Cost-sharing and student support

The central argument in this book is that new ways of thinking about higher education, the new languages of its title, are needed to understand the role of universities and colleges in contemporary society and culture and the global economy

Awareness and knowledge of institutional bursaries and scholarships among the parents of higher education students In England

This report is based on a survey of Higher Education Institutions (HEI), commissioned by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), and undertaken by Professor Claire Callender of Birkbeck University of London, and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. It forms part of a larger programme of research conducted for OFFA, which aimed to explore the awareness and take-up of institutional bursaries and scholarships in England among undergraduate full-time students, their parents, and HE advisors in schools and colleges

Understanding higher education in further education colleges

This summary presents the main findings from research undertaken for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to understand the current nature of higher education (HE) in further education colleges (FECs) in England. The study was carried out between March 2011 and March 2012 by a team from the University of Sheffield and the Institute of Education, University of London. The research involved a range of qualitative and quantitative approaches, including: a review of the relevant literature; an analysis of administrative data on provision and participation; fieldwork in case-study FECs; interviews with managers in colleges and their partner higher education institutions (HEIs); a questionnaire survey of students coupled with in-class discussion groups; and interviews with employers. An overview of the design and conduct of the study is given in Chapter 1, including its aims, sources, methods and timetable. Methods of data collection and analysis are also described in relevant chapters and appendices

The impact of higher education for part-time students

This report discusses the findings of a study undertaken by Birkbeck, University of London and the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, commissioned by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills to examine the impact of higher education (HE) on the labour market experiences of graduates who studied part-time and full-time as undergraduates

The lost part-timers: The decline of part-time undergraduate higher education in England

Part-time undergraduate study has an important role both in widening participation and in developing skills. Since 2010, the number of part-time undergraduate entrants living in England attending UK universities and English further education colleges has fallen annually. By 2015, the numbers nationally had decreased by 51%, by 63% at the Open University, and by 45% at other UK universities and FE colleges. These numbers continue to fall. This report examines the reasons for this decline and especially the role of the 2012 student funding reforms

Managing the student experience in English higher education: Differing responses to market pressures

This paper reports on recent research aimed at assessing how the management of the undergraduate student experience in English higher education is changing in the light of the new tuition fee regime introduced in 2012, as well as other government policies aimed at creating market-type pressures within the higher education sector. A distinction was observed between the research-intensive universities studied – defined here as institutions where research income comprised 20 per cent or more of total turnover, with correspondingly strong positions in published research-based rankings – and universities largely dependent on income from teaching, with weaker market positions. Broadly speaking, the latter group were responding to market pressures by centralizing services, standardizing procedures, and strengthening management controls over teaching processes. The research-intensive universities tended to work within existing institutional cultures to respond to students’ needs. Organizational change here usually took the form of creating more coherent functional groupings of student services, rather than comprehensive reorganizations. It appears to us that these different responses to a changed environment point to the creation of two distinct English university types, one strongly managerial with ‘student as customer’ orientations, and a smaller group with less centralized, more collegial cultures

Managing the student experience in English higher education: differing responses to market pressures

This paper reports on recent research aimed at assessing how the management of the undergraduate student experience in English higher education is changing in the light of the new tuition fee regime introduced in 2012, as well as other government policies aimed at creating market-type pressures within the higher education sector. A distinction was observed between the research-intensive universities studied – defined here as institutions where research income comprised 20 per cent or more of total turnover, with correspondingly strong positions in published research-based rankings – and universities largely dependent on income from teaching, with weaker market positions. Broadly speaking, the latter group were responding to market pressures by centralizing services, standardizing procedures, and strengthening management controls over teaching processes. The research-intensive universities tended to work within existing institutional cultures to respond to students' needs. Organizational change here usually took the form of creating more coherent functional groupings of student services, rather than comprehensive reorganizations. It appears to us that these different responses to a changed environment point to the creation of two distinct English university types, one strongly managerial with 'student as customer' orientations, and a smaller group with less centralized, more collegial cultures

The Consequences of Income-Contingent Student Loan Debt for Graduates’ Lives in England

Faced with higher education expansion and limited public funding, governments globally have resorted to student loans to shift more costs onto graduates. However, there are growing concerns about graduates’ mounting debt, and its potentially damaging economic and societal consequences. Income-contingent loans are seen as a potential solution because of their protective features and image of fairness. Yet, research suggests that such an image is at odds with some graduates’ subjective experiences of income-contingent loan debt