College fees likely to rise under new plans

Last Friday, the government released its ‘green paper’ on higher education.

Promising to put students “at the heart of higher education”, the 105 page document proposes huge changes to fees and the way universities are created.

The fees for home students at the moment are capped at £9000 per year, after being hiked from £3375, in 2012. The green paper recommends that the best institutions should have uncapped fees, allowing them to increase with inflation. This would allow institutions like Imperial to bump up their prices.

The paper also proposes making universities exempt from Freedom of Information requests, that allow anyone to inquire as to how the publicly funded institution is run. If data that can answer their question has been recorded, the institution has to respond. The opposition party have dismissed the policy as a way of preventing the public from seeing how the government spends public funds, whereas the green paper says eliminating universities from FOI legislation will save them £10m a year and put them on equal footing with private companies in the industry, who do not have to answer such requests.

‘What employers want’ is mentioned 35 times

The paper also proposes a new ‘Office for Students’, which would replace the Higher Education Funding Council that distributes public funds to universities. This new body would also be in charge of ranking institutions based on student satisfaction, teaching, and something the green paper puts particular emphasis on: employability.

A ‘green paper’ is the government’s way of reviewing legislation before it becomes law. At the moment, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, that manages higher education, is asking for feedback on the paper. Professors from Warwick, Newcastle and UCL, amongst others, have signed an open letter, published in the Guardian, condemning the proposals. The group of professors are worried that this legislation would allow “market forces [to] permeate” the sector. They also dispute the relaxation of rules for private sector companies becoming universities. Comparing the new strategy to the model that “caused the financial crash”, they also report dismay at the green paper’s emphasis on what employers want, rather than the opinions of those working within higher education institutions. Indeed, the NUS reports that ‘what employers want’ is mentioned in the paper 35 times, as opposed to ‘what students want’, which is brought up 23 times.

The National Union of Students, who are affiliated with student unions across the country, but not Imperial’s, say the paper is unfortunate in that it only focuses on “entry and exit to the system”. The NUS closed a press release on the paper saying, “this is the university hunger games and the ones losing out are students and academics.”

The paper touches on the future of student unions, saying they will be subject to trade union reforms that will “improve union practices and increasy transparency”. The open letter in the Guardian expressed fear that these changes will risk unions’ “autonomy”.

Jennie Watson, Imperial union’s Deputy President (Welfare), said, “Even at this early stage I am extremely concerned about the impact the proposals will have on students, fees and the future of higher education.”

An Imperial college spokesperson said, “The College is considering the Green Paper carefully and will respond to the consultation,” adding that, “the independence of universities should be fully recognised by the Government as it develops these proposals, and decisions on the future allocation of funding to universities should remain independent of Ministers and Government departments. We look forward to discussing the key issues with Imperial College Union, and to sharing our draft response with them.”