According to a report from a policy thinktank, private higher education colleges in the UK face being “devastated” by last year’s government clampdown on overseas students.
David Cameron and Nick Clegg are to abandon radical plans to reform Britain’s university system that would have seen more private firms competing to educate students, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
The British government's apparent move to suspend the higher education bill will not automatically derail the expansion of private provision, according to government critics and leading private institutions.
The UK government is poised to smooth the passage for private investment in higher education, creating an opportunity for private equity investors to make a mark on the sector
The British government will abandon plans to make it easier for private higher-education institutions, including for-profit American companies, to operate in the country, reports The Telegraph.
The head of Britain's first for-profit university college was paid £738,000 ($1,177,000) in one year, while the co-chief executive officer of the firm’s U.S. owner has a long-term pay deal valued at £15.8 million ($25.2 million).
High fees plus the prohibition of any part-time working by international students at private colleges have ensured the dramatic contraction of the industry, says Geoffrey Alderman
AC Grayling argued that students' comments on Facebook and Twitter - and how their degrees were accepted in the workplace - would help regulate private colleges such as the New College of the Humanities, which he set up.
Buckingham is the UK's only officially independent university, which sets its own fees, and there are calls for more like it. The rise in the university tuition fee cap across England has led to huge protests, and yet some top universities want it to be even higher.
Singapore and the United Kingdom will work together to raise standards in private education in both countries. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to do so was signed on Friday by the Council for Private Education (CPE) Singapore and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) United Kingdom.
Higher Education Authority Chairman John Hennessy said the continuing growing demand for Higher Education in Ireland could no longer be fully met by the publicly funded institutions. He said that at a time of cutbacks, and because of close links to industry, private colleges were often in a better position to deliver better programmes.
The Chairman of the Higher Education Authority, John Hennessy, has criticised the “very restrictive” public service working practices across the third-level sector. In an address yesterday he also envisaged a greater role for private colleges in the provision of higher education courses in Ireland.
The government is being urged to prevent universities being bought by private equity firms after the College of Law, a charity that provides teaches law courses in London and six other cities across England, was sold to a private equity firm for £200m.
Figures show that leading Russell Group universities spent £382 million (US$613 million) on the highest paid academics and managers last year – twice as much as in 2003-04. It also emerged that the proportion of university spending on top staff – those paid at least £100,000 a year – increased from just 1.8% to 3.8%, writes Graeme Paton for The Telegraph.
This (unnamed) college demonstrates the 'dark side' of the private sector in higher education. Things can go wrong, and when they do this can be very bad - particularly for the students. This is not to say that the private sector in higher education is all like this. It can be done well, and a private alternative to publicly funded universities and colleges adds a great deal to the sector. As in the US and many other countries, private colleges can enrich the student and academic experience for all, giving diversity and real alternatives.