Memorandum submitted by the National Postgraduate
Committee (NPC)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Higher Education offers a valuable opportunity
to develop individuals, society and the economy. Postgraduates
are best placed to ensure Higher Education provides these opportunities
and it is crucial that the funding arrangements and future of
institutions is secure to retain and develop the UK's excellence
in research and development and that the holistic support for
postgraduates facilitates such excellence.
THE NATIONAL
POSTGRADUATE COMMITTEE
OF THE
UNITED KINGDOM
The National Postgraduate Committee (NPC) represents
over 500,000 postgraduate students. It is the principal representative
body of postgraduate students in the UK. As a registered charity
(no. SC033368), our aim is to promote, in the public interest,
postgraduate education in the UK. We share best practice through
publications and meetings, respond to consultations, address conferences
and take on casework. In the furtherance of our aims, we co-operate
with other like-minded democratic student bodies, professional
associations and trades unions.
THE ROLE
OF UNIVERSITIES
OVER THE
5-10 YEARS
The National Postgraduate Committee has welcomed
the Government's recognition of research as a part of higher education
to support the knowledge based economy:
(http://www.npc.org.uk/media/postgraduatepolicyresponses/consultations2003/npc0304bdepartmentforeducationandskillsresponsetothehighereducationstrategywhitepaper).
Furthermore the NPC recognise the world class
reputation of our Higher Education and welcome its benefits to
civil society, culture, personal fulfillment and economic development
and wealth creation. The Government must continue to develop Higher
Education to enable these benefits but ensure that significant
spending comes from the public sector in recognition of the linked
role all stages of education play in the development of society
and the economy.
Postgraduate students make a significant contribution
to the research undertaken in UK universities and the UK. The
skills and knowledge developed by postgraduate students benefits
the economy and society when researchers use their skills in future
employment. The success of the Roberts Skills Agenda highlights
the value of public investment in research which enhances the
strategic capacity of those groups employing postgraduate researchers
and their wider benefit to society. Furthermore as the ageing
academic labour force retires, postgraduate researchers are able
to contribute fully to academic regeneration. Ensuring benefit
to society and the economy can be further achieved through Higher
Education thematic priorities such as SET to ensure postgraduate
programmes are fully supported and recognized as part of key education
funding priorities. Using thematic priorities and assessing research
proposals on social and cultural benefit as well as economic and
environmental benefit would emphasise that research is valued
and considered to be integral to a national research strategy.
It is evident that concentration of research
towards higher rated research units, and possibly research intensive
institutions will enable not only the ability to recruit and retain
researchers as well as research students but also to overcome
the backlog of infrastructure and lack of resources that have
accumulated over the years. However, the concentration of research
funding does concern us in that better research funding of such
research units will happen at the expense of losing research units
with significant potential in other areas.
NPC strongly feel that high research quality
does not have a bearing upon the quality of the research environment
in which research students can be appropriately trained and supported.
It could be the case that some research students will not find
large, highly rated research units supportive and suitably geared
in a way that will successfully take them as a student through
a research programme. Smaller research units, that may otherwise
not have as high a rating in their research quality, may offer
a more suitable environment to allow their students to achieve
research potential. Removal of such units may significantly reduce
the options open to prospective postgraduates, which could bear
a significant limit on widening participation in postgraduate
education. We are concerned at present as to how the current plans
to widen access at undergraduate level will extend to postgraduate
qualifications for those who wish to continue. Retaining the choice
and variety of institutions in order to make this possible is
vital, under current proposals large research units will not be
suitably geared to meet these interests.
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
In our experience it is largely the case that
taught master level degrees and of course research degrees will
require access to academic research as a support to the teaching
and the research that students will carry out. With the reduction
and possibly removal of research in some institutions we are concerned
that this will severely affect the availability of higher degrees
and in turn the choice that prospective postgraduates will have.
We envisage that there will be greater availability of higher
degrees in large research intensive institutions rather than knowledge
transfer institutions.
As mentioned in the previous section, we strongly
feel there that research quality does not bear any relation to
the quality of teaching, support and development of individual
students. Such factors are vital in developing the interests of
graduates who have progressed significantly during their undergraduate
degree. It may be that an undergraduate who has achieved well
in a knowledge transfer institution wishes to continue to research
and undertake a postgraduate qualification although the institution
may not be able to provide this. Therefore this could provide
an uncertain and uncomfortable future when moving to a larger
research intensive institution with a significantly different
environment. This could also have serious implications in terms
of extending the widening participation agenda to encourage able
students to progress towards higher degrees.
