There is a faulty balance between fees and taxpayer grant. There are good reasons why the costs of higher education should be shared between the taxpayer and the beneficiary since higher education has social benefits additional to its private benefits. In addition, an over reliance on taxpayer support would be regressive given the socioeconomic mix in higher education, and also faces fiscal pressures. The proper function of student loans should be consumption smoothing, that is giving students a mechanism to access their own future earnings, not a device for redistribution (for which more powerful and better targeted interventions exist).
There is a lack of a holistic view of tertiary education. With the growing multiplicity of subjects, modes of learning and lifestyles, the problem of matching the wishes and attributes of students, education providers and employers has become much more complex.
This complexity points to a flexible system in which people can build skills in different ways, in different combinations, and at different speeds.
The dominance of short-term politics is a continuing problem and, arguably, one that is getting worse.
