Control over funding for alternative higher education bodies
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“Around 670 institutions offering higher education do not receive direct funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Approximately 140 of these are alternative providers, organisations ranging from private companies to charitable institutions that receive substantial public funding through student support. Following higher education reforms in 2011, there has been substantial growth in the sector. Between 2010/11 and 2013/14, the number of students claiming support for courses at alternative providers rose from 7,000 to 53,000. A number of concerns have been raised by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the media about the oversight and funding of alternative higher education providers and the financial support provided to students attending some of these providers. This inquiry will assess the effectiveness of the changes to oversight of alternative providers following the reforms and rapid growth of the sector; examine whether BIS and its partner organisations have done enough to address risks and protect taxpayers’ money in providing oversight of the alternative provider sector; and the impact that BIS’s approach has had on students and on the alternative providers in the sector who have acted with propriety. Further information National Audit Office report: Investigation into financial support for students at alternative higher education providers Chair's statement: Financial support for higher education”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (the Department) has failed to learn lessons from past policies such as Individual Learning Accounts. It failed to heed warnings from organisations such as the Higher Education Funding Council and University and College Union. The Department allowed the rapid expansion of support for students attending private Higher Education providers. The Department allowed £3.84 million of public money to be given to ineligible EU students in the form of student loans and grants.
Furthermore the Department has been unable to quantify how much money has been lost when it has funded students who have failed to attend, or failed to complete courses, or were not proficient in the English language, or were not entered for qualifications, or where courses themselves were poorly taught. The Department took over a year to tighten up some of its procedures to control public expenditure more effectively.
What the government said
No government response is linked to this report.
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from 15 December 2014 to its close on 26 March 2015.
- Oral evidence 15 Dec 2014
- Report 24 Feb 2015
What it recommended
The committee's recommendations are not listed here yet. Read them in 41st Report - Financial support for students at alternative higher education providers ↗ on parliament.uk.
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1
- 15 Dec 2014No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