By Lucy Phillips
14 May 2010
Leading universities are calling for changes to the student loans system to counteract a squeeze on government funding.
The Russell Group, which represents the UK’s 20 leading higher education institutes, warned today that heavy cuts to research and teaching risked Britain losing its international standing, and would have dire implications for the wider economy.
Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, said: ‘While universities in the UK are bracing themselves for a period of austerity and uncertainty, other nations are rightly pouring investment into their universities at this key time before the world economy picks up.’
Former business secretary Lord Mandelson announced £950m of cuts to universities’ funding in December as part of Labour’s attempts to tackle the public deficit. Provisional allocations by the Higher Education Funding Council, made in March, revealed around half of all colleges and universities would experience reduced funding during the next academic year.
An independent review of funding in the sector, commissioned by the previous government, is currently being undertaken by Lord Browne, a former chief executive of BP, and is due to be published in the autumn.
In its submission to the review, the Russell Group proposes reducing government subsidies on student loans by charging higher interest rates and increasing the rate at which graduates pay off their debt. The group, which includes representatives from Oxford and Cambridge universities, claims this would improve the financial ‘sustainability’ of the current funding system.
But the National Union of Students condemned the proposals. ‘There are more progressive ways to address inefficiencies in the student loan system, which Lord Browne needs to consider – but he should rule out this highly regressive approach to student finance,’ said NUS president-elect Aaron Porter.
The Conservative MP David Willetts has been appointed as the new minister for universities and science at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. Liberal Democrat MP Vince Cable is the new business secretary.
The coalition agreement makes it clear that the new government will wait until the Browne review has been published to make any changes to student loans and the way universities are funded. But this is likely to cause difficulties in the new political alliance since the Liberal Democrats, unlike the Tories, have always opposed student tuition fees, pledging eventually to scrap them. Under the terms of the coalition agreement, Lib Dem MPs will be allowed to abstain in any vote relating to the recommendations made by Lord Browne that they ‘cannot accept’.
Unions urged the Lib Dems not to backtrack on their commitments. Universities and Colleges Union general secretary Sally Hunt warned that a failure to use their influence when Lord Browne reported back ‘would be seen by a public, still adamantly anti-fees, as a considerable let-down’. Porter added that students considered the LibDems as ‘duty bound to honour their promises’.
14 May 2010
Leading universities are calling for changes to the student loans system to counteract a squeeze on government funding.
The Russell Group, which represents the UK’s 20 leading higher education institutes, warned today that heavy cuts to research and teaching risked Britain losing its international standing, and would have dire implications for the wider economy.
Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, said: ‘While universities in the UK are bracing themselves for a period of austerity and uncertainty, other nations are rightly pouring investment into their universities at this key time before the world economy picks up.’
Former business secretary Lord Mandelson announced £950m of cuts to universities’ funding in December as part of Labour’s attempts to tackle the public deficit. Provisional allocations by the Higher Education Funding Council, made in March, revealed around half of all colleges and universities would experience reduced funding during the next academic year.
An independent review of funding in the sector, commissioned by the previous government, is currently being undertaken by Lord Browne, a former chief executive of BP, and is due to be published in the autumn.
In its submission to the review, the Russell Group proposes reducing government subsidies on student loans by charging higher interest rates and increasing the rate at which graduates pay off their debt. The group, which includes representatives from Oxford and Cambridge universities, claims this would improve the financial ‘sustainability’ of the current funding system.
But the National Union of Students condemned the proposals. ‘There are more progressive ways to address inefficiencies in the student loan system, which Lord Browne needs to consider – but he should rule out this highly regressive approach to student finance,’ said NUS president-elect Aaron Porter.
The Conservative MP David Willetts has been appointed as the new minister for universities and science at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. Liberal Democrat MP Vince Cable is the new business secretary.
The coalition agreement makes it clear that the new government will wait until the Browne review has been published to make any changes to student loans and the way universities are funded. But this is likely to cause difficulties in the new political alliance since the Liberal Democrats, unlike the Tories, have always opposed student tuition fees, pledging eventually to scrap them. Under the terms of the coalition agreement, Lib Dem MPs will be allowed to abstain in any vote relating to the recommendations made by Lord Browne that they ‘cannot accept’.
Unions urged the Lib Dems not to backtrack on their commitments. Universities and Colleges Union general secretary Sally Hunt warned that a failure to use their influence when Lord Browne reported back ‘would be seen by a public, still adamantly anti-fees, as a considerable let-down’. Porter added that students considered the LibDems as ‘duty bound to honour their promises’.
