Today’s Education in the media blog focuses on a report today from Universities UK about the benefits to the economy of more people going to university.
Increasing University Attendance
Today, Monday 6 August, Universities UK (UUK) has released a report on ‘Solving Future Skills Challenges’, which looks at the need for more people to go to university.
The report indicates that educating more people at university could bring significant benefits to the economy, and prevent a future skills deficit. Graduates provide employers with the skills they need for the future economy, as well as being able to develop rewarding and highly skilled careers.
This report has been covered by the Independent, Guardian, I, BBC Radio 4 Today Programme and the Daily Telegraph.
As part of our reforms to higher education, we are making it easier for anyone to access university and we have taken a number of steps to support full-time and part-time students. We now offer maintenance loans to part time students, and we have raised the repayment threshold on student loans to £25,000, to put more money in graduates’ pockets. Our independent review of Post 18 Education will also look at how we can further increase opportunities for people of all backgrounds.
A Department for Education spokesperson said:
We want all young people to go as far as their talents take them, and are pleased to see that disadvantaged 18 year olds are 50% were more likely to enter full-time university in 2017 compared with 2009.
From next year, universities are working with the Office for Students – backed by £860m funding - to improve wider access for all students. We’ve also increased the maximum grants and loans by over 3% for the 2018/19 academic year, and disadvantaged students starting their courses this year will have access to the largest ever amounts of cash-in-hand support for their living costs.
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