1. Think tank calls for unlimited tuition fees
The Association for Graduate Recruiters (AGR) has called for a complete removal of the cap on tuition fees, allowing universities to charge whatever they wish.
In a survey of Vice-Chancellors in March 2009, the majority wanted to bring about a rise in fees, to an average of £6500 a year. Sir Richard Sykes, the former rector of Imperial College, London, said he wanted to be able to charge full cost fees – which could be as high as £20,000 – for some courses.
The proposal coincides with the ongoing Independent Review into Higher Education Funding, led by Lord Browne. The manifesto additionally argued for the Government to drop its current target of 50% participation in higher education.
Commenting on the report, Wes Streeting, NUS President said, "At a time when students are leaving university with record levels of debt, and graduate job prospects are at an all-time low, it is offensive to argue that the cap on fees should be raised, let alone lifted entirely."
2. Scottish Education Secretary pledges no tuition fees
Scottish students will continue to enjoy free university educations under the current government, Education Secretary Michael Russell has announced. The pledge, made to students at last week’s NUS Scotland Annual Conference, in Dunfermline.
Mr Russell did warn that higher education funding was likely to come under considerable budgetary pressures. Moreover, the Browne Review of Higher Education Funding in England and Wales, would be likely to raise questions around how Scottish universities were being funded. Despite this, Mr Russell maintained that “this government does not believe that the answer to those questions is tuition fees.”
3. Number of undergraduates studying science subjects continues to rise
The number of students studying ‘vulnerable' subjects such as physics, chemistry and maths at university has continued to rise this year, according to a report published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
The numbers undertaking these subjects has risen by 6.8% since 2005-06, when the higher education (HE) sector, supported by HEFCE, started work with schools in tandem with the Government's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programme and other STEM initiatives.
4. Parliamentary questions
Keeble - Educational Maintenance Allowances
Monday 8 March 2010 | House of Commons - Oral Question
Ms Sally Keeble (Northampton, North) (Lab): I thank my hon. Friend and our right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the constructive meeting to talk about EMAs with young people from Northampton. May I stress the fact that a number of young people who are at university in Northampton were able to go only because they received an EMA to stay on at secondary school and finish their A-levels?
Mr. Wright: The Secretary of State and I really enjoyed our meeting with students from my hon. Friend's constituency. They convinced me-if I needed convincing -that EMAs are an absolutely essential part of what we offer to young people as they go forward and participate in education and training post-16. Let me be absolutely clear with the House and, in particular, with my hon. Friend, who really supports that policy agenda. No ifs, no buts: we will continue to maintain education maintenance allowance from 16 onwards. That way we think that we can break the cycle between household income and educational attainment; and that way we can have real social justice in this country.
Fabricant - Poorer students (university)
Monday 8 March 2010 | House of Commons - Oral Question
Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con): On the subject of the Secretary of State's maths, will he now apologise for inadvertently misleading the House when he spoke about the numbers of people eligible for free school meals who went to Oxford and Cambridge? He got those figures wrong.
Ed Balls: I may have misheard the shadow Schools Secretary when I heard him-erroneously, once again-quote A-level student numbers that excluded those in sixth-form colleges and maintained schools. The fact is that the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) has form; in recent months, he has regularly quoted figures that he knows to be untrue. We have tried to correct them time and time again. I have no idea whether he got them right or wrong in this case; what I know is that every time he has used them in the past, he has got them wrong.
Gove - Higher education (admissions)
Tuesday 9 March 2010 | House of Commons - Written Answer
Michael Gove: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of students from (a) comprehensive and (b) independent schools attended Russell Group universities in (i) 1997, (ii) 2003 and (iii) the most recent year for which figures are available.
Mr. Lammy: The latest estimates show that some 19 per cent. (23,700) of state school A level candidates who attempted one or more A levels (or equivalent) at age 17 in 2005/06, progressed to a Russell Group HE institution by age 19 in 2006/07. The equivalent figure for candidates from independent school pupils was 46 per cent. (13,000).
These figures have been estimated using matched data from the National Pupil Database and the Higher Education Statistics Agency Student Record.