A controversial new government policy has sparked a bidding frenzy for students with the best A-Level grades, forcing universities into direct competition with one another. We look at the possible impact the new scheme might have on higher education.
Simon Hughes, advocate for access to education, has recommended the government change its scholarship scheme to give schools, not universities, the right to award tuition fees scholarships in 2012. We look at the details and implications of the scheme.
When the government regulatory body OFFA announced this week that all English universities had been allowed to charge the fees they had set for themselves, equal access campaigners were angry but unsurprised. The ‘toothless’ regulators put in place by the government to allow tuition fees of £9000 only “under exceptional circumstances” have allowed fees to climb to an average of £8393.
New figures this week revealed a shocking divide between pupils from private and state schools getting into the elite Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Is Oxbridge entry biased, or does the problem lie elsewhere in the education system?
As the tuition fees furore continues, two teenagers have won an unprecedented battle to take the fight to the High Court. They will argue that the government’s new tuition fees policy contravenes human rights law by disadvantaging students from poorer backgrounds and creating an elitist system where university is for the rich.
The government has caused an enormous public outcry by announcing they are considering plans to allow extra “off-quota” places to be created in addition to publicly funded university places. Protesters have disputed the plans, claiming they will allow rich students to ‘buy their way in’ to the UK’s top universities, making a mockery of fair and equal access to higher education.
A shocking new survey is ruffling government feathers with conclusive statistics proving that over 50% of current final year university students would not have applied if tuition fees were £9000. We look at the details and implications of the survey.
As the deadline arrives for universities to submit their proposed levels of tuition fees for 2012, we provide a condensed summary of all the vital facts and developments on tuition fees.
