Education Update - News August 2008

Published: 21st August 2008

New barriers to international students?

Universities UK has criticised new rules introduced by the UK Border Agency which force international students to prove they have at least GBP 9,600 in savings and an income of GBP 535 per month for each child they may have, in addition to paying student fees upfront. The body argues it was not consulted on the measures, which could deter thousands of overseas students from studying in the UK.

Foreign students wishing to study in Britain will need to supply fingerprints under Home Office plans to clamp down on bogus students and colleges. Institutions recruiting overseas students for courses over six months will also be required to hold a licence and those failing to comply will face being blacklisted.

In another move, HEFCE has announced that it won't be contributing to the £15M / year Overseas Research Student Awards Scheme (ORSAS). Funding is to be phased out from 2009-10, when the grant will be reduced by a third, with a 50% cut the next year and no funding at all by 2011. This comes on the back of £2M/ year being axed in the form of the Commonwealth scholarships scheme and a reduction in the Chevening scholarship programme.

Credit worthy

Standard & Poor have analysed the financial health of 25 Universities in the UK and declared them largely financially sound. Most institutions are of "high, investment grade quality"; but will come to face "significant spending pressures" caused by higher wage bills and infrastructure costs. They also warned that increased global competition could cause the closure of some institutions.

Vetting research staff

Research Councils UK have set out proposals to create a new research integrity body, which would investigate allegations of misconduct by research staff. The proposal is also to create a database so that Universities can vet would-be appointments.

Colleges need an ombudsman

The NUS has been lobbying hard to create an independent adjudicator for the FE sector, mirroring the Office of the Independent Adjudicator in HE. They argue that if the education and skills bill imposes requirements on under 18's to stay on in education, they need better rights as well. Why they think they need another ombudsman and not enhance the role of the current quango is unclear. Firmer proposals will appear next month.

Mergers are sooooooo 2007 dahling.

There are now stricter rules on college mergers - something that hasn't come as too much of a surprise to some of us. Principals will have to prove that a merger will provide better value for money, increased choice, better participation rates and a high quality of education.

John Denham has decided not to give the LSC the power to control merger activity and has retained it for himself. He's explicitly said that there should be no plans to reduce the number of colleges further and he is concerned that larger colleges are not providing a better education.

Just how bad is Train to Gain?

While the budget for the free workplace training scheme will rise to a whopping £1Billion by 2010, more than a third of last year's cash went unspent. Even after splashing £8M on an ad campaign it seems that employers are still only taking up a fraction of the training on offer. Critics allege that the format is too inflexible and bureaucratic, while the content of the training leaves employers and learners cold.