In conclusion, we acknowledge the need to enhance
education at foundation level especially although we are concerned
about the implications this could have on the future of postgraduate
education, both taught and research. We therefore urge the Government
to ensure this will not be affected to enable all graduates to
achieve as highly as possible
UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY
RESEARCH COLLABORATION
The National Postgraduate Committee welcomes
opportunities for research collaboration between universities
and industry. NPC believes that collaborative research between
the private and higher education sectors can be mutually beneficial,
but also recognises that unless institutional policy is developed
to protect students from highly directed projects, this collaboration
can be problematic.
NPC believes that institutions should ensure
policy is established prior to the commencement of research that
agrees issues such as intellectual property, timing and confidentiality
of publications, responsibilities of supervisor/s, funding, academic
freedom, and, reporting requirements to the private sector collaborator.
NPC believes that regardless of whether postgraduate students
undertake their research on a university campus, in a public research
facility or in an industrial location, all students should have
access to student support services and to their postgraduate student
association.
UNIVERSITY FUNDING
Teaching and Research
The National Postgraduate Committee recognizes
the dual importance and crucial link between Teaching and Research.
Teaching should be recognized as having equal status, prestige
and value as research.
The experience of all students, both research
and taught is affected by the quality of university research,
the quality of teaching informed by that research and the quality
of the university research infrastructure. Research funding should
continue through the research assessment exercise by using a single
system that values peer review while using limited metrics within
discipline specific modifications. A single overarching system
would prevent unfair funding distribution and allow new cross-disciplinary
research. Research funding however should not be used to prevent
cutting edge research in less favourably rated departments from
taking place. Research funding should not be directed solely at
institutions that are research intensive with funding ringfenced
to other institutions for developing or creating interdisciplinary
or inter-institutional research. Research funding, particularly
for less research intensive institutions, should not follow a
one-size-fits-all approach and recognize the mission of the institution
and its role in the research field while also protect areas where
market failure is greatest.
The National Postgraduate Committee recognizes
academic freedom and "blue skies thinking" which should
be protected and developed. Metrics based models are biased against
new researchers as departments seek to build experienced researchers
for metric output. We further feel that research funding focus
should encompass training and development of researchers to ensure
quality research is taking place and provide opportunities for
new researchers and new research. Moves to increase equal opportunities
must be maintained and any move by metrics to increase the attractiveness
of a "transfer market" must be prevented.
The National Postgraduate Committee believes
that benchmarking is positive tool and should be reflected in
research funding but that benchmarking should be a separate function
to the allocation of all research funding. Benchmarking takes
place in the public sector to assess and evaluate performance
but is rarely used as a sole determinant of funding. The opportunity
for benchmarking is for capacity building to encourage funding
as a tool alongside other criteria.
Should the cap be raised and what would the consequences
be?
The National Postgraduate Committee is opposed
to the cap on fees being raised as it would challenge access and
create a marketised Higher Education system where access is based
on the ability to pay and not on individuals merit. NPC believes
that education as a funded public service results in benefits
for society, the economy, employers and the learner. We are opposed
to increased costs being passed to the learner and the opportunity
for self and societal development to be prevented by fear of cost.
The National Postgraduate believe students should
not pay tuition fees as they prevent access to higher education
and prevent progress onto postgraduate courses. We are opposed
to any increase in undergraduate tuition fees as this will create
larger debts for undergraduates and pressure the market to raise
postgraduate and particularly Masters fees.
Debt, particularly for those students seeking
to develop themselves and wider society is unfair and will prevent
those who might benefit most from access. The demographics of
postgraduate programmes needs encouragement to attract women,
ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups; increased undergraduate
debt will deter non-traditional groups from accessing postgraduate
opportunities.
NPC believes the consequences for raising the
cap would be an increased burden on students through increasing
levels of debt and the limiting of access and progression to postgraduate
study.
Increasing Debt and its impact on postgraduate
programmes
Current levels of graduate debt are disputed
but banks and other financial service providers usually consider
the graduate debt figure above official government figures. An
example of the increasing cost is the Barclays Bank Graduate Debt
Survey which showed in 1994, the average graduate debt was £2,212.
By 2005, this had increased to £13,501.[118]
Former Education Secretary Charles Clarke estimated that students
who attend universities that charge the full top-up fees will
graduate with debts of £21,000.[119]
Current Hobsons research on 5662 current undergraduates in years
1-3 considering postgraduate study showed that 28% students had
£10,001 to £15,000 of current debt.
