24 May 2010
Students are the 'real losers' as places at university are cut
The university think-tank million+ has criticised the Government’s decision to cut the number of additional student places saying that students are the ‘real losers’ as thousands see their chances of attending university dashed.
Professor Les Ebdon, Chair of million+ and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire said: “It is very disappointing that the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has taken a disproportionate hit and, in particular, that the number of additional student places funded by the previous Government to meet rising demand, has been halved. The real losers are the 10,000 extra students who would have had the opportunity to go to university in September but have now been deprived of the chance of studying for a degree. The Coalition must be aware that demand for places is running at record levels and that this cut will place widening participation students, who apply later and in clearing, most at risk.”
“These places were never a free lunch for universities which had to identify efficiency savings equivalent to teaching grant for the 20,000 additional places originally allocated. The suggestion that universities could not achieve these savings is simply an excuse and the kind of micro-management of universities that the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties said they would avoid prior to the election.”
million+ has also questioned remarks by David Willetts, Minister for Higher Education and Science, who released figures to the Sunday Times showing that the number of mangers in higher education will overtake the number of professors. Pam Tatlow, Chief Executive of million+, said: “David Willetts has not understood that many universities have been appointing professors on locally determined senior management contracts rather than on academic pay scales. This means that staff are working more flexibly and on salaries determined by the university. This is just the kind of innovative practice that should be valued. It is disappointing that such a limited analysis has been used by the new Ministerial team to cut teaching funding in universities yet again.”
Ends
Notes to Editors:
1. million+ is a leading university think-tank, working to solve the complex problems in higher education www.millionplus.ac.uk
2. For more information, comment or interviews from million+ please contact Victoria Mills on 020 7717 1659 or 07900 277819