University funding shake-up proposed by sacked Minister
A RADICAL shake-up of the way universities are funded has been proposed by former Education Secretary Justine Greening.
The Rotherham-born ex-Minister has suggested a new model where all graduates pay into a Higher Education Fund, similar to the way National Insurance payments fund the NHS and pensions. This would replace the current system in which students take out loans to cover the cost of their tuition fees, the majority of which total £9,000 a year.
Ms Greening has also called for the reintroduction of maintenance grants, which were replaced with loans in 2016, in a move she says would reduce the debts incurred by students from lower income families.
In an article on the ConservativeHome website, she said the Government’s recent decision to review student finance “has at least opened up the possibility of looking at what a better approach might be”.
She wrote: “Resolving this issue matters if we are to become a country where there is equality of opportunity, and it is far too important to continue to be kicked around like a political football by Westminster parties.
“Young people deserve better, and universities – often major employers in their local communities – need certainty.
“In practice, you can mend the current system, perhaps by reintroducing maintenance grants and tackling punitive interest rates, or make more fundamental changes.
“For this, ideally there needs to be a broad consensus.”
Ms Greening added that all graduates should pay for the full time period, not just the lowerearning 70-80 per cent.
She said: “That would mean that, fairly, the graduates that earn the most from having a degree would pay the most into the Higher Education Fund.
“As a higher proportion of adults in the future are likely graduates, Higher Education Fund costs could be spread more thinly across more graduates.”
Pressure has been mounting on the Conservatives to reform the way higher education is funded since the 2017 election, when Labour’s promise to scrap tuition fees was seen as a major vote-winner among the young.
In January, Ms Greening left the Cabinet after refusing to move from education to work and pensions. Theresa May’s former joint chief of staff Nick Timothy later claimed she had blocked cuts in university tuition fees.