Fees no barrier to university insists minister
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The government insisted today that university participation rates had made a strong recovery, following a drop in applications after the introduction of variable tuition fees.Acceptances and applications to higher education in England are at an all time high and tuition fees are not deterring people from university, ministers insisted, as preliminary figures released today showed [...]
You may love the NHS David Cameron but I dont
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A rising new Labour star recently asked me whether agreement between the
parties was bad for politics. Did it mean that the public was robbed of
choice? Was consensus a dirty word?
On Thursday two spokesmen from the government and the Conservative party
staged a love-in at a conference sponsored by Civitas and the Smith
Institute, a right and a [...]
Technophobes lurk in FE
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An orgy of construction is taking place in FE colleges up and down the land. While some managements strive proudly for individuality of design, all make the same two boasts: their new building is green, and it is packed with computers.Few would deny that these palaces of learning are well kitted out, cyberwise. Becta, the [...]
Is a new language programme being rushed in
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The government’s new quickie courses for teaching foreigners just as much English as they require to work seems like an efficient idea. But does it really take half the time to teach someone to speak only work-related English as it does to teach them English for life in general?That’s the obvious question raised by the [...]
Cambridge fails to lure state pupils
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Britain’s leading universities are failing to become less elitist and have ’stalled’ in their attempts to recruit more state school students, Geoff Parks, director of admissions at Cambridge University, has admitted.Cambridge is launching a new offensive to recruit pupils from less privileged backgrounds. The first step, said Parks, would be to abolish the university’s separate [...]
Further speculation
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Buildings in London’s Mayfair are studded with blue plaques recording the famous people who lived in them. But there is little chance that the owners of Flemings Hotel, a smart little establishment in Piccadilly, will countenance sporting one with the legend “Further education died here”.Officially, the dozen or so men and women gathered there for [...]
Universities get down to business
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Even 10 years ago, the idea that academics from Cambridge would be offering workplace courses to ophthalmic dispensing assistants at Specsavers would have been about as likely as Lambrusco being served at high table. But universities’ involvement with business continues apace, and the government has now focused its vision on expanding higher education by inviting [...]
Rise in overseas university applicants
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Growing numbers of international students have applied to UK universities this year, according to the latest figures from the university admissions service, Ucas.This early round application stage saw a rise of 10.7% from international (non-EU) students. The greatest increases were from Bulgaria, Canada, Norway, Singapore and China.By the January 15 deadline, 430,489 people overall had [...]
Tuition fees favour the rich new study
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Teenagers from poorer families are turning their backs on a university education because of fears they will be saddled with thousands of pounds of debt, new research shows. The study on the impact of tuition fees reveals today that nearly two-thirds of pupils who decided not to seek higher education cited anxieties about money.The number [...]
NI schools to receive record funding
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Schools in Northern Ireland will get record government funding next year.The Northern Ireland assembly plans to spend a total of %26#163;1.8bn on education next year, of which the bulk - %26#163;1.05bn - will go directly to schools, an extra %26#163;20m on this year.Some %26#163;12m will go towards literacy and numeracy schemes, %26#163;25m to carry out [...]
