Introduction | Roger Brown, Helen Carasso | Taylor & Francis Group
The reform programme announced by the Coalition Government in November 2010 and incorporated in the subsequent (June 2011) White Paper (DBIS, 2011a) is the most radical in the history of UK higher education, and amongst the most radical anywhere. The main change is that in future most of the money universities receive for undergraduate teaching will come through the student fee, with direct state support limited to a small number of priority areas. The limit on the fee institutions can charge Home and EU students will be nearly tripled, from £3,375 in 2011-12 to £9,000 in 2012-13. There will be a partial lifting of the controls on student places to enable some more popular institutions to expand although, since overall numbers are capped, this can only be at the expense of
others. Another key proposal is for the rules for market entry to be modified to facilitate the participation of private providers, as well as to encourage more further education (FE) colleges to offer higher education at much lower cost. All of this will be underpinned by a more ‘student friendly’ quality assurance regime with much greater information about institutional provision. Instead of being seen as a public service, higher education is now viewed as something that primarily benefits private individuals.