1. Balls makes statement on Young People’s Information, Advice and Guidance
Ed Balls Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families launched a new strategy to transform information, advice and guidance (IAG) for young people.
Balls said the Government was aiming to make IAG more accessible and relevant through “Quality, Choice and Aspiration”.
Informed and influenced by the “Fair Access to the Professions” report by Alan Milburn and in line with the plans to raise the participation age to 18; Balls set out a “new approach” to IAG – including a focus on online advice, a mentor system and building greater links between schools, businesses and universities – to “make sure every young person, whatever their background, can aim for the top.”
2. How many students are in part time employment? Mark Lancaster MP asks David Lammy, HE Minister
When asked how many students were in part-time employment in Parliament this week, Higher Education Minister David Lammy referred to the Student Income and Expenditure Survey 2007-08 which showed that 53% of all English domiciled full-time undergraduate students undertook paid work at some time during the academic year-either during term-time, during the short vacations or both. For those undertaking such work, earnings over the academic year were on average £4 005 (after tax).
3. On BBC Breakfast Willetts responds to student calls for increase in quality of teaching at university,
As students are increasingly making complaints about poor quality teaching and not enough one to one contact on their courses and with mounting debt and higher tuition fees they are becoming more demanding about the standard of education they receive.
David Willetts, Shadow Minister for Universities and Skills, told BBC Breakfast, “We are about to set up … a review of higher education … and one of the things that that must tackle is to match the strong incentives that universities have … to focus on research with something similar to reward good quality teaching. Good quality attention to the educational experience of students is not properly rewarded either in the way in which funding is allocated or the way in which … promotion decisions are taken amongst academic staff.”
He said, “(Universities should be) far more explicit in a kind of agreement between them and prospective students about what they expect from students … and … in return what they will commit to do for students. The most important … thing … that many students raise with me is getting their academic work back promptly with proper marking and academic guidance. Although there’s a lot of excellent teaching that goes on there are many students who are very worried about this.
“(Students) say we’re paying high student fees, it’s very important we get a good job afterwards to pay these fees, we’re keen to work (and) we need this kind of support.”