Augar Reviewed: why post-18 education in England is still broken, and how to fix it

The dominance of universities over colleges and apprenticeships must come to an end

With the new Government yet to set out their plans for funding universities, colleges and apprenticeships, a new report from education think tank EDSK finds that in the post-18 education (‘tertiary’) system in England the dominance of full-time university degrees is undermining the value and availability of other qualifications and pathways. The report – titled ‘Augar Reviewed’ – recommends that the Government cut all tertiary tuition fees to £6,000 as part of a major rethink of how students and institutions are funded.

EDSK: recommends that the Government cut all tertiary tuition fees to £6,000

The report finds strong evidence of an underlying bias towards universities in post-18 funding. Although the HE tuition fee cap of £9,250 has become a symbolic figure in the minds of politicians and policymakers, many colleges and independent providers are only allowed to charge around £6,000 for university-level courses.

Student Premium

In addition, universities and other HE providers receive £1.4 billion a year from the government for teaching larger and more expensive courses, including £300 million of ‘Student Premium’ funding to support students from underrepresented backgrounds, but colleges and apprenticeship providers receive no such funding despite also teaching costly and specialist courses as well as supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable adults. The collapse in funding for adult education from £4.6 billion in 2004 to £1.34 billion today is another stark illustration of the neglect suffered by post-18 education outside of universities. For comparison, HE funding per student has risen by around 20 per cent over this same period.

Funding and Loans

The report also finds that the funding available to students is heavily biased towards HE at the expense of other options. Students in HE can access maintenance loans of up to £13,000, whereas students on higher-level Further Education (FE) courses in colleges are not even eligible for these loans, meaning that they must pay for living and studying costs out of their own pocket. This helps explain why the number of undergraduate qualifications awarded each year is 100 times greater than the number of higher-level FE courses completed in colleges. Similarly, adults studying lower-level qualifications such as literacy or numeracy are forced to rely on bursaries of as little as £50 a month to cover books, travel and childcare.

Duplication of courses

In addition, the uncoordinated nature of post-18 education results in the duplication of courses and programmes even though this wastes precious funding. In recent years, many colleges have been forced to rationalise their provision or even merge with other institutions to deliver better value for money, yet universities have escaped the same scrutiny despite the rapid expansion of low-cost degrees over the last decade.

As a result, there are 249 Business Management degrees available at universities in and around Liverpool, 223 History degrees available in London, 116 Law degrees in Birmingham and 47 Psychology degrees in Manchester. The unrestricted growth of cheap apprenticeships has also become increasingly evident, with courses such as Business Administration growing rapidly while apprenticeships in sectors that face severe skills shortages such as Construction and Engineering have struggled to expand.

Integrated post-18 education system that puts all providers and provision on a level playing field

The EDSK report concludes that if the Government wants a more highly skilled workforce to help drive economic growth, they must follow the lead of Australia, New Zealand, Wales, Scotland and Ireland in building an integrated post-18 education system that puts all providers and provision on a level playing field. Instead of seeking to achieve this integration at a national level, the Government should instead draw on the new opportunities offered by devolution. The report includes the following recommendations:

• A new government body – the National Tertiary Education Council (NTEC) – should be created to oversee the funding and regulation of all post-18 education, replacing existing bodies such as the Office for Students (OfS).
• To reduce the financial burdens on students, tuition fees for studying at a university, college or independent provider should all be capped at £6,000 for full-time courses – a saving of almost £10,000 on the cost of a standard three-year degree.
• Student loans should be reformed so that they operate more like a ‘graduate tax’, with higher repayments from the highest-earning graduates. This will free up £2 billion for a new ‘Student Support Fund’ that is distributed to both universities and colleges to support less privileged students.
• To deliver a level playing field in post-18 funding, a new £5 billion ‘Teaching Support Fund’ will subsidise expensive courses in both universities and colleges. This Fund will be created by combining the existing £1.4 billion teaching grant from the OfS with a new £3.6 billion levy on employers who recruit graduates.
• All the main funding pots for post-18 education will be devolved to Combined Authorities so that they can allocate the funding to those universities, colleges, apprenticeship providers and other institutions that help them deliver their new ‘Local Tertiary Education Plans’. These Plans will be produced by each Combined Authority in consultation with employers to set out a roadmap to increasing the skill levels in their local area.

Tom Richmond, director of EDSK and co-author of this new report, said:

“Our post-18 education system will never reach its full potential in terms of driving economic growth and productivity if full-time university degrees continue to be placed on a pedestal above other qualifications and courses. Vital as universities are for delivering education and training, it is time to end the enduring bias towards Higher Education in the way that we fund institutions and students.

“While the political focus on the financial health of universities is understandable, the Government would be much better off using its resources to build an integrated Higher Education, Further Education and apprenticeship system so that learners of all ages and at all levels can find the right pathway for them. Devolving powers over post-18 education to Combined Authorities offers the perfect vehicle for this integration because local leaders can bring universities, colleges, apprenticeship providers and other institutions together in a collective effort to create a more skilled workforce.”