By . Ministers have been accused of “industrial scale incompetence” after a damning report on student loans was released by the public spending watchdog.
The National Audit Office said the government was “not well placed to secure value for money” on the £200 billion in loans that will be owed by 2043. More...
By . The government has suspended all funding for overseas EU students at private colleges, and for Bulgarians and Romanians at public universities.
The move, revealed today in an email to institutions, will add to worries that an overspend on private providers has caused a major budget crisis at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. More...
By . Britain’s poorest students are set to lose bursaries and other support worth £100 million next year after ministers fast-tracked planned cuts. In a surprise announcement, universities and science minister David Willetts has said the £150 million National Scholarship Programme (NSP) will be reduced to £50 million next year. The scheme, which provides awards worth £3,000 to undergraduates from households earning £25,000 or less, was due to remain in place next year and be replaced by a new £50 million scholarship scheme for postgraduates from 2015-16 under plans announced in June’s Spending Review. More...
By . Social mobility could be harmed if cuts of £45 million are focused on the so-called “widening participation premium”, a new study says.
“Student Opportunity” funds worth £332 million have been provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to universities this year to support their work in attracting and teaching students from disadvantaged backgrounds, down from £366 million in 2012-13. More...
By Nick Morrison. Top universities are finally waking up to the true value of the International Baccalaureate, finds Nick Morrison. As far as school qualifications are concerned, the International Baccalaureate has always stood out for the passion of its supporters. No average award this, they say, the IB is the complete package.
“Almost everybody who teaches it thinks it is a better education,” says John Claughton, Chief Master of King Edward’s School, Birmingham, which switched from A-levels to the post-16 IB diploma in 2010. This year their faith has been rewarded, as two leading universities have lowered their entry requirements for IB students. King’s College London and Leeds universities have both announced that for admission next autumn, they will consider three As at A-level to be the equivalent of an IB score of 35 points – out of a total of 45 possible points – rather than 39 as previously. More...
By Graeme Paton. Research by the British Council finds that three-quarters of UK adults cannot hold a conversation in a foreign language, with fears that public apathy towards the subject risks harming the economy.
Britain’s future economic prosperity and global standing is under threat because of an “alarming shortage” in the number of people who can speak a foreign language, according to research.
Figures show that just a quarter of adults can now hold even a basic conversation with someone in a language other than English.
French is the most commonly spoken foreign language in the UK – used by 15 per cent of people – followed by just over one-in-20 who can understand German. More...
By Graeme Paton. The National Audit Office warns that the total university student loans bill will balloon to £200bn within 30 years as it emerges that thousands of EU students are avoiding repayments.
Almost half of students from mainland Europe may be failing to repay taxpayer-backed loans amid warnings of a £5 billion black hole in the public finances.
A report by the National Audit Office found that around 18,000 students from EU member states who took out Government loans for English university courses are in arrears or failing to provide earnings information. More...
By Graeme Paton. State offloads loans made to students who enrolled at university in the 1990s as part of drive to boost public finances.
The British government will announce on Monday it has agreed a deal to sell off a portfolio of student loans worth £900m, Sky News reported on Sunday, quoting people close to the situation.
The loans will be offloaded to an unnamed private debt collection agency, the broadcaster said, saying they would be sold for tens of millions of pounds, "a fraction of the debts' face value".
The deal would encompass mortgage-style loans made in the 1990s, the last of their kind still in public ownership, Sky said, but not include income contingent repayment loans of the kind currently on offer. More...
By Graeme Paton. The British Council launches new database covering foreign recruitment agents as figures show a sharp rise in the number of overseas students entering UK.
Recruitment agents who sign up overseas students for British universities will be subjected to new vetting procedures amid warnings over a sharp rise in the number of foreigners entering the country.
For the first time, agents will be asked to sign up to a new "ethical" code of practice and undertake training to win formal accreditation, it was announced.
The British Council will create a new database of agents and subject them to regular assessments to make sure standards are being maintained. More...
By David Ellis. While it's true that not all graduates are in graduate jobs, blaming universities and limiting education for all, is not the answer, says David Ellis.
Given the acerbic response to the disappointing news that almost half of graduates take non-graduate jobs, it appears many do have wildly overblown expectations of a degree. More...
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