Higher education

Market makeover for universities

3 February 2012 | Matt Grist

The government’s proposed managed market in higher education will produce a number of unintended consequences. Instead, we should move as quickly as possible to an open market for students Read more

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Education spending: all shall not have prizes

26 October 2011 | Conor Ryan

With education spending facing its largest cuts since the 1950s, the pupil premium is one of the few areas to gain. But how shall we measure its success? Read more

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University cash challenge

5 October 2011 | Iain Macwhirter

Scotland’s top universities are taking a massive gamble by charging their English students £36,000 for a standard degree Read more

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Clegg speech: no such thing as a free summer school

21 September 2011 | Conor Ryan

Nick Clegg’s summer school idea is neither new nor costed. In all likelihood it will mean a raid on the pupil premium funding pot   Read more

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Open public services: a supply side problem

25 July 2011 | Ian Mulheirn

Despite the welcome sentiments of the Open Public Services white paper, it’s easy for the strategy to get derailed by failing to address the supply side issues  Read more

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Universities: a new binary divide

8 July 2011 | Nigel Seaton

Are we about to see a return to the days of the polytechnic? The government’s shake-up of higher education could lead to a divided sector with less not more choice Read more

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Universities: a private function?

17 June 2011 | Malcolm Prowle

Proposals for a private college charging tuition fees of £18,000 each year could radically alter the higher education sector over the long term Read more

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Back to the university drawing board, by Conor Ryan

11 May 2011 | Conor Ryan

I know the government is getting desperately confused in its higher education policy, but the answer is not to introduce a two-tier fees system for home students. Read more...

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Full student fees: another fiasco, by Malcolm Prowle

28 March 2011 | Malcolm Prowle

Once again the government has shown that it is completely out of touch with public concerns about university student finance. Firstly they failed to understand that, for many poor families, if something is called a ‘loan’ then they will see it as a loan however many times you try and persuade them it is some form of graduate tax. As such this is bound to impact on access to university for some poorer students. Read more...

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Where’s the evidence? By Colin Talbot

8 March 2011 | Colin Talbot

The New Labour government made a great song and dance about ‘evidence-based policy’, which was generally observed more in rhetoric than in reality. But to be fair to them, their period in office did see a big increase in knowledge about ‘what works’ and ‘what performs’ in government, even if they didn’t always (often?) act on it. Read more...

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