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Home > News and events > Press Releases > Top-up vote ignores nearly 40% of undergraduates |
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30 January 2004 Top-up fees for full-time study ignores 40%* of tax-paying part-time undergraduates who will still pay their university tuition fees up front. The Open University and Birkbeck are calling on the Government to conduct an urgent funding review of part-time higher education so that institutions such as these can continue to reach students that traditional universities miss. The recruitment of these students into higher education is crucial to the achievement of the Government's widening participation target. Part-time students account for 40%of the higher education sector in the UK. These students will be sidelined when the Government introduces top-up fees for full-time undergraduate study in 2006. For students from low-income families or less advantaged backgrounds, full-time study has always been a difficult option and after 2006, it will be even more so. For these students - and others who may have missed out on higher education the first time round - part-time study is the only available route to career or personal development. Many part-time undergraduates are in full-time jobs and have other caring or family commitments during the daytime. Their wages have to stretch beyond house, home and family - to pay for study as well. Professor David Vincent, Pro Vice Chancellor for Strategy, Planning and External Affairs of the Open University, says: "There are no benefits to Higher Education in having an impoverished part-time sector. The government needs to take a broad view of the whole sector rather than concentrate on one element to the disadvantage of others." Professor David Latchman, Master of Birkbeck, says: "It has been argued that the part-time sector can set its own upfront fees to secure the extra funding it so badly needs. However, this argument is invalid: If part-time fees were radically increased, this would make part-time higher education less accessible to those students for whom full-time study is not an option." As a result of the introduction of top-up fees by other universities,
there is a danger that part-time institutions will be unable to compete
on equal terms with traditional universities. Top-up fees will widen
the gap between the relatively high level of resourcing already available
for full-time undergraduates and the lower levels of funding for part-time
students. A recent study for HEFCE (J M Consulting Ltd 2003) indicates
that the additional costs may be up to 44% higher for recruiting and
teaching part-time students in terms of costs of administration (including
marketing), estates and pastoral support.
* Universities UK Media contacts: Birkbeck: Catherine Doherty, Media and Publicity Officer, call 020
7631 6569 or email c.doherty@bbk.ac.uk Birkbeck, University of London: As the country's leading provider of face-to-face part-time higher education, Birkbeck combines international-quality research with its special teaching mission to meet the needs of part-time students. Its undergraduate students attend classes two or three evenings a week between 6-9pm, which means they are free to take on a job during the day, pay their fees upfront, and graduate without debt. Students can stagger their course fees (currently from £858 a year) by paying in instalments as they work towards their internationally respected University of London degree. Most Birkbeck students are aged between 25 and 45, with one in four coming from an ethnic minority. 14% of undergraduates have no formal qualifications when they enrol. This mix of ages, backgrounds and occupations results in dynamic class discussions, the widening of horizons and a truly cosmopolitan London experience. 70% of Birkbeck's research is rated as being of international excellence. English, History and Spanish received the maximum five-star ranking in the Research Assessment Exercise, indicating research of international quality. Crystallography, Earth Sciences, Economics, German, History of Art, Law, Philosophy, Politics and Psychology all received a rating of five, denoting significant international importance. 91% of Birkbeck academics are active in research - the highest rate for any multi-faculty institution in London and the fifth highest in the UK. This research feeds directly into curriculum development, which means students are taught by staff at the cutting edge of their subjects. Birkbeck has been consistently awarded top marks in the Teaching Quality Reviews with Economics, English, History of Art, Molecular Biosciences, Organismal Biosciences, Politics and Psychology judged as excellent. The Open University: The Open University is the UK's largest university and a world leader in distance education. For more than 30 years, it has been at the forefront of global development in designing and delivering higher education programmes that make intelligent use of combining the latest communications technologies with traditional teaching methods. It has more than 200,000 students in more than 40 countries studying for a variety of degrees and vocational qualifications ranging from short courses to PhDs. More than 2 million people have used the OU to gain access to university study from their homes and workplaces - many of whom would have been denied access to conventional universities (the OU has no prerequisites for its undergraduate courses). But this successful mass higher education has been achieved while maintaining the same quality standards as leading conventional British universities. Independent authorities have ranked the OU in the top 5 of UK universities for teaching quality, and virtually all of its research areas have received ratings of national or international excellence. Employers also vote for the value of the university by sponsoring
nearly 30,000 students a year to do OU courses, and a quarter of Britain's
MBA students are doing their degree through the Open University Business
School.
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| Last updated: 26 January 2004 |
Maintainer: Catherine
Doherty |