These debts are particularly offputting for
students who must take longer courses such as medical students
with the BMA stating in research before top-up fees were introduced
that a fifth of medical students owe more than £30,000 in
their final year.[120]
For engineering courses the EPSRC noted that the potential impact
of debt on entry into postgraduate programmes would be high due
to the impact of accumulating "undergraduate debt in engineering
which it estimates to be 20% higher than the average and substantially
higher than the arts" presumably reflecting the length of
programmes (Ackers, 2006, p.31).
Although too early to see the impact of debt
on postgraduate applications it is clear from interviews that
carrying forward debt might deter students from pursuing further
study (Ackers, 2006, p.31).
"Yes we do find it difficult to obtain applications
from high quality UK PhD students and the reason for that's fairly
obvious—if you're a bright young graduate with a first class
degree and a big overdraft the last thing you want to do is be
a student for 3 more years in a city with a high cost of living"
[HoS, EPSRC cited in Ackers, 2006, p.31]
Debt affects the demographic
The impact of increased debt will further challenge
the demographics of those able to participate in postgraduate
education as debt does not affect all members of society equally.
DfES' research shows that those students in the lowest groups
predicted average debts of £9,842 in 2004-05, compared to
£7,733 among the middle groups and £6,905 for those
from the highest.[121]
In National Postgraduate Committee commissioned research from
2006 (http://www.npc.org.uk/postgraduatefactsandissues/postgraduatepublications/marketfailureofpostgraduateeducationsurveyreport2006.pdf)
respondents from social class D were substantially more likely
to report that financial concerns had a very strong influence
on their choice of study mode. Furthermore the majority of those
not intending to study (58%) reasoned that they were unable to
afford it or it was too expensive. Almost three quarters said
planned tuition fee and 62% debt from previous study was reason
not to consider postgraduate study.
The commitment to widening participation and
promoting equality of opportunity at undergraduate may present
problems of recruitment to postgraduate programmes as high quality
students are forced to exit after their undergraduate programmes
to provide for themselves financially (Ackers, 2006, p.39). Students
from lower socio-economic groups are also more likely to seek
financial income from part-time work and this will affect those
who consider postgraduate study.
While undergraduate fees are deferred, postgraduate
fees are not and these together with student living and other
costs must be met as they arise and the burden of meeting basic
living costs will act as a deterrent for students from lower socio-economic
backgrounds.
Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds
will work longer hours than students who enjoy greater levels
of family financial support. The poorest students are far more
likely to have to work during term-time. In a UNITE/Mori survey,
51% of C2DE students compared to 35% of AB students reported they
worked during term-time. They also worked longer, on average 14.3
hours per week, compared to just 12.2 hours for AB students, and
for less money £5.94 per hour on average for C2DE students
compared to £7.21 per hour for AB students.
Research in the UK shows that students from groups
at a disadvantage tend to enrol in lower level, shorter or more
vocational courses, and closer to home. (Callender, 2003 and 2002;
M Farr "Home or Away"? 2001 quoted in Callender, 2003)
In Australia, which has a system similar to
that in England, the introduction of fees and income-contingent
loans has contributed to an increase in the proportion of young
people living in the parental home after graduation. The median
age of first homebuyers has also risen.[122]
Research on student debt has also meant that
Australians are delaying having their first child, and choosing
to have fewer children. The median age of Australian mothers at
the birth of their first child rose from 24 in 1975 to 29 in 2000.
Furthermore the indebtedness of graduates will have an impact
on their ability to make the next steps in their lives, such as
buying property and has the potential to widen the gap between
reich and poor.
Debt is a deterrent
Research conducted by UUK and the National Union
of Students shows that reluctance to take on debt, particularly
for those from poorer backgrounds is a factor affecting access
to higher education and which will impact on the ability to continue
onto postgraduate education. Universities UK (UUK) Student Debt
Project shows that the groups the Government is trying to attract
into HE are likely to be the most debt averse and the most concerned
about the costs of HE (ie low-income groups, lone parents, students
from certain minority ethnic groups),[123]
finding which were repeated in the NUS' Funding the Future research.[124]
Such limited access to Higher Education by groups
the Government is trying to attract will limit the pool of prospective
postgraduate students and will challenge the demographic of postgraduate
students and the benefit research can bring to society and the
economy.
Due to part time students, particularly at PhD
level being less likely to complete their degrees than full time
candidates and the large numbers of part-time students. There
is a need for equity to support these students. Part time study
is an option for a number of students due to caring responsibilities,
disability, dependents employment and, with a majority of students
being aged 30 or over, it is more likely that postgraduate students
will need to accommodate these competing commitments than undergraduate
students.
