million+ comments on university access watchdog’s latest monitoring report
Commenting today (Thursday) on the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) 2007/08 access agreement monitoring report Prof. Les Ebdon CBE Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and Chair of university think-tank million+ said, “This report is very revealing and confirms yet again the postcode lottery that students face in bursary payouts. Universities which are the best at recruiting the most disadvantaged students spend more overall but on average can offer their students less in bursaries.
“It is surprising that the director of OFFA has come out so strongly against proposals to introduce a national bursary scheme. The draft terms of reference for the fees commission suggested that OFFA would be a member of the review. It has to be worrying that OFFA has already taken a position in spite of the obvious inequities of the present system.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- million+ is a leading university think-tank with 28 university members, working to solve the complex problems in higher education. www.millionplus.ac.uk
- The report from OFFA gives the outcomes of OFFA’s annual monitoring of access agreements with universities for 2007-08. The OFFA report can obtained from the OFFA press office press@offa.org.uk
- million+ advocates for a national bursaries scheme www.millionplus.ac.uk/newsarc2008/million-supports-call-for-a-national-bursary-scheme
- The draft terms of reference of the 2009 review of student funding were published by the then Secretary of State Charles Clarke in January 2004
- For more information please contact Gemma Tumelty, Public Affairs Officer on 0207 7171657 or 07900 277819.