Released on October 20, the new Education and Skills white paper detailed government plans to increase university tuition fees in line with inflation. Maintenance loans will also increase in line with inflation, with more money going to students from poorer backgrounds.
Meanwhile, despite fees increasing in line with inflation for the first time last year, universities are still underpaying their staff. As such, unions are balloting support staff on potential strike action after a below-inflation pay rise from higher-ed bosses.
Education minister’s white paper
The government announced its new white paper with the rather presumptuous headline “Universities to deliver better outcomes in exchange for full fees”. The Department for Education (DfE) claims that its shakeup of higher education will:
break down barriers to opportunity, hold universities to account, and put the post-16 education system on a firmer financial footing
Regarding the new plans, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said:
Young people from all backgrounds feel they have been let down by a system that talks about opportunity but too often fails to deliver it.
This government and this white paper will change that – restoring the prestige of higher and further education so every person, in every part of our country, has the chance to get on.
Universities charge significant fees for their courses. If they are going to charge the maximum, it is right that they deliver the world-class education students expect.
These reforms will ensure value for money, higher standards across our universities and colleges and a renewed focus on the skills our economy needs.
OK, so what exactly is changing? The big plan boils down to three basic components: have students borrow more money. Then, allow universities to charge more money. Finally, measure the universities constantly to find out what they’re doing with the money and punish them if they underperform. What could possibly go wrong?
Debt goes up, fees go up
The DfE is claiming that increasing the maintenance loan in line with forecast inflation every year will help students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Now, sure, making sure that the student loan is worth the same amount in real terms every year is probably a good thing. That’s useful if you don’t have money from other sources to fall back on.
However, if the cost of tuition also rises in line with inflation, and the cost of things like food is rising well ahead of inflation, then we have a problem. It seems a lot like students are being lined up to take on more debt whilst their money is still worth less than it was last year, or the year before that.
As an additional boost to the most disadvantaged students, the DfE is also proposing to re-introduce means-tested maintenance grants. Phillipson first announced these plans a few weeks back, causing outrage with the idea of funding the grants by placing a levy on international student fees.
Over the next two academic years, universities will be allowed to raise their tuition fees in line with forecast inflation. After that, the government plans to bring in new legislation “when parliamentary time allows” to allow automatic inflation-linked increases on fee caps.
Education: All hail the glorious new key performance indicators
However, there’s a catch. Only unis that meet the Office for Students’ (OfS) “tough new quality thresholds” will be allowed to raise their fees.
Where standards fall short, the Office for Students “will act quickly to stop the expansion of low-quality courses.” The punishment for underperforming could be financial or regulatory, which the government believes will ensure that “public money is spent only on courses that deliver for students and the economy.”
Ok, so we’re going to punish universities that underperform by giving them less money. And that ‘underperformance’ will be dictated by the demands of the economy. If that raises alarm bells for you, don’t worry — you’re not the only one.
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea, seemed cautiously optimistic. She welcomed the increase in income for universities, but warned that the government actually needs to provide funding itself, too:
Universities across the UK are in a terrible state financially.
Increasing fees in line with inflation will help many weather the immediate crisis. The beginnings of a long-term plan will be welcomed by dozens of institutions too.
But these sums are nowhere near enough to secure the future of higher education.
Ministers need to overhaul the funding of universities in a way that recognises their value to students, communities and the wider economy.
It’s also vital to ensure education remains affordable so no one is discouraged from studying because of the cost.
On the other hand, University and College Union (UCU) general secretary Jo Grady was more critical. She pointed out that Labour’s ‘new’ proposal looks a lot like the reason unis are in this mess in the first place:
This white paper presented a massive opportunity to properly invest in our great universities, which contribute £265 billion to the economy. Labour has instead double downed on the disastrous tuition-fees funding model, which created the crisis the sector is currently facing. […]
Turning every campus interaction into a metric to be ranked in a ‘league table’ will not improve student learning and punishing institutions deemed to need improvement will harm the very students the government claims to be trying to help. If it is serious about improving teaching quality it should help resolve the current dispute over low pay, vicious job cuts and the poor working conditions, and the impact this has on students’ learning experience.
Strike ballot
Like Unison, Grady echoed the call for greater government funding. She linked it directly to the looming threat of strike action across the higher education sector:
Higher education desperately needs proper public funding alongside a managed system of student distribution. The government’s failure to get a grip on the crisis afflicting the sector, and the devastating impact on jobs and course closures, is one of the reasons we are currently balloting over 65,000 staff for strike action across UK campuses.
UCU analysis recently revealed that UK unis have planned cuts equivalent to 15,000 jobs in the last year alone. The union is currently balloting members after HE bosses offered a pathetic 1.4% pay increase.
Meanwhile, other HE-related unions like Unite and the Educational Institute of Scotland are also asking for members’ responses on the same issue. Unison is balloting support staff at over 100 universities across the UK on potential strike action for the same reason.
Unison tends to represent professional services staff at universities. That includes administrators, technicians, librarians, student support teams and cleaners. Voting began on Monday, and will close on Friday 28 November. General secretary Christina McAnea said:
University staff are the backbone of campus life, keeping institutions running.
This latest offer is another blow to employees who’ve endured years of effective wage cuts and persistent low pay.
Workers deserve a fair deal, one that recognises their vital contribution to students and the wider university sector.
It’s time university employers showed they value their staff by coming back with a serious offer.
More than 90% of participating Unison members chose to reject the 1.4% offer from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association. It boils down to a real-terms wage cut, following years of university staff watching their wages fail to match inflation.
This isn’t working
Last year saw university tuition fees rise in line with inflation for the first time since 2017. However, as the 1.4% offer — and the ensuing threat of UK-wide HE strikes — has shown, that categorically didn’t translate to adequate pay for the staff who actually keep the universities running.
Labour must realise that the government has to do more for universities than sanctioning them when they fail. They’re allowing HE institutions to saddle students with ever-increasing debt, whilst also underpaying staff even whilst they’re expected to increase the quality of their output.
Repeating the same mistakes of the last decade and insisting it’s a new plan for growth simply isn’t the answer. You don’t need a degree to see that — which is fortunate, because it doesn’t look like the staff will be around to teach it.
Featured image via the Canary
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