A Conservative former education secretary has criticised Rishi Sunak’s plans to limit access to university degrees in England, accusing him of “anti-levelling up in action” if he presses ahead with the policy.
Justine Greening, who ran the Department for Education from 2016 to 2018, said the proposal would disproportionately affect more disadvantaged people from the poorest communities.
“No 10 plans are bad for disadvantaged young people and bad for universities working hard to give access to higher education in less privileged areas. This will be anti-levelling up in action,” she tweeted.
Sunak announced proposals on Monday, as first revealed by the Guardian, to curb the numbers enrolling on so-called “low-value” courses on the basis of data about each course’s graduate employment and dropout rates.
The plans will require the Office for Students, the higher education regulator for England, to “ensure that courses which fail to deliver good earnings are subject to stricter controls”.
The prime minister also announced significant funding cuts to many foundation-year university courses, which are popular among mature students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds who lack academic qualifications.
Greening, who stepped down as an MP in 2019 and campaigns on social mobility, said the proposals ignored why students were dropping out of courses, and she suggested it would be better to support them to tackle issues instead, whether financial or advice on picking the right course.
She said 80% of students benefited financially from going to university, according to official statistics, and the true figure was probably higher as the government only focused on initial earnings outcomes, when less well-connected students could find it takes longer to achieve success after graduating.
Writing on her blog, she said: “That is as much a reflection of the fact this country works too much based on who you know not what you know. Connected and privileged students earn more post-graduation than their disadvantaged peers. It would have been smarter for policymakers to look at graduate outcomes taking that wider unfairness in access to opportunity into account before judging ‘low-value’ courses.
“It also ignores that going to university is about more than just the financial returns, it’s the wider social capital that people build whilst they are there, that supports success in later life.”
However, Sunak told broadcasters during a visit to an east London school on Monday: “For many people, university is the right answer and it does brilliantly, but actually there are a range of people who are being let down by the current system. They’re being taken advantage of with low-quality courses that don’t lead to a job that makes it worth it, leaves them financially worse off.
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“That’s what we’re clamping down on today. But, at the same time, making sure that young people have a range of fantastic alternative opportunities, whether that be apprentices or higher technical qualifications, for example.”
The government confirmed after a consultation that it would not bring in minimum exam requirements for school leavers going to university.
Labour has accused ministers of “attacking the aspirations of young people” with their plans to limit access to degrees based on what students might earn years after graduation.