Contrary to previous reports, UCU report finds that increased fees are putting the most disadvantaged young people off university
Cost, poor advice and a perceived lack of jobs are putting young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds off higher education, warns a report from the University and College Union (UCU) out today [8 December].
It seems that the way in which successive governments have promoted higher education as an instrumental tool to better jobs, salaries and outcomes is now coming home to roost.
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Showing posts with label tuition_fees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tuition_fees. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 December 2014
Thursday, 13 June 2013
How fair is access to more prestigious UK universities?
an article by Vikki Boliver (School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, UK) published in The British Journal of Sociology Volume 64 Issue 2 (June 2013)
Abstract
Now that most UK universities have increased their tuition fees to £9,000 a year and are implementing new Access Agreements as required by the Office for Fair Access, it has never been more important to examine the extent of fair access to UK higher education and to more prestigious UK universities in particular.
This paper uses Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) data for the period 1996 to 2006 to explore the extent of fair access to prestigious Russell Group universities, where ‘fair’ is taken to mean equal rates of making applications to and receiving offers of admission from these universities on the part of those who are equally qualified to enter them.
The empirical findings show that access to Russell Group universities is far from fair in this sense and that little changed following the introduction of tuition fees in 1998 and their initial increase to £3,000 a year in 2006. Throughout this period, UCAS applicants from lower class backgrounds and from state schools remained much less likely to apply to Russell Group universities than their comparably qualified counterparts from higher class backgrounds and private schools, while Russell Group applicants from state schools and from Black and Asian ethnic backgrounds remained much less likely to receive offers of admission from Russell Group universities in comparison with their equivalently qualified peers from private schools and the White ethnic group.
Abstract
Now that most UK universities have increased their tuition fees to £9,000 a year and are implementing new Access Agreements as required by the Office for Fair Access, it has never been more important to examine the extent of fair access to UK higher education and to more prestigious UK universities in particular.
This paper uses Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) data for the period 1996 to 2006 to explore the extent of fair access to prestigious Russell Group universities, where ‘fair’ is taken to mean equal rates of making applications to and receiving offers of admission from these universities on the part of those who are equally qualified to enter them.
The empirical findings show that access to Russell Group universities is far from fair in this sense and that little changed following the introduction of tuition fees in 1998 and their initial increase to £3,000 a year in 2006. Throughout this period, UCAS applicants from lower class backgrounds and from state schools remained much less likely to apply to Russell Group universities than their comparably qualified counterparts from higher class backgrounds and private schools, while Russell Group applicants from state schools and from Black and Asian ethnic backgrounds remained much less likely to receive offers of admission from Russell Group universities in comparison with their equivalently qualified peers from private schools and the White ethnic group.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Student awareness of the costs and benefits of higher education
an article (CEPCP376) by Martin McGuigan, Sandra McNally and Gill Wyness published in CentrePiece - The Magazine for Economic Performance (September 2012)
What impact did media reporting of the near trebling of tuition fees have on school students’ understanding of the costs and benefits of university?
A CEP experiment run by Sandra McNally and colleagues sheds light on this question as well as on broader issues about the importance of clear information about the value of higher education.
Full article (PDF 7pp)
This article summarises Student Awareness of Costs and Benefits of Educational Decisions: Effects of an Information Campaign (PDF 57pp) by Martin McGuigan, Sandra McNally and Gill Wyness, Centre for the Economics of Education Discussion Paper No.139, August 2012
What impact did media reporting of the near trebling of tuition fees have on school students’ understanding of the costs and benefits of university?
A CEP experiment run by Sandra McNally and colleagues sheds light on this question as well as on broader issues about the importance of clear information about the value of higher education.
Full article (PDF 7pp)
This article summarises Student Awareness of Costs and Benefits of Educational Decisions: Effects of an Information Campaign (PDF 57pp) by Martin McGuigan, Sandra McNally and Gill Wyness, Centre for the Economics of Education Discussion Paper No.139, August 2012
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Statutory Instruments
What are these things?
And why am I writing about them?
Contrary to my normal practice I am writing a blog post almost from scratch in order to provide a response to a question about the fees for higher education courses.
Question 1
Where can I find details of the Act of Parliament which allowed HEIs to charge up to £9,000 for a course of study?
Answer 1
You can’t.
The change was an amendment of the Higher Education Act 2004 which defined tuition fees. See Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_Education_Act_2004 which appears to be an accurate reflection of the situation and is clearly written.
The change to the rate of tuition fees that may be charged was effected by a Statutory Instrument.
Question 2
What’s a Statutory Instrument?
