Universities have been urged to join with colleges to make the case to government for a single tertiary system in England or “we are not going to win any more money”, at an event where a range of voices backed a reformed single model.
Sir Philip Augar, who chaired the government-commissioned review of post-18 education, chaired an event titled “Towards a Full Tertiary Funding System”, hosted by right-wing thinktank Policy Exchange in partnership with Durham University.
David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said there was an economic case for moving to such a system, because the status quo was “not delivering the skills the economy needs”.
There was also “massive unfairness” in the current system, which meant that when comparing a 19-year-old with a “good level 3 [A level and equivalents] education” entering university and a 19-year-old without level 3 qualifications entering further education, the former would receive income-contingent loan funding of up to £50,000 while the latter would receive “hardly any investment at all” and “no investment in [their] maintenance support”.
