The UK Governments Higher Education - Assignment Example

341942 - The UK government’s higher education Assignment extract: Essay Question: Q> [The UK government’s higher education] proposals have been hailed as a role model for the rest of Europe’ (Financial Times, 21 January 2004). Explain why the OECD takes this view. What implications might it have for the countries of mainland Europe? The essay will be writing base on articles I provided below, so you must read the readings I provided in order to write the essay. Essential readings: *N. Barr, ‘Higher education funding’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol. 20, No. 2, Summer 2004, pp. 264-283, downloadable from http://oxrep.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/20/2/264?ijkey=20GIFCugfcjFz&keytype=ref N. Barr, The Welfare State as Piggy Bank, OUP 2001, Chs 10-13. http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/9780199246595/toc.html OECD (2004), OECD Economic Survey of the United Kingdom: Graduate Contributions for Higher Education, Paris: OECD, downloadable from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/50/25/24834806.pdf, esp. Ch. 3. OECD (2005), OECD Economic Survey of the United Kingdom, 2005, Paris: OECD, para. 72. The following will examine higher education policy in Britain, and whether the OECD can justifiably regard it as being a role model. The evaluation will concentrate on whether the higher education policy in Britain can be used as a role model for higher education policy in other countries, especially in Europe. As part of the evaluation process the advantages and disadvantages of the higher education policy in Britain will be explored. Areas to be assessed include whether higher education policy in Britain allows a sustained expansion of student numbers that can be adequately catered for. The provision of higher education in Britain has expanded greatly since the 1980s, with both Conservative and New Labour governments taking steps to increase the number of students and university degree courses available as the primary objective of higher education policy in Britain (Coxall, Robbins, & Leach, 2003, p.311). New Labour came to power with the intention of improving standards and access to education from nursery provision all the way through to university courses. New Labour did want to change the structure of higher education provision as they regarded that as a priority area of policy to improve economic development whilst reducing poverty as well as increasing opportunities for graduates (Seldon & Kavanagh, 2005, p.269). The OECD according to the Financial Times article of 21 January 2004, regards higher education policy in Britain as being a role model for other countries in Europe due to the ways it has allowed an expansion of student numbers. The expansion of student numbers is considered to be important as it means that British industry, British commerce, and the public sector functions more effectively. For that to happen British universities need to produce an increasing number of graduates with highly specialised skills, a high standard of knowledge and attainment, as well as vocational qualifications. The problem with the expansion of student numbers by the Conservative governments between 1979 and 1997 was that the level of funding could not keep pace with that expansion. The Conservatives decided to reduce the grant available to undergraduate students and replace it with student loans to reduce the increasing costs of paying for extra students (Financial Times, 21 January 2004). The existence of student loans allow students to support themselves whilst studying at university without having to worry about repayments until after they have graduated. The arrangement of the repayment of student loans meant that the government knew that was a workable arrangement for students to expand their student loans by adding the tuition fees to them and repaying everything back after graduation. Paying tuition fees through a larger student loan allows students to complete their course without having to delay the start of their studies whilst the payment of fees was sorted out. Universities still found it difficult to fund the extra student places, which led to the New Labour government introducing tuition fees. Tuition fees were designed to raise the level of funding available to universities that could charge their students for going on their courses. The level of tuition fees could be varied to take into account parental income, the popularity of each course and university, and how much each course cost to operate on average for each individual student that joined that particular course. The use of tuition fees can potentially reward the most popular or the most successful universities with higher levels of funding. The system adopted does not punish universities for being more popular than other universities by giving them lower levels of funding, instead income increases the more popular a university becomes (Financial Times, 21 January 2004). As the Financial Times article suggests the OECD have been impressed with higher education policy in Britain as the expansion in student numbers does not appear to have reduced the quality of teaching and learning at the universities in Britain, which has been maintained. British universities had generally enjoyed an excellent reputation for their academic excellence, although governments had become concerned that entry into universities had been too restrictive. Restricting the number of people that entered degree courses at British universities was regarded as being counter- productive for economic development and prospects of sustainable long-term economic growth. The quality of teaching provided by British universities could have declined rather than improve if the amount of university funding had been reduced in real terms (Financial Times, 21 January 2004). Another reason that the OECD considers that higher education policy in Britain is a role model for the rest of Europe is because of the way in which the introduction of tuition fees has been amended to ensure that the universities were suitably funded. Those