'Extra finance needed' for university access

Friday, May 21st 2010

Finance is needed to allow more people access to a university education.

This is the view of Paul Cottrell, the University and College Union's national head of public policy, who spoke about the recent independent review of higher education funding and student finance.

The Sutton Trust's submission to the review recommended a number of steps must be taken to allow more university entrants.

Among the suggestions made was a scheme whereby those institutions wanting to charge higher fees should set access targets against the funds and report on the progress made.

Mr Cottrell stated: "An awful lot of money has been put into all of those schemes but the output, in terms of getting more poor students into higher education, seems to have been very marginal at best."

To have an effective impact, there must be extra funding rather than just redirecting existing finances, he continued.

There has been a certain level of criticism of the work by the Sutton Trust - paid for by the Aim Higher fund - perhaps because it has no link to students' financial support, Mr Cottrell added.