Memorandum 40
Submission from Heythrop College,[49]
University of London
1. ARGUMENTS
FOR AND
AGAINST THE
GOVERNMENT'S
DECISION TO
PHASE OUT
SUPPORT TO
INSTITUTIONS FOR
STUDENTS STUDYING
ELQS:
There is a superficial attractiveness in the
argument that the public purse should not support students at
University studying for a qualification which is equivalent to
or at a lower level than a qualification which they have already
achieved. It seems equitable that everyone should get one bite
at the cherry and no more. However, English Higher Education is
a large, diverse and complex system; applying to it apparently
simple and straightforward principles can often have deeply undesirable
effects, and this is a case in point. The effect of the Government's
decision is to withdraw support from a large number of mature
adults who have made the decision to pursue (usually while maintaining
a full-time demanding career) arduous high-level study partly
for the sake of their own intellectual development but also for
the sake of their employers, the organisations they support on
a voluntary basis, and society at large. The fact that the Government
and the HEFCE have together drawn up such a long list of exemptions
from the policy should in itself be seen to be clear evidence
of the fundamentally flawed nature of the policy.
It is not as if the funding at stake here, in
a national context, is very large. In that context the net sums
which will be released are in fact small. These sums will, it
is said, be used to support students entering HE for the first
time or pursuing a higher qualification, but there is no evidence
that students who wish to enter HE and are qualified to do so
are unable to do so though lack of funded places: rather most
evidence suggests that many HEIs have difficulty meeting recruitment
targets. There is no queue or backlog of would-be students being
kept out of HE by the funding supporting ELQ students.
2. THE TIMING
AND IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE
CHANGE:
The timing of the change is dreadful. HEIs drew
up publicity material for their courses commencing in September/October
2008, which of course includes material on costs and fees, many
months ago. Formal offers have been made and accepted for entry
in 2008 by this institution and by most HEIs. The changes made
by the Government mean that in relation to these students we must
honour our contracts but at a significant financial loss, or breach
our contracts with them. Neither prospect is acceptable. The time
for "managing this change smoothly" (as Mr Denham puts
it in his letter to the HEFCE) was 12 months ago: now is a year
too late.
3. EXEMPTIONS
FROM THE
WITHDRAWAL OF
FUNDING PROPOSED
BY THE
HEFCE:
We have no specific observations, other than
to repeat that the wide extent of these exemptions is a powerful
argument against the policy itself, and to note that by the HEFCE's
own calculations the greater part of the brunt of the policy will
be felt by Philosophy and Theology students. These are of course
the subjects in which Heythrop College specialises.
4. THE IMPACT
UPON STUDENTS:
In the case of the College the students adversely
affected by this change will typically be mature in years (usually
30 plus) who are already graduates and who work in the not-for-profit
sector or have a substantial voluntary commitment to that sector.
They will have taken on or be preparing to take on leadership
roles in voluntary community groups which are often but not always
faith-based in character. These are precisely the groups which
the Government rightly hopes will be able to deliver a substantial
part of its ambitious agenda in relation to social development
and social exclusion. Some of these groups specialise in inter-faith
work.. The groups are mostly small and financially fragile, without
the resources needed to meet the full costs of the courses under
discussion. For this target group, foundation degrees are inappropriate
both intellectually and professionally. If the policy is implemented
as at present proposed, the students affected will simply lose
the opportunity to study at the College.
5. THE IMPACT
ON HEYTHROP
COLLEGE
Our best estimate of the immediate impact of
the change on Heythrop College is that from 2008 we will lose
20% of our part-time taught postgraduate student population (about
40 students) and 5% of our full-time undergraduate population
(about 15 students).
January 2008
49 Heythrop College is a Jesuit foundation tracing
its origins to 1614. It is now an autonomous College within the
federal University of London, with its own Royal Charter, located
in Kensington Square, London. It specialises in the teaching of
Philosophy and Theology and is open to students and staff of all
faiths and none. It has about 350 undergraduate students and 300
part-time postgraduate students, and in 2007 began a unique BA
course in Abrahamic religions. This is the only course in the
UK which focuses attention on Islam, Christianity and Judaism
and the relations between them. Back
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