10 October 2003
University lecturers have accused the government of trying to hit its higher education expansion target on the cheap after it announced an extra 10,000 foundation degree places.
Paul Cottrell, assistant general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, told Public Finance that ministers were focusing on the new degrees because they offer the hope of getting 50% of young people into higher education by 2010.
The target has become one of the government's flagship education policies and is used to justify its plans to introduce
top-up tuition fees for universities.
But Cottrell told PF: 'If there's any extra money in the pot it would be better to put that into full degrees. But the government's policy is by hook or by crook to reach their expansion target by the cheaper route of foundation degrees.'
He added: 'There is no evidence that recruitment to foundation degrees has taken off, so it's a bit hard to see why the government is creating extra places when the foundation degree still hasn't caught the public's imagination.'
Cottrell made his comments after higher education minister Alan Johnson announced plans on October 7 to create a further 10,000 foundation degree places for the 2004/05 academic year.
Universities are being invited to bid for £5.5m in new funding, to be distributed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, to pay for the new places. They are being asked to develop new courses that will teach the skills identified as priorities by the regional development agencies.
Ministers want a major expansion of foundation degrees, which provide vocational training, to tackle skills shortages in the labour market. The aim is to have 50,000 places available by 2005/06.
Johnson said the government was responding to demand: 'We need expansion to reflect the needs of the economy and the economy is telling us it needs more graduates with specific skills at a particular level.'
Figures published by the University and Colleges Admissions Service on October 7 show that 5,548 students have signed up for a foundation degree this year, compared with 2,964 last year. By contrast, 370,659 students have signed up for full degree or higher national diploma courses.
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