adjustments were made to avoid burdening students and their families with too much debt after they have successfully completed their courses. The fear of high levels of debt is seen as a reason for people not going to university in the first place or having to terminate their course before they have successfully completed them as they cannot mange to live on a student loan by its self. The New Labour government has not only used tuition fees to fund extra student places at university. For instance it has made bursaries available for people that are studying courses that will help improve public sector performance by recruiting graduates into teaching, nursing, and medicine amongst other examples. The public sector has to compete with the private sector to recruit the best- qualified graduates which means that graduates in certain subjects can receive attractive not to mention lucrative offers for entering such careers rather than finding employment within the private sector (Financial Times, 21 January 2004). A further reason for the OECD for considering higher education policy in Britain can be regarded as a role model for other countries in Europe is because of the way that the British policy means that the amount of money spent in real terms on university education has changed. The British higher education policy actually increases universities’ income to such an extent so as to allow more effective degree course provision. The changes in higher education policy means that the amount of money invested in British higher education has increased in comparison with other European countries even if it does not match the levels achieved in the United States or in Japan (Financial Times, 21 January 2004). The report from the OECD itself demonstrates how highly the OECD regards higher education policy in Britain. It regards the higher education policy in Britain as a role model due to being in the opinion of the OECD very cost effective in providing highly qualified graduates and maintaining high academic standards. The report argues that it is the production of a high volume of highly qualified university graduates that is the key to ensuring that Britain has a vibrant economy, with a thriving private sector able to compete on a global basis. More graduates should mean having better health, education, and welfare services that ensure that people live longer and more productive lives. University graduates are hopefully the people that will ensure the future of Britain’s economic growth, the profitability of its private sector, and the efficiency of its public sector (OECD, 2005). The OECD noted that the introduction of tuition fees has not adversely affected the number of new students in the way that the critics of tuition fees had predicted. It goes on to praise the New Labour government for having the strength to introduce tuition fees as it could have easily decided to scrap its plans in the wake of strong protests. Tuition fees have allowed universities to carry on expanding as they are guaranteed higher levels of funding, whilst many students receive help with paying their tuition fees or do not have to pay any at all. The report from the OECD noted that 43% of all students for the first academic year in which the tuition fees were charged in (2003- 2004) were actually exempt from paying those fees altogether. The percentage of students that are exempt from paying tuition fees will probably stay around that level as the incomes of parents are taken into account when the rate of tuition fees is set (OECD, 2005). The OECD continues to praise higher education policy in Britain as a role model due to it been successful in comparison to the other higher education policies pursued by other European nations. Britain has increased the number of students that graduate with degrees at a higher rate than many of the other European countries as a result of persuading more young people to apply to go to university. More people have applied to go to university as the alternative ways of building an effective career without gaining a degree have decreased, for instance there are fewer apprenticeships available. Going to university and graduating with a degree is now widely viewed as being essential to those people that wish to have successful careers, whereas before gaining a degree was only something that the wealthy or the academically highly capable ever achieved. The present system and higher education policy in Britain is further reducing the notion that ordinary people from modest backgrounds cannot go to university, now it is generally expected that they will do so, rather than being the exception to the rule. The exemption rules for the tuition fees, or the option to defer repayments after the successful completion of the degree course mean that people from the poorest backgrounds do not have to miss out upon the opportunity to go to university. That opportunity remains open to them providing they can gain the required entry qualifications (OECD, 2005). The OECD Report argues that higher education policy in Britain will be able to maintain a steady growth in student numbers and improve academic standards over a long – term period. The expansion of student numbers and improvements in academic standards should be good news for the present and future economic development of Britain compared to other European countries whose higher education policies are not as successful as Britain’s has been in recent years. The OECD argues that other European countries have not matched the expansion in funding into their universities that the British government has put into British universities. As a result other European countries have found it harder to expand the number of students that attend their universities (OECD, 2005). Barr argues that the higher education policy in Britain is certainly a role model for other European countries due to it flexibility and the ways in which it has encouraged and funded an expansion of student numbers and course places available. The Conservative and New Labour governments did not wish to continue the expansion of British university education provision without limiting