for higher education
- Proportionate regulation
- Targeted investment
See the full list of recommendations below:
Long-term sustainable funding
Recommendations:
- The government should put university finances on a more sustainable footing
through permitting tuition fees to rise in line with RPI inflation for at least the next five
years and exploring other means of investment.
unialliance.ac.uk - The government should withdraw or pause proposals for an international
student levy until a full consultation and impact assessment is carried out informed
by research commissioned by DfE on international student price sensitivity. - The government should help stabilise international student demand in its
forthcoming international education strategy, whilst working with the sector to
maintain high levels of sponsor compliance and increase UK market share of
transnational education (TNE). - The government should give universities greater flexibility to set their pension
arrangements by reviewing HE participation in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and
removing the requirement for higher education corporations in England to offer
access to the Local Government Pension Scheme to new employees. - The government should increase maintenance loan entitlements and parental
income thresholds to widen support to more families. Targeted maintenance grants
should be awarded on top of existing loan entitlements to ensure maximum utility.
Proportionate regulation
Recommendations:
- The Office for Students (OfS) should make a concerted effort to cut the cost
and burden of its regulation, and work with other regulators to reduce unnecessary
duplication and bureaucracy. It should not increase regulation of TNE at a time when
there is a strategic aim to grow this provision. - The government should simplify the regulatory system to reduce costs so that
providers no longer need to manage two (or more) different regulatory systems.
Higher and degree apprenticeships should be monitored by the main regulator of that
provider (so the OfS in universities, and Ofsted for colleges). - The government and healthcare regulators should design a new regulatory
approach to nursing and allied health qualifications that emphasises proficiency
unialliance.ac.uk
rather than time served. Reducing overly prescriptive practice hour requirements will
free up much-needed placement capacity.
Targeted investment
Recommendations:
- The government should increase investment in knowledge exchange between
universities and the wider world through the scaling up of Higher Education
Innovation Funding (HEIF). This investment represents excellent value for money,
with £14.80 in economic return for every £1 invested22, and is a tried and tested way
of increasing economic benefits from the work of universities.23 - The government should enable employers to use the new growth and skills
levy for level 7 provision for all ages within the eight growth-driving sectors
and for regulated professions.24 This would provide employers with a crucial
mechanism for widening access to professional jobs and upskilling their workforces,
providing both the public sector and businesses with the high-level skills needed to
make them more productive. - The government should invest in the recruitment and retention of nurses
through uprating the Learning Support Fund (LSF) and implementing a new student
loan forgiveness scheme in exchange for time served in the NHS.25 Nurses are the
lynchpin of an effective NHS, but applicants are declining, and many registered
nurses leave after a short time after qualifying. A UA poll found 85% of the public
support the government providing loan forgiveness, grants or bursaries for students
training to work in the NHS.26
