Chief Executive of Universities UK responds to government 'crackdown on rip-off university degrees'

The UK’s universities are something we can genuinely be proud of. They work hard to maintain their reputation for quality. The government is wrong to talk them down.

We support appropriate and targeted regulation so that students can be confident about the long-term value of their degrees. The university sector in England is regulated by the Office for Students, which already has the power to impose recruitment limits where courses breach expected performance. However, it is important to reiterate that the vast majority of university courses perform well above these expectations, and this regulation should be targeted and proportionate.

In the very large majority of cases, going to university is hugely beneficial – both to individual students and to the country as a whole. Overall, those who attend university are over £100,000 better off across their lifetime – even after taxes and student loan repayments are taken into account. Going to university decreases the gap between the most and least advantaged students. The country also benefits from its graduates, with DfE research showing that skills and labour –driven by an increasing share of graduates in the market – have been the only factor making a consistent contribution to productivity growth in the UK in recent years. 

It is worth remembering that there are 2.8 million students and 30,000 courses on offer, and so while it is very important that there are checks and balances in place to maintain the high-quality education on which the UK prides itself, politicians should avoid broadbrush statements.

Prospective students can find out about courses they are interested in via Discover Uni, which gives information about student satisfaction rates, how many students complete a course, average graduate earnings and graduate perceptions.

We need a broad understanding of what we mean by value in higher education. Fulfilment, flexibility, and resilience against economic turbulence should also be factored in. Measures of quality and value should certainly not be based on income data alone.

Government should take care that political rhetoric does not damage individual life chances by putting students off going to university who would otherwise benefit. That would not be in the interests of most students, or the economic prospects of the country as a whole.