million+ responds to select committee report on students and universities

Responding to the Students and Universities report from the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee published today (Sunday), million+ welcomed the conclusions about mature and part-time students and the necessity of a national bursary scheme but rejected the critique of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and the proposals to change it. million+ also warned against shipping educational models over from the United States and expecting them to fit and meet the needs of universities, students and society in the UK.

Pam Tatlow Chief Executive of university think-tank million+ said, “The conclusions reached by the committee regarding part-time and mature students’ access to student support are well-documented and these must be addressed in the forthcoming fees review. It is encouraging that Lord Mandelson has already put on record that these issues are likely to be included in the terms of reference for the review.

“million+ rejects the idea that the QAA is not sufficiently independent and does not uphold standards in UK universities. International comparisons would suggest that the QAA is a very robust system with a strong element of student input. Indeed, the UK model has influenced parallel developments worldwide.

“It is disappointing that the committee thought that the American community college model, the “two-plus-two route,” would be appropriate for the UK, bearing in mind what the majority of UK universities already do to ensure access and routes of progression from further to higher education. The committee took no direct evidence from UK university representatives about how this may work in practice and simply transferring models of education across the Atlantic is unlikely to be a recipe for success, widening participation or indeed excellence.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

million+ is a leading university think-tank, working to solve the complex problems in higher education. www.millionplus.ac.uk

The IUSS select committee report can be obtained from the committee clerk iuscomm@parliament.uk

For more information please contact Pam Tatlow Chief Executive on pamtatlow@millionplus.ac.uk or 07795 645241