Bursary scheme criticised

Government plans to sustain the education of the poorest students with a £150 million fund has been pronounced 'unworkable' by some of the leading figures in higher education.

As part of the plans to increase tuition fees, the coalition government proposed a bursary scheme where the state would fund one year’s tuition for 18,000 students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The second year would be matched through funding provided by their university. 

The money would come from the National Scholarship Programme and all students who receive free school meals would be eligible to benefit.

The scheme was announced three days prior to the vote on tuition fees and is said to have convinced many Liberal Democrat MPs to vote in favour of the proposals.

Universities UK, a higher education lobby group that represents university principals across the country, has claimed that the scheme would be difficult and counter-productive.

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, said: “There is a very uneven distribution of students on free school meals in universities.

“If there was a requirement for universities to match funding it would be financially punitive for those universities who take larger numbers of disadvantaged students, and therefore act as a perverse disincentive in the system.” 

Universities UK say they support the principle behind the government’s proposal but the system needs revision in order to increase access for disadvantaged students. 

Simon Hughes, government advisor on higher education, recently criticised universities for failing to represent society and are likely to fuel students’ anger over tuition fees further.

A spokesperson for NUS Scotland told The Journal: “The proposal had never been thought through properly.

“A market in education was always bound to fail. We are now seeing the financial impact of the coalition government’s ill-conceived attempts to charge students even more tuition.” 

Only 7.2 per cent of school pupils in England are privately educated but they constitute over a quarter of the intake at 25 of the most selective universities.