Press Story

“The government is right to allow new providers into the higher education system, but it must manage the process carefully. The experience of the USA shows that allowing profit-making companies to establish universities and recruit unlimited numbers of students can end in tears.

“This policy will only be successful if it enables genuinely innovative types of higher education institution to be established – rather than helping private companies to make a quick buck.

“There is a particular need for new providers to deliver technical education and professional training in vital areas of the public sector such as teaching and social care – an area that has been ignored by some traditional universities in the past. This could even provide the means to bring back ‘polytechnics’ to the British education system”

Contact:

Sofie Jenkinson, s.jenkinson@ippr.org, 07981 023 031
Lester Holloway, l.holloway@ippr.org, 07585 772 633

Notes to Editors:

IPPR’s report ‘A critical path: the future of higher education in England’ is available here: http://www.ippr.org/files/images/media/files/publication/2013/06/critical-path-securing-future-higher-education_June2013_10847.pdf?noredirect=1

The report calls for high quality FE Colleges to be given the power to award their own degrees and use the title of ‘polytechnic’.

There have been a number of high profile problems with for-profit higher education institutions in the USA, including low graduation rates, high fees and financial mismanagement. For a detailed explanation see: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/02/the-downfall-of-for-profit-colleges/385810/