BU Research Blog

Saturday

Increasing marketisation of HE

In the weekend before clearing, there was coverage over what appears to be increased competition between universities to attract students and the methods they are employing. 

·         Universities lure best students with cash prizes, (FT)

·         Universities spend to entice more students (Guardian)

Sunday

Student applications

The Sutton Trust has published a study showing that more than 4-in-10 state school teachers ‘rarely or never’ advise academically-gifted children to apply for Oxford or Cambridge places. The charity is planning to stage a series of summer schools for teachers. Meanwhile universities will accept applicants ‘with rock-bottom’ A-level grades as the government relaxes the cap on student numbers, internal documents obtained by the Sunday Times (from three universities) have warned – only Exeter University is named in the piece as one of those universities. 

·         State pupils told to shun Oxbridge (Sunday Telegraph)

·         Universities will accept ‘anyone’ to fill extra places (Sunday Times)

Monday

Value/cost of degrees

Daily Mail ran a piece on how firms like PwC, KPMG, GSK and the National Grid are taking on more school leavers this year and ‘tempting them away from universities with training salaries of more than £30,000’.  Meanwhile the Independent featured a survey of more than 2000 students by Endsleigh which revealed 13% had a full-time job – either in the holidays, term time or both. 59% at working part-time to see them through their studies. 

·         Firms offer teens £30k jobs to poach them from university courses: Companies receiving up to 100 applications for every post as school leavers shun £9,000-a-year courses (Daily Mail)

·         One in seven students have full-time jobs during degree course (Independent)

Tuesday

Student satisfaction

The National Student Survey was published today. Coverage mostly focused on how undergraduates show a higher degree of satisfaction.Students are most satisfied with teaching, least happy with assessment and feedback.

·         Undergraduates show a higher degree of satisfaction, (The Times) 

·         Quarter of students at low-ranking universities ‘not satisfied‘ (Daily Telegraph)

·         Open University ‘top for students’ in Northern Ireland (BBC News)

·         Is the National Student Survey fit for purpose? (Guardian Higher Education Network)

·         National Student Survey shows record levels of satisfaction (THE)

·         Current students are much more worried by university life than older graduates, survey finds (The Independent)

Wednesday

Access to universities

Teenagers from wealthy backgrounds are still around 10 times more likely to get into top universities than those from poorer homes.

Will Hutton, who chairs the Independent Commission on Fees, said the findings showed “serious gaps in access to university remain”. The commission was set up by education charity the Sutton Trust to monitor the impact of increased university fees. In addition to Mr Hutton, principal of Hertford College, Oxford, its members include Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, and Libby Purves, the writer and radio broadcaster. THE focused more on how the commission revealed support from the public for cheaper fees for poorer students and the Guardian wrote that raising of tuition fees to £9,000 has not put off students from disadvantaged backgrounds from applying to university – although the gap in applications between those from wealthy and poor backgrounds remains wide. 

·         Wealthiest students still dominate top universities (Independent)

·         ‘Wealthy students should pay higher university fees’ (Telegraph)

·         Higher university fees not discouraging applications from the poorest students (Guardian)

·         Rich teenagers still dominate top universities (Independent)

·         Cut fees for the poorest, public says (THE)

Thursday

A-Level Results Day

UCAS figures showed that more students were accepted than ever before – 396,990 – anincrease of 3%. That said, the grades that students received had fallen overall with the number of those receiving grades at C or above falling by around 0.5%, despite an increase in A*s.

·         Record numbers get into university but pass rate falls (Guardian)

·         A-level grades edge down, as university places rise (BBC)

Friday

A-Level Results

A record number of disadvantaged teenagers will be heading to university this year due to the relaxing of student number controls.

·         Exams end class divide as record number take up university place (The Times)