Universities warned not to use bursaries as ‘bribes’
Students need quality information not a ‘sales pitch’, says higher education watchdog
UNIVERSITIES are to face a crackdown over luring students with bursary “bribes”, the higher education watchdog has announced.
Sixth-form students need good quality information not “a sales pitch with questionable incentives”, according to the Office for Students (OFS).
In its first annual review, the regulator said it had increasing concerns about some student recruitment practices such as offering enticements to encourage people to take up a place.
The regulator is particularly worried about institutions which offer cash incentives – which they sometimes call “bursaries” or “scholarships” – for students who select them as their first choice university.
During clearing last summer, Westminster University offered up to 40 “clearing scholarships” worth £4,500 each over three years of study.
Meanwhile, Bedfordshire University’s clearing offer included £1,500 bursaries for all UK and EU students – which goes up to £2,400 for those with grades of B, B, C.
Nicola Dandridge, the OFS chief executive, said she was concerned about inducements “when it starts affecting the decisions [students] make so they end up choosing a course or university which may not be in their best interests and they may not otherwise have chosen”.
She explained: “There are concerns about the use of financial offers and inducements being made to prospective students going through the clearing process. [This is] a time when those students may be particularly vulnerable and under pressure and uncertain, and at that point - at all points, indeed - students need high-quality information, they don’t need a sale pitch with questionable incentives.”
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said that the cash incentives “for some applicants, do look and feel like a bribe”.
He added: “It’s so easy to forget that the people applying to university are often just 17. These inducements are there to change their decision making. If they were just there to be nice to students, they would give the money after the students arrive, on the basis of need.”
A Westminster University spokesman said its scholarships recognise the “rising cost of living in London as a barrier to many of our brightest students from lower socio-economic backgrounds”. Bedfordshire University declined to comment.
Ms Dandridge said that in the year ahead, OFS would also focus its attention on universities that make misleading advertising claims about their courses. The regulator intends to scour university websites and marketing material to check any claims or boasts they make are verifiable.
Ms Dandridge said: “Such marketing is clearly within the scope of consumer protection law, and we will act swiftly and decisively where we find evidence of breach.”
The OFS also announced it will launch a review of the admissions system early next year.
Chris Skidmore, the universities minister, said that there were “pockets of unacceptable poor practice” within British universities, which “harm its reputation”.