Since joining the Office for Students’ (OfS) Board and Student Panel, I have often been asked about my motivations and my route to higher education. For me, it was simple. I knew I wanted to learn a skill and gain a profession; the one that suited my talents was civil engineering. I have been privileged with the opportunities of higher education and a wealth of experience at university. I am the youngest of six children and the first in my family to go to university. My parents always instilled ...

Latest data shows an increase in the number of degree students leaving higher education in, during or after their first year of study. What factors may be affecting this trend? Recent HESA performance indicator data has shown another increase in the proportion of degree students who are no longer in higher education a year after starting. The figure now stands at 7.5 per cent of UK domiciled full-time first degree entrants. This is the fourth successive year that this increase has oc...

"I feel ripped off. They do the bare minimum and I honestly don't see where my money is going." "I am in nearly £40,000 worth of debt and often wonder why I went to uni." These students, asked by the new Office for Students if university tuition fees represent good value, are among a significant majority - 62% - who say they don't think it's worth it. The OfS finds only 38% of students in England think the tuition fees for their course are good value for money. Course subject is a majo...

A university group says that the government's review of tuition fees in England should make a priority of finding ways to attract more mature and part-time students. The Million Plus group says there is a "huge pool of untapped potential" among adults who missed out on university. After fees increased in 2012, mature student numbers fell by 20%. Les Ebdon, head of the university access watchdog, backed calls to reverse this "very worrying trend". Mature students - counted as people sta...

The Office for Fair Access’s approach to research and evidence has been successful in helping universities and colleges to improve higher education access and participation by working in more effective ways, an impact review published today has found. The review, conducted by the consultancy Nursaw Associates as OFFA prepares to close at the end of this month, investigated how far OFFA’s Evidence and Effective Practice activities have met its objective to ‘support and challenge the sector to co...

Parental occupation, family income, early years education, “social capital” (ie who you know)… these are the sorts of things we traditionally look at when considering what shapes a child’s ability to do well at school and beyond. Yet, these days, there’s a new and growing influence on the life chances of children across the country: geography. Last year, two reports published by the Social Market Foundation think tank laid out the painful truth. Where someone lives can determine their s...

Degree courses are to be rated for quality, subject by subject, under a new pilot scheme which ministers say leaves universities "no place to hide". Individual subjects at different universities will be graded gold, silver or bronze by a new tool feeding in official data on teaching quality. But students will not be able to use the rankings to choose their courses until 2020, when the tool goes live. Universities say the assessment of subjects must be effective. The new system to rate tea...

Universities are failing to meet the needs of commuter students across the UK even though the number of students choosing to live at home is increasing. A study conducted by social mobility charity the Sutton Trust in February 2018 highlighted that about 55.8 per cent of students under the age of 20 attend a university less than 57 miles from home, while only one in 10 students attends a university more than 150 miles away. The report further highlighted that in 2014-15 (the first year of £9,0...

Drop-out rates among university students who give up their studies within 12 months have gone up for the third year in a row, according to official statistics. Figures released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that 26,000 students in England who began studying for their first degree in 2015 did not make it beyond the first year. Rates vary widely across the higher education sector, with almost one in five undergraduates quitting by the end of their first year at the worst ...

The University of London is to announce a fully fledged undergraduate degree course completely taught online for £5,650 per year over three years.It is aimed at encouraging more part-time, working students, following a fall in their numbers after the increase in tuition fees in England. There are plans for 3,000 students to take the computer science course. It comes as the prime minister's review of tuition fees aims to encourage more flexible and cheaper ways to study. The review follows co...