AUGARS HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM

Here we have the government’s response to the Phillip Augar review, outlining the Minimum Eligibility Requirements and Lifelong Loan Entitlement.

The Government has responded to the Augar review / post 18 Education review. The Department for Education has announced a new package of measures on higher education reforms, alongside the publication of two consultations on minimum eligibility requirements and a Lifelong Loan Entitlement.

The first, Minimum Eligibility Requirements, has the aim to ensure young people are encouraged to pursue the right path for them, and receive a fair deal for their investment if they choose to go to university. This includes considering the introduction of minimum eligibility requirements, to ensure students aren’t being pushed into higher education before they are ready, and student number controls, so that poor-quality, low-cost courses which lead to poor outcomes for students, aren’t incentivised to grow uncontrollably.

The second, Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE) will set out plans to deliver the Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE) worth the equivalent of four years of post-18 education (i.e. £37,000 in today’s fees) to support students to study, train, retrain or upskill at any stage throughout their lives through flexible and modular courses. This is a seismic shift in the way post-18 education is funded and accessed, aimed at providing more options, unlocking opportunities and improving social mobility. 

The changes to student finance come alongside wider reforms to higher education – backed by nearly £900m in new investment over the next 3 years – to transform the sector, providing more routes across higher and technical education and enabling lifelong access to loans. This includes providing more funding for courses that support the NHS such as medicine, dentistry and midwifery as well as science and engineering. This is the largest increase in government funding to support students and teaching in the HE sector in over a decade.

Full article here