4th March 2011 18:33
By Blue Tutors
Oxford and Cambridge have this week expressed serious concerns over the way in which universities will be funded. In an open letter to the universities minister David Willetts, they argue that universities are being asked to ‘fly blind’ into a market based system without the information they need to do so.
They described the handling of the fee increases as ‘risky and irresponsible’, and highlighted that they did not know how the fees would affect the uptake of courses, making it impossible to plan ahead. They fear that the fees will create a much more direct link between the number of students choosing certain courses and how much money the university has for each programme.
A model where the money follows the student means that many courses will be under threat of closing. This has caused alarm in the academic community, not least because the government has failed to publish any policy on how this issue will be dealt with, and no recognition that they are in effect leaving some courses and institutions high and dry. Students and teachers alike are owed an explaination as to why some courses and institutions are not considered worthy of investment.