…ntry to Higher Education in 2010 show a 22.9% increase in applications from 2009 (UCAS data release 8 February 2010). Steve Smith, President of Universities UK has commented: “Last year about 160,000 students who applied didn’t end up going to university. This year, we already know that there are about another 75,000 applying for university. So… there will be a lot of students this year who do not get a place at university.” University Alliance re…
…In the university world, differences of opinion are nothing new. But the outcome of this one might just change the character of higher education itself. Universities are at odds over the future of postgraduate study, with a Government review on the subject, due to report in the spring, setting up sharply diverging views on how PhDs should be funded just as finances for the sector as a whole come under huge pressure. Read the full article….
…ease in applications to Engineering at Hertfordshire University by 32% from 2009 compares to a 14% national average increase. “It is heartening to see that the significant effort which has been put into raising aspirations in STEM subjects is paying off. The students applying for entry in 2010 will be graduating into an ever changing and dynamic market and Alliance universities have a proven record (2) of working with them to ensure that they are…
…ng graduates for the 21st century. This response follows discussion amongst our Pro Vice-Chancellors with responsibility for teaching, learning and quality at a University Alliance Quality Seminar held on 18 February 2010. Our response highlights the key issues raised by Alliance universities and is intended to complement the individual and more detailed responses of our members. [Download consultation response as PDF]…
…tes: the effects of ELQ funding being removed and unfunded growth are not reflected in 2010-11 figures [5] HEFCE Report can be downloaded here. [6] University Alliance report can be downloaded here. About University Alliance University Alliance represents 22 major, dynamic, business-like universities at the heart of the sector that deliver world-leading research with impact and are actively businessfocussed. Alliance universities educate 26% of al…
…nship between excellence, concentration and critical mass in UK research’. Commenting on the report Director of University Alliance, Libby Aston, said: “Future policy on research concentration has seemed a little uncertain since RAE 2008 results demonstrated that peaks of world-leading research excellence were distributed more widely than had been anticipated. The evidence, however, remains very clear: selectivity not concentration has driven exce…
…research funding methods in the world – QR funding in 2009-10, based on RAE 2008, has not changed that: In 2007-8, four institutions received 29 per cent of Quality-related (QR) funding (and 23 around 75 per cent). In 2009-10, four institutions received 32 per cent of QR funding (and 25 around 75 per cent). Selectivity can, however, be taken too far. HEFCE’s ‘Fundamental Review of Research Policy and Funding’ concluded that “a major increase in se…
…0. There is a simple way to meet these costs. The Government should offer a 20 per cent discount to any 2009 graduate who repays some or all of their loan by 31 October. Some 300,000 students will graduate this year, the first generation to pay top-up fees. Most have taken out loans of about £10,000 to cover fees and up to a further £15,000 for living costs. We do not yet know the total owed by the Class of 2009, but a conservative estimate puts t…
