Fair access to higher education

The government's decision to scale down its own much heralded student scholarship scheme has surprised many of us (Report, 23 November). Yes, we knew cuts were coming because of the absence of controls over student number growth outside universities and through the determination to preserve the science and research budget. We knew the cuts would focus on reducing student mobility by disinvestment in access measures. We knew it was likely that the poorer in society would probably be hit the hardest. The surprise has been the response of the independent regulator, the Office for Fair Access. More...