the amount of public expenditure needed (Barr, 2001). Other European countries have not been able to match these increases in student numbers that Britain has achieved, whilst funding for European universities has proved to be a check or brake upon the expansion of student numbers and the number of courses available. Other European governments have found it difficult to fund comparative increases in student numbers as have been achieved in Britain during the last two decades. In some countries such as Germany it would have been difficult to achieve a similar rise in student numbers as a higher percentage of Germans have traditionally gone on to attend universities after leaving school (Barr, 2004). However, countries such as Spain have tried to achieve a similar increase in student numbers to assist their national efforts to improve levels of economic development. Reducing the cost of getting people to university would certainly help to increase student numbers, as universities would be able to adequately cater for those extra numbers of students. Improved levels of income allowing universities to plan their available courses and the number of places available more efficiently than if funding is not sufficiently catered for by the British government. Some European countries believe that they do not have the resources available to expand the number of students attending their universities. Perhaps it is a sign of their governments not being fully aware of the educational, social, and economic developments that an effective higher education policy can bring to their countries. In some cases it would be relatively less expensive for other European governments to expand their provision of university education as it would be cheaper than in Britain due to the cost of living being lower, especially in the former communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. These countries have found that some of their most talented university graduates have emigrated to countries such as Britain, Germany, and France that have higher wage levels (Barr, 2004). Barr also contends that the provision of higher education in Britain and all other countries has become more important in recent decades, and will increase in importance due to changing economic trends linked with improving technology and the process of globalisation. In Britain, university education had traditionally been reserved for the children of the wealthy, or the very academically accomplished. The number of university students did not dramatically increase after the 1960s (Barr, 2001). That was despite the availability of students grants that were intended to allow students from lower middle class and working class families the opportunities to go to university when their parents would have previously not been able to pay for their course or cover their living expenses. The reason why the number of university students has increased is because successive British governments have attempted to encourage people to go to university for their individual gain and perhaps for the economic benefit of Britain. That could especially be the case if they have completed a vocational or technical course that enhances their career prospects whilst improving Britain economic performance (Barr, 2004). There are disadvantages with the operation of higher education policy in Britain. Potential students have to consider whether the high levels of debt that will undoubtedly accumulate whilst at university will be balanced out by improved career prospects. If high debt levels are not thought to be worth the gains to career prospects and potential then people may decide to go to university at all. On the other knowing on much debt they will incur can also inspire students to work harder to get the highest grade possible. However going is not about gaining grades it is also about learning subjects that interest students and about new life experiences (Barr, 2004). Therefore it can be argued that the OECD regard the higher education policy in Britain as being a successful role model for higher education provision in other European countries. Other European countries are according to the OECD not as capable as Britain of greatly expanding the number of university students and the wide range of courses and places that are now available to those that wish to go to university. Before the introduction of student loans and the phasing out of student grants for the majority of students the universities were finding it difficult to fund the extra courses and student places that they had available and were actually in demand by potential students. Having to take out student loans and burdening themselves with having to repay those loans did not slow down the increase in student numbers as might have been expected. The New Labour government brought in the use of tuition fees as a means of boosting the funding for universities without increasing government spending at the same rate as previously. The tuition fees system appears to be a cost - effective method of increasing student numbers, qualified graduates, and allowing the universities to maintain or improve academic standards. The use of tuition fees was not as bad at increasing student debts whilst they were studying due to the number of people exempted from paying them as a consequence of low parental income. The ability to borrow tuition fees as part of the main student loan and then defer their repayments until after leaving university allows students to get on with their courses without any delays before the fees are paid. Overall it would have to be agreed that the higher education policy used in Britain does serve as a role model for the governments of other European countries. Bibliography Barr N, The Welfare State as Piggy Bank, OUP 2001 Barr N, ‘Higher education funding’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol. 20, No. 2, Summer 2004 Coxall B, Robins L & Leach R (2003) Contemporary British Politics 4th edition, Palgrave, Basingstoke Financial Times, 21 January 2004 Seldon A & Kavanagh D, (2005) The Blair Effect 2001 – 5, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Read More