GuildHE says Government should broaden range of extra student places
 

The Government should broaden the range of subjects covered by its decision to make an additional 10,000 higher education places available, the higher education representative body GuildHE has said.
 

Professor Ruth Farwell, Chair-elect of GuildHE and Vice-chancellor of Buckinghamshire New University, said that while today’s announcement of extra places is very welcome, the move would stand a better chance of helping to boost the economy if other disciplines vital for economic growth such as the creative industries were included -- rather than restricting the additional numbers to science, technology, engineering and maths.


“We are of course pleased to see the Government has responded to calls for it to address a situation where thousands of well qualified prospective students could have been turned away from higher education this year.


“But this decision will be of little use to thousands of young people aiming to study subjects not prioritised by the Government but which play an equally important part in economic growth.”


A ministerial statement today confirms that the Government will pay the student support costs of 10,000 additional places in science, technology, engineering and maths, and will not penalise institutions for taking on extra students in these areas.


Funding will be targeted exclusively at full-time undergraduate entrants, and there will be no additional teaching grant for the extra places.


The full announcement from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills can be found here.