@EducationGovUk are seeking views on proposals to improve outcomes, access and value for money of investment in higher education by students and taxpayers.

This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 6 May 2022

DfE would like your views on proposals for higher education reform in the following areas:

• student number controls
• minimum eligibility requirements
• foundation years
• eligibility for a state scholarship
• growing high-quality level 4 and 5

The consultation document also sets out:

• how DfE are investing in higher education to prioritise provision that results in better outcomes for students, the economy and society
• how DfE plan to tackle the rising cost of the system to taxpayers, while reducing debt levels for students and graduates

Higher education policy statement and reform

Ref: ISBN 978-1-5286-3199-0, CP 617

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Why your views matter

Foreword from the Secretary of State and Minister of State for Higher and Further Education

Our university sector is a great British success story.

This country is home to world-leading universities, with numerous powerhouses of innovation and research. How many vaccines are named after a university? Only one.

Countless bright young minds are moulded in our lecture halls, and the soft power we enjoy across the world as a result is enormous.

Our universities are also an integral part of the continued economic, technological, and cultural successes that underpin this country. Over 300,000 students graduate with first degrees every year.

Our universities attract students from all over the world, and we should be proud that four of our great institutions are ranked in the global top ten list.

But the system is far from perfect.

This is a government that is willing to take on the big questions and deliver solutions to them. And there are important questions around higher education that remain unresolved.

As Ministers at the Department for Education, we have a duty to answer them.

The Review of Post-18 Education and Funding was launched in 2018, and in 2019 Sir Philip Augar’s independent panel reported to the Review a number of thoughtful and important recommendations for both higher education (HE) and further education (FE) in England. In recent years, the government has made great strides in reforming our country’s apprenticeships and skills models, and we are now building a HE sector fit for the future.

We are pleased today to be able to say that as the next step in this ongoing journey, we have brought this Review to its long-awaited conclusion.

This paper, together with the Skills for Jobs White Paper published in early 2021 and the Lifetime Loan Entitlement (LLE) Consultation, set out the government’s plan for Post-16 education across England, and how we are aiming to bring higher and further education into closer alignment.

Put simply, we need a fairer and more sustainable system for students and institutions, and of course the taxpayer.

We need a system that will maintain our world-class universities not just for today, but for the decades to come.

Student loan reform

And we need a fairer deal for students, who rightly feel it is unfair that they are borrowing money at interest rates well above inflation, meaning that for some, their debt goes up in real terms every year even as they are paying it back. Less than a quarter of students starting their course in 2023 are expected to repay their loans in full.

Without action now, the student loan book will be at half a trillion pounds by 2043. Taxpayers – most of whom have not been to university themselves – are funding 44 pence of every pound of student loans issued to full-time undergraduates.

Our reforms will abolish interest rates above inflation for new students throughout the entire period of the loan – meaning that under those terms no student will pay back more than they borrow in real terms. We are extending the freeze to maximum tuition fees so that they remain at £9,250 until 2025. In combination, the reduction in interest rates and the ongoing fee freeze mean a borrower entering a three-year course in academic year 2023/24 could see their debt reduced by up to £6,500 at the point at which they become eligible to repay. When the total seven-year fee freeze is taken into account, this totals up to £11,500 less debt at the point at which they become eligible to repay. And we are reducing the taxpayer subsidy significantly. In future, taxpayers will fund less than 20 pence in the pound of the new loans issued each year, and more than half of students will repay their loan in full.

We are delivering on our manifesto commitment to look at the interest rates on loan repayments and proposing a way to more fairly share the burden of student loans between taxpayers and graduates.

Investing almost £900M in higher education

Alongside this, we are investing almost £900 million in our fantastic higher education system over the next three years.

This includes £750 million to be invested in high-quality teaching and facilities including in science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. Through this funding, we will drive up provision that this country needs to build back better after the pandemic.

High quality in higher education

We are also consulting on steps to ensure that every student can have confidence that they are on a high-quality course that will lead to good outcomes. These build on the significant regulatory reform we are taking forward with the OfS to drive up quality and standards, and tackle pockets of low-quality provision, setting expectations on completion rates and progression to graduate jobs or further study, and taking action where provision does not meet these expectations. These are key priorities which we recognise the importance of taking forward.

National scholarship scheme and reduced fees for foundation years

These are combined with proposals to reduce the fees and loan limits for foundation years, to make them more affordable for those who would benefit from another chance to access high-quality higher education and a flagship new national scholarship scheme to support our highest achieving young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve their dreams, whether that it is at university, in further education or on an apprenticeship. We are clear that access to higher education should be based on a student’s attainment and their ability to succeed, rather than their background.

Higher Technical Qualifications

Higher technical skills are vital to meeting the needs of the economy now and in the future. As a result, and as a pathway to the LLE, we are rolling out Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs). These are level 4 and 5 qualifications approved as providing the knowledge, skills and behaviours that employers need. HTQs are approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, drawing on the advice of their employer panels, and use the same framework of employer-led standards which underpin higher apprenticeships. They will be offered by further education colleges, universities, independent providers, and Institutes of Technology.

We are also addressing financial barriers for learners and moving towards the flexibility envisaged by the LLE by putting the student finance package for HTQs on a par with degrees, from academic year 2023/24. This means extending student finance access for HTQs and allowing learners studying HTQs part-time to access maintenance loans, as they can with degrees. This will help to bring together FE and HE in line with the Independent Panel’s recommendations.

These reforms are designed to set the sector up for success in the years to come.

Looking forward, we are confident that these reforms are fit for a dynamic economy and will ensure that the student finance system is made fairer both for students and for the taxpayer, invest in our world-class universities and help to enable both high-quality outcomes for graduates while making sure that higher education remains accessible to all those with the desire and ability to benefit from it.