By Richard Johnstone
5 May 2011
England’s 670 private colleges should be regulated in the same way as public universities to ensure minimum standards and allow them to bid for public funds, according to a think-tank.
The Higher Education Policy Institutesays private higher education is growing as the government seeks to broaden the range of providers. Its report, Private providers in UK higher education: some policy options, adds that the sector will expand further as some private colleges try to attract students with lower tuition fees than the £9,000 maximum for public universities.
However, this expansion risks being stymied by the ‘complex and scattered’ regulation of private universities in various pieces of legislation. A new Private Higher Education Act should replace the ‘confusing’ system, allowing them to grow.
The approach to regulating public and private institutions should be the same where possible, for example in accreditation and quality assurance regimes, the report states.
The new system would include a clear definition of a ‘reputable private provider’. Only those institutions that meet a standard should be entitled to benefit from ‘a levelling of the playing field’ with public universities, including the possibility of applying for some funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England on the same terms.
The report’s authors, Robin Middlehurst, professor of higher education at Kingston University, and higher education management consultant John Fielden also say that that there should be no distinctions in the treatment of for-profit and not-for-profit private providers in any legislation.
However, the regime would have to be ‘rigorous’ to keep out private providers who do not provide high-quality education. The report highlights the ‘considerable concern’ in the US about the quality provided by private institutions.
The University and College Union backed the plan for legislation. General secretary Sally Hunt said: ‘We urgently need tougher regulation of for-profit companies if we are to protect quality and standards in our higher education system. As events in America have shown, the for-profit model is fraught with danger for students and taxpayers alike and it is essential that our government rethinks its decision to embrace it.’
