Late last year, when Education Secretary Damian Hinds told universities and schools in the north-east of England that they had to “raise aspirations among all working class communities”, he was following in a venerable, if thoroughly ill-informed, tradition. Twenty years earlier his predecessor, David Blunkett, invoked a “poverty of aspirations”, later reflected in the 2003 White Paper which stated (without evidence) that “aspirations are low” among “families without a tradition of going to H...

Up to a quarter of students in England are doing degrees that will not give them sufficient earnings to justify the cost of their loans, a think tank says. The centre-right group urges ministers to cut places on those courses offering little financial return and increase those in post-18 technical education. Its study also says tax breaks of up to 50p in every pound owed should be offered to graduates repaying loans. The government is carrying out a review of post-18 education and funding...

The heads of UK universities have reacted angrily to leaked proposals they say would bar thousands of disadvantaged young people from going to university by preventing them from getting student loans. They also say that if the government goes ahead with rumoured plans to cut tuition fees, undergraduates would experience a poorer quality of education, less mental health support and a smaller choice of degree subjects. The ideas have been leaked from the prime minister’s review of post-18 educat...

The heads of UK universities have reacted angrily to leaked proposals they say would bar thousands of disadvantaged young people from going to university by preventing them from getting student loans. They also say that if the government goes ahead with rumoured plans to cut tuition fees, undergraduates would experience a poorer quality of education, less mental health support and a smaller choice of degree subjects. The ideas have been leaked from the prime minister’s review of post-18 educat...

Colleges and universities no longer required to spend set amount of tuition fee income to support disadvantaged students. Major changes to rules around what colleges and universities have to spend on widening participation are on the way. Previously, higher education institutions charging more than £6,000 for courses had to establish an access agreement with the former Office for Fair Access (Offa). Following a recent consultation, the Office for Students (OfS), the new higher educatio...

The Office for Students (OfS), the higher education regulator, has today challenged all universities to eliminate the gaps in access and student success within 20 years. Following a consultation process, the OfS has set itself ambitious targets to achieve equality of opportunity in higher education, and will now expect universities, colleges and other higher education providers to set their own individual plans and targets to work towards these during the next five years. Read More.  

Universities must do more to safeguard students’ mental health by contacting the families of those experiencing problems, Education Secretary Damian Hinds has said. Mr Hinds wrote to Professor Julia Buckingham, who chairs a Universities UK (UUK) round table on mental health, urging her to “explore the issue and identify a clear way forward”. On Tuesday UUK, which represents 137 universities in the UK, is bringing together university leaders, mental health experts and students to discuss the circ...

Widening access and participation is not enough to tackle social exclusion in the world’s universities, an international conference marking the first World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED) heard from representatives from all corners of the globe. “You also need to offer psychological support to students coming through the access route because they can struggle with many problems during their time at university,” a Latin American vice rector told the Beyond Borders conference hosted by Asto...

Some universities are recruiting students with unconditional offers during the application process, says the university admissions service Ucas. They are telling students that A-level grade requirements will be dropped completely if they put the university down as their first choice. It comes as new Ucas figures show one-third of applicants aged 18 received an unconditional offer last year. Education Secretary Damian Hinds said the proportion was "disturbing". He added: "The systematic...