Money raised by a proposed levy on international student fees could be used to support disadvantaged students to attend UK universities, argues a new report that says participation gaps between areas should not be allowed to rise above 10 percentage points.
Concluding its into widening participation, the UPP Foundation argued that government plans to take a 6 per cent cut of overseas earnings could result in financial packages of at least ?2,000 for the most needy students.?
Plans for a levy have been fiercely opposed by universities, which have warned that it could result in further job cuts?and?cost larger institutions ?20 million.?
However, the UPP report argues that, if introduced, the levy “would provide a twofold opportunity for the government both to ensure that international students are seen as ‘contributors’ during their time in the UK…and to redistribute their higher fees towards [Access and Participation Plan] budgets, combating the perception that international students take up spaces that domestic students should occupy”.
It says that plans for the levy – which the government has said would be “reinvested into the higher education and skills system” – were “disappointingly vague” but it was “at least plausible” that several hundred million pounds will be raised.
“In such an instance, the priority should be focusing on how this sum should be targeted at access and support for home disadvantaged students.”
According to Ucas, last year 27,000 students from the lowest economic quintile accepted a place at university. The paper argues that allocating ?300 million from the levy would be enough to fund each student “for a package of around ?4,000 a year – around the sum commonly suggested to be needed for the reintroduction of grants”.?
“Even if some of this sum was spent on encouraging such students to enter HE, and numbers increasing meant that there was less resource per student, one can imagine what a financial package (in cash or in support paid for by universities) worth even half of that (i.e. ?2,000 a year) could do,” the report adds.
Research conducted as part of the inquiry found that soaring living costs mean many students feel?there “is much less room for enjoyment”?as they increasingly see university in transactional terms.
The?report says that the current system is “failing to deliver on its promise of social mobility, leaving too many talented individuals behind and undermining confidence in the higher education sector, with all that it offers, as a pathway to opportunity”.
“These are not inevitable features of the higher education landscape. They are policy choices that can be changed with the right mission and the right focus,” it says.
Further recommendations include that the government introduce a “triple-lock” for university participation targets.
This would consist of a gap of no more than 10 percentage points between the highest and lowest regional higher education participation rates; a 50 per cent floor across all regions for progression to higher education at 18 to 19; as well as incorporating Universities UK’s target for 70 per cent of the English population to have studied at level 4 or above by the age of 25.
Employers should be given more of a say over the design and outputs of university study, it further recommends, given the ever-increasing importance placed on future careers by those considering going into higher education.
Richard Brabner, executive chair of the UPP Foundation, said the sector was facing a “new reality” amid financial challenges, to which universities must rise.?
“The UPP Foundation’s inquiry into widening participation set out to fill in the gaps around access to higher education that the government had left in its opportunity mission, and to put forward a vision for how that gap might be filled. In this final paper, we have set out a series of ambitious but achievable targets for where government and the sector can go next on widening participation,” he said.
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