Reform for HE and student finance Thursday, November 4, 2010 - 17:28

Despite welcoming yesterday's announcement about the reform of HE and student finance, NIACE remains concerned about how the reforms will affect demand for places, especially from disadvantaged groups and for maintaining curriculum breadth.

Alan Tuckett, Chief Executive at NIACE, said:

"Both this government and the last have moved to switch the cost funding teaching, away from general taxation and towards the individual beneficiaries. The challenge is how to do this in a way that does not exclude people on modest incomes or lead to unintended reductions in arts, humanities and social sciences."

"Giving part-time students access to loans on the same basis as full-timers is a massive step forward. It gives a more equitable deal to the four-in-ten HE students who study part-time. However, NIACE, like the Open University, would have preferred it to be available to those students 25% of the time or 30 credits rather than at least a third of the time as proposed."