The government has been accused of not paying enough attention to postgraduate attention by universities nationwide.
A report by the 1994 Group says that the Browne Review of higher education, published in 2010, did not regard postgraduate education “with any degree of rigour.” It concluded that higher education reforms will cause “great and lasting” damage to postgraduate study. With no financial support system in place, postgraduate students will have to pay fees upfront.
Moreover, the levels of debt incurred from their undergraduate days will have increased. The report states that, “From 2012-14, students who pay fees up to £27,000 for a degree and also pay greater interest on their loans, including maintenance loans of up to £23,000 for three-year courses, may be less inclined to take on further debt needed to fund postgraduate study.’
In relation to the rest of Europe, Britain is falling behind. There was only a marginal increase in British students those enrolling in postgraduate courses between 2002-3 and 2007-8; instead there are increasing numbers of international students coming to the country to study.
Chairman of the 1994 Group Professor Michael Farthing feels this might be detrimental to the UK economy, “High level skills are absolutely essential to the country’s long-term economic prospects, but we’re in real danger of choking off the pipeline of future postgraduate talent. The government’s failure to address postgraduate funding has been a real error of judgement and we need to see some immediate action to avoid disaster.”
The Russell Group has similar concerns; Dr Wendy Piatt, Director of the Russell Group of Universities has said that, “We welcome the Government reaffirming its commitment to capital investment, with an extra £495M committed to a number of national initiatives since the Spending Review. However, we should remember that additional capital funding also needs to be directed to universities – world-class research and teaching infrastructure is essential to economic growth. Cuts to capital spend for universities indicated in last year’s Spending Review will still create serious difficulties for UK universities.”
Andrew Hamilton Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor has also commented on the postgraduate situation with similar sentiments. He suggests that “against this rapidly evolving and increasingly challenging international backdrop it is both noteworthy and regrettable that the recent government White Paper on higher education gave graduate studies scant attention.”
His argument is based one of international competition, “It is hard to escape the logic of the argument: if this competitive disadvantage in funding is not addressed, the UK higher education sector will increasingly lose out to its international competitors on the recruitment of the best students and the best academics. There are sadly too many examples of Oxford losing bright graduate students to overseas universities because of the funding gap. It is the single biggest reason why those to whom we make offers turn us down.”
He does however regard Oxford’s position as better than most, citing the “generosity of donors’ amongst other factors as ways in which postgraduate study is encouraged here. Increasing support for graduate scholarships is “a major priority of the Oxford Thinking fundraising campaign, which has proved such an outstanding success and which is now fast approaching the initial target of £1.25bn.”
He also spoke of a long-term aid to offer needs-blind admissions. In terms of current financial aid, Oxford just celebrated the “tenth anniversary of our flagship graduate scholarship scheme, with the one thousandth Clarendon Scholar joining us in Oxford this week. Oxford University Press now provides £7.5m each year to support Clarendon Scholars, supplemented by £1m from some two dozen colleges and £1m from external donors. Additionally, Oxford has the Rhodes and Weidenfield Scholarships, as well as a Leadership Programme.”
Students are less positive about the situation; the OUSU Graduates representative, Jim O’Connell, told Cherwell, “The recent White Paper technical consultation mentioned the word ‘postgraduate’ twice, one of which was in a footnote. For one of the UK’s leading export industries and the sector that is most important for building a competitive 21st century economy, this neglect is unwise. The Government should at least ensure Master’s courses are financially accessible by providing incentives for postgraduate loans.”
President of OUSU, Martha Mackenzie, agrees. For her “the government has been neglecting postgraduate study for far too long. The recent Higher Education White Paper barely mentions graduate students despite the fact that access to further study is an incredibly pressing issue.”
One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Cherwell about his firsthand experiences, “I have a place on a Masters course after my undergraduate course, but, if I don’t find funding, I don’t know what I will do.”