Answer 2
For this I turned to parliament.uk where I found:
Question 3 – which I asked of myself
Now you find the SI that changed the fees to “up to £9k”?
Answer 3
No, I can’t.
But you are welcome to try for yourselves.
The Education (Fees and Awards) (England) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007 No. 779) provides an example of the sort of thing I am up against when trying to find the specific Statutory Instrument that allowed the up to £9k fees. The introduction to SI 2008 No. 779 says:
Further amendments have been made by:
Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007 No. 2263)
The Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011 No. 87)
The Education (Fees and Awards) (England) Regulations 2007 (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011 No. 1987)
That’s your lot! I need a lie down after that. And, from now on, I will keep a much closer eye on Acts of Parliament affecting education and careers work and of the SIs that amend them.
I guess that’s another section in my Google doc that needs to be set up.
And why am I writing about them?
Contrary to my normal practice I am writing a blog post almost from scratch in order to provide a response to a question about the fees for higher education courses.
Question 1
Where can I find details of the Act of Parliament which allowed HEIs to charge up to £9,000 for a course of study?
Answer 1
You can’t.
The change was an amendment of the Higher Education Act 2004 which defined tuition fees. See Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_Education_Act_2004 which appears to be an accurate reflection of the situation and is clearly written.
The change to the rate of tuition fees that may be charged was effected by a Statutory Instrument.
Question 2
What’s a Statutory Instrument?
Answer 2
For this I turned to parliament.uk where I found:
Statutory Instruments, also known as SIs, are a form of legislation which allow the provisions of an Act of Parliament to be subsequently brought into force or altered without Parliament having to pass a new Act. They are also referred to as secondary, delegated or subordinate legislation.It is often useful when questioning the provisions of or campaigning for or against some legislation to check whether the legislation provides for amendment by SI (most do these days) and whether any limitation is set in law as to the action which can be proposed by the Secretary of State.
Question 3 – which I asked of myself
Now you find the SI that changed the fees to “up to £9k”?
Answer 3
No, I can’t.
But you are welcome to try for yourselves.
The Education (Fees and Awards) (England) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007 No. 779) provides an example of the sort of thing I am up against when trying to find the specific Statutory Instrument that allowed the up to £9k fees. The introduction to SI 2008 No. 779 says:
The Secretary of State for Education and Skills makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 1 and 2 of the Education (Fees and Awards) Act 1983(1).
(1)1983 c.40. Section 1 was amended by the Education Reform Act 1988 (c.40), Schedule 12, paragraph 91; the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (c.13), Schedule 8, paragraph 19; the Education Act 1994 (c. 30), Schedule 2, paragraph 7; the Education Act 1996 (c.56), Schedule 37, paragraph 57; the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 (c. 30), Schedule 3, paragraph 5; the Learning and Skills Act 2000 (c.21) Schedule 9, paragraphs 1 and 11; the Education Act 2002 (c.32) Schedule 21, paragraph 5 and the Education Act 2005 (c.18) Schedule 14, paragraph 9. Section 2 was amended by the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998, section 44 and Schedule 4.
Further amendments have been made by:
Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007 No. 2263)
The Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011 No. 87)
The Education (Fees and Awards) (England) Regulations 2007 (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011 No. 1987)
That’s your lot! I need a lie down after that. And, from now on, I will keep a much closer eye on Acts of Parliament affecting education and careers work and of the SIs that amend them.
I guess that’s another section in my Google doc that needs to be set up.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Subject choice and earnings of UK graduates
an article by Arnaud Chevalier (Royal Holloway, University of London and Geary Institute University College Dublin) published in Economics of Education Review Volume 30 Issue 6 (December 2011)
Abstract
Using a survey of a cohort of UK graduates, linked to administrative data on higher education participation, this paper investigates the labour market attainment of recent graduates by subject of study. We document a large heterogeneity in the mean wages of graduates from different subjects and a considerably larger one within subject with individuals with the most favourable unobserved characteristics obtaining wages almost twice as large as those with the worst. Moreover, gender differences in wages within subjects are also large. We then simulate a graduate tax to calculate a willingness to pay – in form of tuition fees – to capture these subject wage premia.
Abstract
Using a survey of a cohort of UK graduates, linked to administrative data on higher education participation, this paper investigates the labour market attainment of recent graduates by subject of study. We document a large heterogeneity in the mean wages of graduates from different subjects and a considerably larger one within subject with individuals with the most favourable unobserved characteristics obtaining wages almost twice as large as those with the worst. Moreover, gender differences in wages within subjects are also large. We then simulate a graduate tax to calculate a willingness to pay – in form of tuition fees – to capture these subject wage premia.
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