Steps to Postgraduate Study’ is a new website providing information for students who are making decisions about postgraduate taught (PGT) study. In 2013, HEFCE published research into prospective postgraduate student information needs on behalf of the UK funding bodies. We found that the information students needed was available but scattered in various places, and that an independent resource bringing it together in one location would be welcome. Read More.

Throughout much of human history hereditary privilege was often used as a means of organising society (for example, politically, economically and socially) and allocating resources. Hereditary privilege was not determined by one’s talents or skills or motivation or any other self-determining factor but rather by the class, gender and race one was born into. In other words, throughout much of human history, one’s status within society and one’s lot in life, to a large degree, was determined pr...

This is the final report of the Independent Commission on Fees, which was created in 2011 to analyse the effect of increased tuition fees on students. The report finds that, while the number of students applying to university has not been significantly affected by the new fee regime, certain groups within the system, including part-time and mature students, have been adversely affected. There is also a continuing and concerning gap between the recruitment of students from less advantaged and mor...

The past few years have been a time of fast-paced change in higher education in England. Shifts in some areas have been more pronounced than in others. This report is an update to our publication ‘Higher education in England 2014: Key facts’. It provides an overview of the shifts and trends we identified as key issues in last year’s report, building a picture of higher education (HE) in England in 2015. Read More.

Record levels of people from lower-income families are now entering higher education. Similarly, the numbers of students with disabilities, and from black or ethnic minority groups, are continuing to increase. However, these groups still underachieve in terms of degree results, progression into further study and graduate-level employment. Read More

England's schools face "disruption" after ministers changed their minds about which GCSEs will count in school league tables, says the heads' union ASCL. Ministers are phasing in new, toughened GCSEs and originally said the old ones would count in league tables during the transition to the new exams. Now old GCSEs will count for students but not for school accountability. Read More

Top English universities are being urged to apply their "research expertise" to the issue of access by youngsters from poorer homes. The Office of Fair Access says there are "stubborn gaps" in participation at highly-selective universities. But director Prof Les Ebdon said these universities were full of capable people who excelled at problem solving. His comments come after universities called for the limit on tuition fees in England to be lifted. Read More

University maintenance grants for lower income students in England and Wales are to be scrapped from September 2016, Chancellor George Osborne has said. In his budget, Mr Osborne said the grants had become "unaffordable". Mr Osborne also said tuition fees could rise with inflation, above £9,000, for those institutions which offer high-quality teaching from 2017-18. Read More