Tag Archives: higher education

The Office for Students: A higher education aid or hindrance?

Late last year, Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson announced increases to university tuition fees starting in September 2025. However, this did little to quell concerns of financial sustainability in the higher education sector that has been the talk of university towns. The suspension of the Office for Students’ (OfS) ability to accept new registration applications and issue degree awarding powers has not helped to alleviate doubts over the stability and growth of the sector. These temporary changes to the OfS’ remit will though allow ministers to focus on a wider package of reforms to the body. These are set out in the OfS’ draft strategy for 2025 to 2030, which is currently out for consultation.

The draft strategy builds on priorities set out by Sir David Behan in his independent review, ‘Fit for the Future: Independent Review of the Office for Students’, which was published in July 2024. His main takeaways include a lack of engagement with students, overstretched powers, and its need to help develop financial sustainability in higher education.

Central to the OfS’ draft strategy is one of the government’s five main missions: ‘breaking down barriers to opportunity’. Equality of opportunity is an underlying theme of the strategy, and it claims to place the experience of students at the centre of higher education. There are three pillars which aim to achieve greater levels of student satisfaction: regulating higher education courses; expanding the OfS’ attention to areas that impact students’ engagement with higher education; and increasing the resilience and quality of higher education.

Although student experiences are important, there is an understanding from the OfS and stakeholders that students can’t experience all aspects of university life if their university is nearing financial collapse or bankruptcy. Financial resilience of the higher education sector is the lynch pin of high-quality provision and breaking down barriers. This is even more pertinent with the rising cost of living and students’ expectations that the fees they pay should provide them with quality experiences beyond the lecture theatre.

Despite previous uncertainty surrounding the OfS’ role in the future of higher education, the pause in its powers and the body’s focus on the consultation will allow for a reset moment.

For higher education providers, the consultation is a chance to make the case to government and the OfS about the quality of its courses and the importance of higher education to the UK’s growth ambitions. The development of a stable economic base and demonstrating how the sector can meet students’ expectations will be key for encouraging investment opportunities into the sector. Stakeholders should engage with the draft strategy to help create a clearer future for the higher education sector and increase dialogue between the OfS and providers.

Will Higher Education be left behind by Labour?

The welcoming of international students to study in the UK by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in her first two weeks of office was a change of tone, and one that was well received across the higher education sector. With Labour’s manifesto promising little in terms of concrete measures for the sector, and only a broad commitment  to create “a secure future for higher education”, this early emphasis gave some much needed hope that the funding pressures on UK universities would be addressed as a priority.

In further signs that higher education policy was a focus for the new administration,  Labour  announced a review of the UK’s international education strategy during its party conference in September. The strategy was last reviewed in 2019 and set a target to increase the total number of international students undertaking higher education in the UK to 600,000 each year. Subsequent political pressures on the then Conservative government over net migration numbers led to a pivot in approach that shifted from celebrating the contribution of those coming to study in the UK, to something that required political scrutiny.

The sector will be looking for this government to be more receptive than the previous administration to shoring up universities’ financial health and embracing and promoting the benefits they bring to the UK economy, however, recent net migration data could cause pause for thought. Home Office figures show that net migration fell by 20% in the year to June 2024. Stricter rules for international students bringing their families to the UK have been cited for the drop. With Reform UK on the Labour Party’s shoulders for the first time ever in the polls, it means Labour, like the Conservative government before it, will not be immune to calls for further crackdowns.

Away from international students, the government has confirmed tuition fees will rise after universities called for financial support. However, with Universities UK arguing that funding per student would need to rise to £12,500 to meet universities’ tuition costs, the medium to long term funding pressures for many remain. The increase in employer National Insurance Contributions has not helped matters. The sector will also be feeling disappointed that the spending envelope for the DfE at the budget, which will increase by £11.2 billion up until 2026, focused on funding uplifts for schools and early years provision.

Despite an uncertain first few months for the sector regarding Labour’s plans, the next few months will be critical for determining its fortunes. A Comprehensive Spending Review in June will set out departmental budgets for the rest of this Parliament. Having missed out at the budget, the sector will be determined to have its voice represented and a slice of the cake.

The window of opportunity at the start of 2025 will demonstrate whether the government is committed to bringing forward meaningful policy, regulatory and funding reform that will put the sector on a more sustainable footing. Higher education providers should be doubling down on outlining the positive case universities have on shaping young minds and creating financial benefits for UK plc.

GK Insights- Student visas reform

GK Point of View – The impact of student visa reforms

GK Associate Hugo Tuckett assesses the recent student visa reforms, and what they mean for the higher education sector.

With the Government continuing to struggle in the polls, Rishi Sunak has launched a full-frontal assault on the immigration system aimed at bringing numbers down and cutting into Labour’s seemingly unassailable lead. 

Following a record net migration figure of 745,000 in 2022, the Government has undertaken a series of measures to tighten the UK’s immigration system. As they are the largest group of non-EU migrants, international students have come into the firing line. 

In May 2023, the Government introduced new restrictions to student visa routes by preventing international students from bringing family members on all but post-graduate research routes, as well as banning people from switching into work routes until their studies have been completed. These measures officially came into force on 1 January 2024. 

The Government expects this to result in an estimated 140,000 fewer people arriving in the UK. However, with years of frozen domestic tuition fees and reductions to teaching grants stemming from Britain’s exit from the EU, it is unclear whether the UK will retain its attractiveness to international students, the very group who have been covering the sector’s budgetary shortfalls. 

Notably, the Government’s own impact assessment refuses to consider the effects of preventing international students from bringing dependants on all but post-graduate research routes, given the lack of available evidence to determine how many students (who bring dependants) will be dissuaded. On a more positive note, the impact assessment finds that only 2% of total students with an expired student visa would be affected by the ban on switching work routes until their studies had been completed. 

Given the distinct possibility that numbers of international students arriving in the UK drop because of the changes, financial pressure will grow on higher education providers who have made over-optimistic assumptions about future growth in international student numbers as a means of balancing the books. 

As we enter an election year in which the Conservatives will be reluctant to loosen immigration controls, the likelihood that some providers collapse under the financial strain cannot be overlooked. 

 

GK Insight: What to expect for Education policy in 2023