Welfare Reform on the Web (July 2000): Education - UK - Higher
BETTER UNIVERSITIES SHOULD CHARGE MARKET PRICES
L. Hodges
Independent, May 10th 2000, p. 10
Reports, proposals by David Owen that universities should be able to set fees for courses and vary the charges between subjects. The £2.43bn of government money spent on teaching would go into a bursary fund to pay for vouchers for poorer students. Wealthy students would pay full-cost tuition fees.
BLUNKETT ROUNDS ON 'SNOBBISH' UNIVERSITIES
Guardian, May 11th 2000, p. 9
Announces a raft of measures to encourage working class children for deprived areas to go to university. These include extension of bonuses paid to universities that take a high proportion of students from poor areas and provision of £1000 grants to sixth formers from deprived areas to help them aim for university. Entry standards, however, should not be lowered.
PLEA FOR US-STYLE, UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE TESTS TO END 'BIAS' AGAINST POOR
J. Carvel
Guardian, Apr. 11th 2000, p. 4
Education ministers are to investigate US-style intelligence tests to measure 16-17-year-olds' aptitude for university, after evidence that selection based on A-level results is prejudiced against candidates from poor families and state comprehensives.
SCOTTISH COLLEGES BOOM AFTER FEES ARE ABOLISHED
J. O'Leary
Times, Apr. 14th 2000, p. 8
Figures produced by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show a sharp rise in demand for university places in Scotland after the abolition of up-front tuition fees. Applications to universities throughout Britain were down 1% on last year. The most serious decline was among the over-25s, where a 5% drop in applications continued a trend begun after the introduction of tuition fees in 1997.
SCRAP UNIVERSITY DEGREE SYSTEM
B. Russell
Independent, May 18th 2000, p. 5
J. Randall, the chief executive of the Quality Assurance Agency for higher education has proposed the abolition of the present degree classification system in favour of "school reports" detailing their course marks and activities while at university.
(See also Times, May 18th 2000, p. 4)
TUP UNIVERSITIES IN INNER CITY DRIVE
W. Woodward
Guardian, May 10th 2000, p. 9
Announces government plans for elite universities to be "twinned" with inner city schools in a drive to increase their intake of students from poorer families.
(See also Times, May 11th 2000, p. 12)
UNIVERSITIES ARE ATTACHED OVER BIAS IN FAVOUR OF POOR
B. Russell
Independent, May 5th 2000, p. 10
Reports debate on whether universities are using positive discrimination to accept students from deprived backgrounds while rejecting more affluent applicants with good A levels. Universities are paid bonuses for taking on students form working class areas and some also operate "discount" schemes, making lower offers to sixth formers from schools in deprived areas.
(See also Times, May 5th 2000, p. 12)