Internationalisation and the demographics of the
Student Body
The current demographics of postgraduate students
reflects great diversity that would be threatened by increased
levels of personal debt and unaffordability of postgraduate education.
Most entrants to all types of postgraduate course are older than
22 with more older than 30 than below the age of 25 (Sastry, 2004).
Part time students tend to be older, most being over 30, with
almost a quarter of UK doctorate registered on a part-time basis.
However the current postgraduate demographic masks the decline
in domicile students which combined with the effect of increasing
debt and increasing international students threatens the future
UK knowledge based economy.
Research student numbers have shown a slight
fall with UK domiciled entrants to research degree programmes
having fallen by 17% but being partially offset by an increase
in non-EU overseas students, whose numbers increased from a low
base of 28% between 1995-96 to 39% of doctorates awarded in 2002-03.
Although the actual numbers of doctoral awards are increasing,
the proportions that are being awarded to UK domiciled students
are similar to a decade ago. In 1994-95, 58% of full-time doctorates
and 68% of part-time doctorates were awarded to UK domiciled students,
in 2002-03 59% full-time and 72% part-time doctorates were obtained
by UK domiciled students (HESA Student Records, 2002-03).
The declining recruitment pool of "home
grown" researchers is mitigated by this ability to recruit
researchers from abroad. In many fields international researchers
now constitute the majority of contract research staff and doctoral
candidates (Sastry, 2004, p.6).
International students make a valuable contribution
to the internationalisation of the postgraduate community with
some 36% of postgraduate research students in the UK being international
students (Universities UK, 2005). However increasing overseas
recruitment is seen as a means of increasing income generation
for institutions through fees and explains low levels of recruitment
of postgraduates from the EU and accession countries.
Overseas students are also highly concentrated
in full time taught masters courses—a segment which they
increasingly dominate. Almost half (48%) of full-time taught masters
students are from countries outside the EU, rising to 63% if full-time
taught masters students from other EU countries are included.
This reflects the extent to which overseas postgraduates are concentrated
in full-time taught masters study: 68% of all overseas postgraduates
are studying full time for taught masters qualifications (the
figure for UK students is 18%).
To ensure that postgraduate programmes are attractive
there needs to be selective enhancement with an awareness that
pay as a dimension shapes the relative attractiveness of academic
research careers and would encourage researchers to progress and
remain within the UK academic sector.
CONCLUSION
The continued funding of Higher Education is
necessary and for postgraduate education fundamental to the attainment
of a knowledge economy and the wider benefits of social development
and economic potential. The Government must fund education over
other areas of policy due to the social, economic and individual
transformation it enables.
Postgraduate research enables the UK to be competitive
in the global research and knowledge economy and develops the
economic potential of individuals and organisations employing
postgraduates. The Government must ensure public sector funding
continues for Higher Education and particularly at ensuring researchers
and postgraduates can complete their programmes without financial
obstacle or burden.
REFERENCES
Ackers, H. L. and Bryony, G. (2005) Attracting
and Retaining "Early Career" Researchers: Is There a
Problem? CSLPE Working Paper 2005-2. Leeds: University
of Leeds.
CAPA, 2003, The social and economic impact of
student debt, Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations.
J. Darwen, E. Bell, S. Goodlad, National Survey
of Postgraduate Funding and Priorities, http://www.npc.org.uk/page/1042481249.pdf,
Produced University of Warwick Students' Union, Sponsored by CSU
Prospects Ltd. Published by National Postgraduate Committee, Summer
2002.
Sastry, T. (2004) Postgraduate Education in
the UK, HEPI
Watson and Church, 2003, Funding their future:
the attitudes of year 10 pupils to the HE, NUS
December 2006
118 Barclays Graduate Debt Survey 2005. Back
119
Breakfast with Frost, 20th Jan 2003. Back
120
BMA Survey of Medical Students' Finances, 2005 Back
121
DfES, Student Income and Expenditure Survey 2004-05, RR725 Back
122
The social and economic impact of student debt, Council
of Australian Postgraduate Associations, 2003. Back
123
Claire Callender et al., 2003, Student Debt Project UUK.
In this research, 84% of sixth formers and college students believed
student debt deterred entry into HE and 88% of those questioned
from the lower income groups believed that more people would go
to university if grants were available. Back
124
Watson and Church, 2003, Funding their Future: the attitudes
of year 10 pupils to the HE, NUS. Back
| 
