Despite a collective sigh of relief at the end of the ug teaching year and heady sensation that follows finally finishing ug marking, our thoughts turn once more to postgraduate issues are these are still high on the agenda for most HEI’s and their funders. By now we have a good estimate of ug numbers for September but a quick look at PGT application figures may be making many of us gulp in anticipation of whether or not some courses will run next year! Overall numbers of students studying on Masters programmes in England and Wales dropped for the first time in 2012/13 and dropped again in 2013/14 and this decline looks set to continue for 2014/15 and beyond. What was hailed by many to be becoming a difficult time for recruitment to pg programmes appears to be coming true.

Since the majority of home students studying at PGT level are self-fee payers and more and more of the eligible population find themselves without a lot of spare resources and as Government funding through HEFCE declines for PGT and HEI’s put up their fees to compensate, then the drop in numbers comes as no surprise. But what can or should HEI’s do about this? As academics we would argue that the provision of Masters degrees in our departments is essential as it reflects our aspirations for higher levels of teaching, our research activity and it is a flag to indicate that we are a vibrant department. But can students really afford to ​“indulge” themselves in a specialisation in the future? Clearly some can and will but this will become increasingly those that can afford it or who have families that can afford it and discrimination against those who are unable to pay will be inevitable. This is clearly a threat to the principles of widening access and is of concern to HEI’s and HEFCE alike. 

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