THE: Alliance contribution aims to reshape fees debate
…te Contribution Agency”. Read the full article ….
…te Contribution Agency”. Read the full article ….
…ortage of vice-chancellors willing to say that the fee cap should be raised, or lifted completely – a development that will do nothing to enhance the public’s understanding of, or affection for, fees. If we were able to step outside of this sphere for a moment we might learn some lessons about why there is such a divide between public opinion on university funding and the view from within the sector. It isn’t simply about money or the fee cap. Rea…
…e loans to be funded by the private sector through sales of bonds, not by the taxpayer, as in Hungary. University Alliance, representing 22 universities including Oxford Brookes, Bournemouth, Plymouth and Nottingham Trent, said that companies should, in return, charge students higher interest on loans. Typical interest rates might rise to 4.5 or 5 per cent, from their current rate pegged to inflation. Students would not face higher monthly repayme…
…UCAS data release 8 February 2010). Steve Smith, President of Universities UK has commented: “Last year about 160,000 students who applied didn’t end up going to university. This year, we already know that there are about another 75,000 applying for university. So… there will be a lot of students this year who do not get a place at university.” University Alliance represents 22 universities at the heart of the sector. There have been significant i…
…and are actively business-focussed. These universities educate 26% of all UK students and offer a research-informed, academic learning environment and a culture of entrepreneurialism, equipping graduates for the 21st century. This response follows discussion amongst our Pro Vice-Chancellors with responsibility for teaching, learning and quality at a University Alliance Quality Seminar held on 18 February 2010. Our response highlights the key issu…
…y Alliance, Libby Aston, said: “Future policy on research concentration has seemed a little uncertain since RAE 2008 results demonstrated that peaks of world-leading research excellence were distributed more widely than had been anticipated. The evidence, however, remains very clear: selectivity not concentration has driven excellence in UK research; excellence is not determined by volume alone; and it is the peaks of world-leading research excell…
…ived 32 per cent of QR funding (and 25 around 75 per cent). Selectivity can, however, be taken too far. HEFCE’s ‘Fundamental Review of Research Policy and Funding’ concluded that “a major increase in selectivity could reduce the number of research-led institutions to a level that would be inconsistent with the general health of the UK research base, in terms of both its economic and its social contribution…leading to complacency and ossification.”…
…-rate subsidy and those loans that weren’t repaid. If a loan is repaid over, say, 15 years, the subsidy alone is more than 20 per cent. The period of subsidy will be longer now because fewer graduates will find well paid jobs this summer. But if it bought out loans with a discount, the Government would avoid the subsidy – and generate cash now, which is its prime concern. It might be argued that some graduates would repay their loans without disco…