The government has outlined proposals addressing the future of higher education.
A green paper published today – Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice – will consult on proposals to:
- drive up teaching standards and give students more information through a new Teaching Excellence Framework that will encourage a greater focus on high quality teaching and graduate employment prospects
- widen participation for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and encourage providers to increase focus on supporting all students through their course and into employment or further study. A new Social Mobility Advisory Group would report to the Universities Minister with a plan to meet the Prime Minister’s ambitions to increase the proportion of disadvantaged students entering higher education and increase the number of BME students by 20% by 2020
- enable students to choose from a wider range of high-quality higher education providers by making it less bureaucratic to establish a new university through faster access to Degree Awarding Powers and University Title
- establish a new Office for Students to promote the student interest and value for money, and reduce the regulatory burden on the sector
Times Higher Education have broken down the key points that can be taken away from the green paper on this helpful page.
A consultation on the proposals in the green paper opens today and will run for 10 weeks, closing on 15 January 2016.
