Welfare Reform on the Web (June 2003): Education - UK - Higher

BYE-BYE, KIPPER TIE

S. Cook

Guardian Education, April 1^st 2003, p. 10

Following a shock report from management consultants, the Open University is evolving into a teaching machine built to serve the needs of the flexible modern student.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS SET TO DROP UNIVERSITY BOYCOTT

J. Kelly

Financial Times, Apr. 30^th 2003, p. 3

Top private schools are close to dropping their boycott of Bristol University less then two months after claiming it had an unofficial quota system designed to give preference to state school applicants.

TOP UNIVERSITIES FACE FINES FOR LACK OF 'POOR' STUDENTS

J. Clare

Daily Telegraph, Apr. 9^th 2003, p. 9

Leading universities will be fined and forbidden to charge higher fees unless they recruit more working class students, Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, has announced. Oxford and Cambridge, in particular, needed to shed their upper class, Brideshead Revisited image.

(See also The Times, April 9^th 2003, p. 15; The Guardian, April 9^th 2003, p. 13)

WIDENING PARTICIPATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Department for Education and Skills

DfES Publications, 2003-06-02

Presents plans for a new Office for Fair Access (OFFA) which will lead moves to widen participation in higher education. OFFA will be an independent body supported by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Universities wishing to charge tuition fees of more that £1,100 will have to draw up an access agreement for approval by OFFA. This agreement will set out:

• the fees the institution wishes to charge (up to a maximum of £3,000);
• the courses to which the higher fees will apply;
• the outreach work the institution plans to undertake with schools to encourage applications from disadvantaged students;
• the financial support and bursaries the institution will offer such students; and
• the monitoring system the university will put in place to measure progress.