Students Respond to Lord Browne's Proposals

Further to the publication of Lord Browne's report last week, there has been a lot of reflection on how this will impact upon future students' higher education choices. We have deliberately kept a low profile on this matter for the time being because the implications are far wider than increasing the likelihood of Brits going abroad.

The Student Room website has just published a survey of 1300 students (it is unclear how many of these students are still to enter university) and their assessment of Lord Browne's recommendations. While it is clear that the Lib Dems won't be winning many friends amongst the young, there are some other results which corroborate what we have been hearing from other sources.

73% of all students will look abroad when thinking about their higher education choices. Admittedly, for many English students abroad seems to mean Scotland but there are signs that a wide range of countries from USA to Netherlands could be about to benefit from increasing applications from British students.

We will see whether this materialises. However, it is clearer than ever that schools must offer advice about international higher education as one of the range of options open to their students.

Lord Browne's University Funding Review Published Today

What does the tuition fee review mean for British students?

12th October 2010

Today Lord Browne's report in to university funding has been published.

There had been much speculation in to the precise recommendations he would make but there was never any doubt that higher education would become more expensive for British students.

It is too early to know when any changes to tuition fees will be made, not least because any change still has to be voted into law. At the moment, these are only recommendations. However, there has been so much discussion about graduate taxes, upper limits on fees etc in recent months that it seems fairly certain the government was trying to prepare the ground for the conclusions it was expecting. So while Lib Dem MPs might have some soul searching to do, it seems fairly clear that Lord Browne's recommendations will be accepted in their entirety. After all, it was the previous Labour government that set in motion this review (and postponed its reporting date until after the election because it knew the recommendations could only be unpalatable to many people).

So, there are still a number of unanswered questions regarding the change in tuition fees:

• When will they be introduced? The consensus seems to be from 2012 but we have never heard anyone say it will not be from 2011. The funding crisis in university education is about to get a lot worse with the Comprehensive Spending Review later this month so we imagine that many universities will be pushing for higher fees to be introduced as soon as possible.
  
• Will there be any guarantees offered by universities? If students are being asked to invest in their higher education on the basis of improved employment prospects will they have any recourse if these prospects fail to materialise, or if they have been misled by a university's claims. Will we see the introduction of a "gainful employment rule" such as the one under discussion in the USA.
• Will the increased revenue from tuition fees be ringfenced for tuition? Will students' contribution to university funding be invested in the areas where they benefit directly or will it be used to subsidise research activity?
  

We have always argued that British students should go abroad for some or all of their undergraduate education for a variety of positive reasons. However, it now appears as if this will be a necessity for many people.

The introduction of higher fees will herald a new range of financial support for the least well-off in society. The most well-off clearly have the least to fear from increased interest rates on student loans as they are far less likely to need them. It is those students caught in the middle who are likely to find themselves squeezed the most. Lord Browne's report does offer assurances to students who will not go on to earn vast sums in their careers. The threshold under which students do not pay back their loans will rise as part of his recommendations. However, debt is still debt and there will be no escaping it particularly as students look to take on mortgages in the future. Student loans will no longer even have the attraction of being a cheap form of borrowing.

In the last week, following articles in The Observer and in an Independent supplement, we have experienced an unprecedented increase in the number of visitors to our site. We believe that vast numbers of the "squeezed middle" are looking to avoid the uncertainties of English higher education. Student debt is not a necessity; it is possible to gain a degree abroad without taking out huge loans. While it will never be possible to live free of financial obligations for three or four years, there is no reason why you should spend decades paying for them. We will be adding more opportunities of this nature to our site over the coming weeks.

Tomorrow the Election, Next Week the Tuition Fee Debate

One subject has been studiously ignored by politicians in the UK general election: what will happen to tuition fees over the lifetime of the next parliament and beyond. While many individual MPs and candidates have signed pledges indicating that they will not support an increase in fees from the current £3,000 plus inflation this is unlikely to have any impact on reality.

Without an alternative plan for funding the expansion of higher education it is almost certain that the cap on fees will be first raised and then removed. Otherwise we are likely to see more universities experiencing financial difficulties. The University of Cumbria has already applied for emergency funding from HEFCE and has had to reduce the facilities it offers students; while the circumstances of this situation are unique to Cumbria it is likely that other universities will face similar shortfalls.

