Excessive varsity pay deals attacked

Universities must focus on value for money and improving access for disadvantaged students while tackling the “excessive” wages of vice-chancellors, MPs have warned.

UNIVERSITIES MUST focus on value for money and improving access for disadvantaged students while tackling the “excessive” wages of vice-chancellors, MPs have warned.

A report published today by the Education Committee says there needs to be a sharper focus on graduate outcomes, the teaching of skills and supporting poorer students.

The committee has called on universities and the Government to ensure better outcomes, expand degree apprenticeships, and to crackdown on vice-chancellors’ pay.

Its chairman, Robert Halfon, said: “We know our universities are among the best in the world and global leaders in teaching and research, but to maintain standards and to deliver for students it is vital we ask the question of whether our higher education system is fit for the 21st century.

“The blunt reality is that too many universities are not providing value for money and that students are not getting good outcomes from the degrees for which so many of them rack up debt.

“Too many institutions are neither meeting our skills needs or providing the means for the disadvantaged to climb the ladder of opportunity.”

The report suggests the “unjustifiably” excessive salaries of vice-chancellors have become the norm rather than the exception. It says they do not represent value for money for students or taxpayers, and calls for the Office for Students (OfS) to take a firmer stance on senior management remuneration and not be afraid to intervene.

The committee calls on the OfS to publish criteria on acceptable levels of pay that could be linked to average staff pay, performance and other measures. In the report, MPs say they are “deeply concerned” by the fall in parttime and mature learners.

The report also states universities must offer more flexible learning, including credit transfer, work placements and a move away from the traditional threeyear undergraduate approach.

Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found the raising of tuition fees in 2012 and the introduction of maintenance loans has led to students from the poorest backgrounds accruing debts over a three-year degree of £57,000.

The Government should reinstate the means-tested system of loans and maintenance grants, the report says, and also calls for institutions to be more transparent about the earning and career prospects of graduates.

The report notes the impact of unconditional offers, and calls for the OfS to clamp down on them.

This year in England, Wales and Northern Ireland 67,915 students received an unconditional offer, up from 2,985 in 2013.

The committee also said institutions should offer degree apprenticeships to boost the economy.

Nicola Dandridge, the OfS’s chief executive, said action was already being taken to address a “number of areas highlighted in the report”.

She added: “We also require them to publish the number of staff paid more than £100,000, and ratios showing how the vicechancellor’s pay compares to that of all other employees. This goes beyond previous requirements.”

The Department for Education said reforms have seen “record rates” of disadvantaged 18-yearolds studying degrees, with more than £860m to improve access.

Too many universities are not providing value for money Robert Halfon, chairman of the House of Commons Education Committee