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 | Universities could get cash for every poor student, says Labour | | published on : 08-26-2014 | | Category : Higher Education | | Liam Byrne, the shadow universities minister. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
Universities would receive £1,000 for every low-income student they recruit under a plan put forward by Labour intended to widen access to higher education.
Liam Byrne, the shadow universities minister, describes this as a possible option in a pamphlet on university reform published by the Social Market Foundation thinktank.
He also says that expanding the opportunity for students to take "earn while you learn" technical degrees would be a priority for Labour, and that "serious consideration" would have to be given to creating a new loan system for postgraduates.
The pamphlet, entitled Robbins Rebooted in reference to the Robbins report on university expansion in 1963, describes universities as "the power stations of the knowledge economy" and proposes various measures that could link them more effectively to schools and business, but offers no fresh thinking on one of the most controversial issues in this portfolio: the future of tuition fees.
The proposal for a £1,000 "student premium", which would be paid to universities for every student they recruit from a low-income background, was originally floated by the IPPR thinktank in a report last year.
The IPPR said that, although universities were trying to diversify their intake, recruiting students from poor families could be expensive, and that these students were more likely to drop out, which could be a further disincentive. | | Related Keywords : | | Universities Labour poor student |
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