Students ‘pay the price’ for over-expansion of universities

‘Over-expansion has involved disadvantaged students attending weaker, over-burdened institutions’

THE “over-expansion” of universities leaves students with “heavy debts for little economic benefit”, a think tank has warned, as it suggested a grade cutoff of three Cs could shrink the sector.

Dr Lee Jones, of Queen Mary University, and Dr Philip Cunliffe, of the University of Kent, argue that UK higher education was “broken long before Covid-19” and call for “radical reform”.

Previous estimates have suggested the pandemic could cause a £2.5billion black hole in university finances, with as many as 30,000 jobs at risk.

But the Saving Britain’s Universities report, published today by political think thank Cieo, suggests the damage had already been done. “Over-expansion of the sector has predominantly involved disadvantaged students attending weaker, over-burdened institutions, where they are more likely to incur heavy debts for little economic benefit,” the academics said.

The proportion of disadvantaged students heading to university has increased from 18 per cent in 2009-10, to 26.4 per cent in 2017-18.

But they still “lag far behind the most-privileged quintile” at 57.9 per cent, up from 51.3 per cent, the report states.

It adds that: “Widening participation has predominantly involved students from non-traditional backgrounds attending lower-quality universities.

“These institutions have the least resources and highest drop-out rates, while their graduates attract substantially lower salaries and have far worse chances of getting professional jobs.”

The report proposes substantially reducing the size of the sector, merging failing universities with successful ones, pushing the creation of New Technical Colleges and potentially introducing a “cut-off point” for university grades at three Cs – which they claim could reduce the size of the sector by 20 to 30 per cent.