Extracts from the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 directly impacting Higher Education
Yesterday Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivered the Autumn statement and Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) to the House of Commons. Today, various sectors are picking at the document analysing what it means for them. Osborne’s announcement was expected to be radical, as he continues to cut and relocate budgets to a degree which necessarily calls for the restructuring of many departments and sectors: because some departments and budgets are protected, those that are not bear the burden of austerity far more.
A lot of emphasis has been put on Osborne’s apparent ‘U-turn’ on tax credits and police funding, playing on the Conservative Party’s previous hard line approach advocated by Thatcher’s ‘The lady’s not for turning’ statement during a Conservative Party Conference speech in 1980. But the Conservative Party seemed to push forward an image of greater affinity with the working class and standing all together, advocated by the ‘one nation government’ slogan and statements such as, ‘The police protect us, and we’re going to protect the police’. The end added an even greater sense of unity, by closing with:
We were elected as a one nation government. Today we deliver the Spending Review of a one nation government: The guardians of economic security. The protectors of national security. The builders of our better future. The government; the mainstream representatives of the working people of Britain.
But that said, as always, the CSR caused a stir bringing in to question just how mainstream and ‘for the people’ the Party’s representatives are. In Osborne’s speech, Higher Education, which falls under BIS, seemed slightly overlooked, with loans getting the main attention. However the document itself reveals more about how the next 4 years will be affected.
First of all, the BIS budget will be cut by 17%, as one of the unprotected departments of Government. Some of the key points are highlighted below.
- Nurse Report recommendations to be implemented: The government will implement the recommendations and subject to legislation will introduce a new body – Research UK – to work across the Research Councils. The government will also look to integrate Innovate UK into Research UK in order to strengthen collaboration between the research and business community. Innovate UK will retain its clear business focus and separate funding stream.
- Investment in apprenticeship to double – 3m apprenticeships by 2020 (money to come from Apprenticeship levy)
- No cuts to science and research: reasserts the government’s firm commitment to the UK remaining at the forefront of world science by: protecting today’s £4.7 billion science resource funding in real terms for the rest of the Parliament. This includes a new £1.5 billion Global Challenges fund to ensure UK science takes the lead in addressing the problems faced by developing countries whilst developing our ability to deliver cutting-edge research
- The government intends to reform how funding is allocated to improve quality of education providers and tackle long standing productivity gap with our major competitors.
- For schools: provides investment of over £1.3 billion up to 2019-20 to attract new teachers into the profession, particularly into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects and to deliver the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), to raise educational standards for young people.
- The government will expand tuition fee loans to 19 to 23 year olds to provide a clear route for learners to develop high-level technical and professional skills aimed to benefit an estimated 40,000 students a year. The government will also consult on introducing maintenance loans for people who attend specialist, higher-level providers, including National Colleges.
- Universities reliance from tuition fees: the removal of the student numbers cap enables English universities to plan to recruit 130,000 more domestic and EU students, expanding the opportunity of a degree and increasing income by £1.3 billion by 2020
- International students are integral to the success of UK universities and the economy: committed to strong growth in students from outside the EU, supporting the £30 billion education exports ambition. The number of students from outside the EU at English universities is expected to rise by 55,000, worth more than £1 billion, by 2020. To ensure universities can continue to compete with the US, Australia and Canada for top international students, dependants of postgraduates on courses lasting more than a year will be welcome to come and work. Current English language requirements will be maintained.
- More disadvantaged students than ever before are entering higher education and universities’ spending on access has risen by almost 70% to £730 million since 2010. The government will work with the Director of Fair Access to ensure universities take more responsibility for widening access, including collaborating on outreach to reduce inequality in admissions.
- The government will lift the age cap on new loans to postgraduates from 2016-17: available to all those under 60. Following a sharp decline in part-time students since 2008, the government will introduce new part-time maintenance loans from 2018-19 to support the cost of living while studying. The government expects 150,000 part-time students could benefit each year by the end of the Parliament. For all STEM subjects, tuition loans will be extended to students wishing to do a second degree from 2017-18.
- In this context, the government will reduce the teaching grant by £120 million in cash terms by 2019-20, but allow funding for high cost subjects to be protected in real terms. The government will work with the Director of Fair Access to ensure universities take more responsibility for widening access and social mobility, and ask the Higher Education Funding Council for England to retarget and reduce the student opportunity fund, focusing funding on institutions with the most effective outcomes. The government will also make savings in other areas of the teaching grant.
- Widening the range of higher education providers: The government will run a £20 million competition to set up a new Institute of Coding that will train the next generation in higher level digital skills.
- The government will also take forward a review of the Research Excellence Framework in order to examine how to simplify and strengthen funding on the basis of excellence, and will set out further details shortly.