One proposal put forward by Lord Browne,who chairs the cross party review, is that fees will be allowed to rise by £1,000 per annum until they reflect the cost of the relevant course. In this scenario we could end up with different level of fees to reflect the relative cost of teaching arts or sciences, for example. This would see British universities adopting the Australian finanical model.

This approach differs from lifting the upper limit to between £5,000 and £7,000 which had previously been thought the most likely outcome.

Uncertainty about tuition fees is likely to remain for some time. With all political parties having no immediate plans to reduce fees (any Lib Dem plan to phase out fees will take some time to introduce even in the event of their making substantial gains in tomorrow's election) the only certainty is that they will rise. The bigger issue in terms of access to higher education will be any change to the interest rate payable on student loans; this, too, it seems is likely to rise in the near future meaning that the overall cost of education will be even harder to judge.

What does this mean for international universities? Universities in Australia, New Zealand and, to a lesser extent, Canada and the USA will increasingly be seen as viable alternatives for those students who can finance their entire higher education from their own or their family's resources.

For European universities, we expect a continuing increase in interest not just to state universities but also to private universities. This trend is currently being driven by the shortage of places at British universities and many careers advisors in schools are actively looking to find places abroad for this year's school leavers. One of the unintended consequences of EU membership is that British students can find far more generous higher education opportunities in other countries. In that context perhaps the most important development in the last weeks has been the European Court of Justice's decision to allow some European countries to restrict the number of students coming from other EU member states.

Shortage of Places in UK Universities Set to Continue

According to an article in The Guardian yesterday, students applying to start university next autumn face a battle for places that will be even tougher than in 2009. Universities have been ordered to cap the number of extra places at just 10,000. These places will not be evenly spread between all institutions. In fact, the majority will be allocated to non-traditional higher education institutions rather than elite universities.

There was already extra pressure in the application procedure as a result of the approximately 50,000 students who failed to get a place at their chosen university this year. With so many students reapplying and already possessing the grades necessary for acceptance at good universities, those entering the Ucas process this year could find it even harder than usual to obtain a place. So far this autumn, there has already been a 15% increase in registrations with Ucas.

British universities will be unable to meet the demand for 2010 admissions, particularly as many expansion plans have been placed on hold as a result of the funding crisis in higher education. It is somewhat ironic that a government that campaigned on a mantra of “Education, Education, Education” will probably leave office unable to satisfy the demand that it created. The Conservatives main policy to address the funding crisis was announced this week at its party conference: discounts for the early repayment of student loans. This may very well increase funding for more than 10,000 places but it is unlikely to address the structural issues which restrict the expansion of higher education. As a result, there are likely to be admissions restrictions of one kind or another for much of the length of the next parliament.

So, what are the alternatives? We believe that young people should not be putting their lives on hold waiting for a place at a British university as a result of a financial situation that is beyond their control. We also believe that students should be looking at higher education with a harder focus. Whether it be a desire to advance in a particular profession, or a yearning to study a particular subject in depth, students need to be clear about why it is they wish to pursue higher education. Once this decision is made, however, we would suggest that students begin to look outside the United Kingdom for the solution.

Interest in the best US higher education has been growing in recent years. Awareness of universities in Europe is also increasing, particularly now that there is such a focus on the cost of tuition in this country. Countries such as the Netherlands (average fees c.€1,600) or Denmark (no fees) are starting to offer the kinds of courses that will attract international students. Other universities in Europe such as Universita Bocconi, CERAM Business School and Prague College offer education at a slightly lower or similar price to English universities. All of these institutions have their own areas of excellence and some of them measure up very favourably to the best British universities when comparing rankings.

Students wishing to pursue medicine and veterinary science have long been used to the extreme pressure for places at British universities. One Polish medical university indicated to me at the recent EAIE conference that applications from Britain have increased by 400% this year. As more subjects become restricted, we fully expect to see this trend expand to all areas of higher education.

We could very well be entering a period where not only is it sensible for students to know about international higher education opportunities, it is also essential.