…the point of use”. “Government could achieve an overall cost reduction in comparison to the current system, whilst still providing loans to cover the full tuition fee, even up to a fee of £9,000 per year, if necessary,” the document claims. But Aaron Porter, president-elect of the National Union of Students, said this could lead to students accruing debts of more than £40,000. Removing the cap on fees would expose students and their families to “…
…that its system would dispel “myths” about an upfront cost to university study and the language of debt. Its plans would see the troubled Student Loans Company replaced with a “Graduate Contribution Agency”. Read the full article ….
…ce-chancellors willing to say that the fee cap should be raised, or lifted completely – a development that will do nothing to enhance the public’s understanding of, or affection for, fees. If we were able to step outside of this sphere for a moment we might learn some lessons about why there is such a divide between public opinion on university funding and the view from within the sector. It isn’t simply about money or the fee cap. Read the full a…
…tion fees and maintenance loans to be funded by the private sector through sales of bonds, not by the taxpayer, as in Hungary. University Alliance, representing 22 universities including Oxford Brookes, Bournemouth, Plymouth and Nottingham Trent, said that companies should, in return, charge students higher interest on loans. Typical interest rates might rise to 4.5 or 5 per cent, from their current rate pegged to inflation. Students would not fac…
…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….
…versity fees of £5,000 and one in five would be prepared to go as high as £10,000, a survey of tens of thousands of students suggests. Opinionpanel Research asked 37,000 university students what price would be so low that it would make them doubt the quality of their courses, and what figure would be so high that they would rule out paying it. More students were prepared to pay fees of £3,000 – approximately the current level – than any other sum….
…nd 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]…
…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…
…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 selectivity could reduce the number of research-led institutions to a level that would be inconsistent with the general health of the UK research base…
…parture from the traditional model of senior management in higher education, university heads are increasingly turning to policy advisers to assist in the day-to-day running of their institutions. So many vice-chancellors have appointed such advisers that the University Alliance, a group of pre- and post-1992 universities, is setting up a policy advisers group, providing a network for the growing numbers employed in the role. Read the full article…