Transfer agreements between colleges and universities should be expanded to include a wide range of institutions and degree programmes, report urges. A greater policy focus on further education colleges could help to widen access to higher education in England, according to a new study. The cross-national research, by academics at Columbia University and UCL Institute of Education/Birkbeck College, assesses how England and the US could tackle disparities in higher education access and success. R...

The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) has highlighted the need for much greater progress on improving access to higher education for people from under-represented groups, in a briefing on the current biggest issues in fair access in England, published today [Thursday 10 August 2017]. Read More

This year's publication of this annual report covers the ten-year period following academic year 2006–07, and looks at a variety of areas covering students and staff at, and finances of, UK higher education institution. The report’s findings include that the total number of students in 2015–16, at around 2.3 million, is broadly the same as in 2006–07 but underlying changes have seen a shift in the student body and what is studied. There has been growth in younger and female students and those fr...

Universities minister Jo Johnson has argued, in this paper, that the university funding system is working well. After Damian Green went off script over the weekend and admitted that university funding needs reviewing, Johnson argued that the current system is both fair and effective. IFS statistics released this week, however, reveal gaping holes in this argument. Read more

University tuition fees in England have become a political battleground - with renewed calls that they should be scrapped. When they were increased a few years ago to £9,000 they became a literal battleground, with activists clashing with police on the streets around Westminster. Now they are going to rise again. But what has the impact of higher fees been? Have they cut student numbers? And are they worth the money? Read more

Guardian Letters on the topic of 'Tuition Fees': It is shameful that the poorest students will now finish university with £57,000 in debt, more than those from better-off homes. Our research has shown that graduates will be paying back their loans well into middle age, affecting their ability to go to graduate school or afford a mortgage, and decisions on having children. It is grossly unfair that someone from a council estate should pay more than someone from a top boarding school. At good A...

Rising numbers of students from more disadvantaged homes are dropping out of universities in England before completing their studies, figures show. The proportion of youngsters from disadvantaged families who do not continue after their first year has reached the highest level for five years, says the Office for Fair Access. Official data shows that in 2014-15, 8.8% of young, full-time, disadvantaged undergraduates did not continue in higher education beyond their first year - up from 8.2% t...

The creation of a new wave of grammar schools in England has been ditched from the government's plans. The Queen's Speech says the government will "look at all options" for opening new schools, but that will not include removing the current ban on expanding selection. The controversial plan to stop free lunches for all infants is also absent. This takes away the biggest source of extra funding promised for schools in the Conservative manifesto. The government, setting out its plans for the n...

Less affluent students in higher education are significantly more likely to experience problems with socialising and integrating than their peers from well-off families, says a major new study. Only 33% of the students from D and E socioeconomic groups said they were well integrated with the students they lived with, compared with 50% of students from A and B socioeconomic groups. Only 34% of the group said they had friends at university whom they socialised with at least twice a week, compar...