Westminster Hall — The British government has shelved highly contentious plans to reform the university sector. (Monika Pa/SHUTTERSTOCK.com)
The UK government has withdrawn controversial new legislation due this spring that would have made it easier for private universities and colleges, including for-profit institutions, to be set up and award degrees.
The universities minister, David Willetts, argued the proposals would have encouraged competition and innovation, but critics, including many in the coalition government, pointed to the dismal track record of for-profit institutions in the United States as reason to believe the changes would drive up costs and lower quality.
News that the university reforms had been put on hold was welcomed by the University and College Union.
“Plans to allow private companies greater access to taxpayers’ money would have seen them getting rich at the expense of the UK taxpayer,” said Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU. “In the U.S., for-profit universities and colleges have been investigated for the mis-selling of qualifications to vulnerable students and their families. That is the last thing we needed here as students struggle to adapt to the new fees regime.”
There are currently just two private universities in England — BPP, owned by the US giant Apollo, and Buckingham — and the government had hoped that uncapping tuition fees and making it easier for newcomers to win degree-awarding powers would have expanded private provision.
Writing in the Guardian recently, the president of the National Union of Students Liam Burns warned that despite the government’s apparent retreat on its higher education bill, the Conservative-led coalition is still deeply committed to privatizing the sector.
“Many of the most damaging proposals contained in the government’s white paper can now happen under the radar, without scrutiny from either the Commons or the Lords,” Burns argued. “Take for-profit private providers, for instance. Willetts has already set this path by allowing private universities to access up to £6,000 in state-backed loans, using taxpayers’ money to cream off profits, while degrees can already be awarded by existing bodies commissioned by commercial providers.”