Postgraduate taught education: the funding challenge (UUK)
Postgraduate taught education: the funding challenge (UUK)
The number of postgraduate taught students at UK universities has fallen by 10% in two years, and there is particular concern about the level of demand from UK students. This report, the first of the ‘Funding environment for universities 2014’ series, outlines the benefits of postgraduate taught education, analyses recent trends in student recruitment, and explores the range of options for improving postgraduate taught student funding. It calls on the government to consider the evidence presented here as it analyses options that could support an increase in postgraduate participation.
Professor Geraint Johnes, Chair of the UKCGE Postgraduate Funding Working Group said;
‘The UUK report presents an erudite analysis both of the benefits of taught postgraduate education and of the constraints that currently prevent some individuals from accessing these benefits. The UKCGE working group on postgraduate funding is investigating these issues further with a view to developing solutions and will report in due course’.
David Manning, a Policy Analyst with Universities UK has wrriten a short Blog about the issue, in which he says;
‘The challenge is to find funding solutions that are affordable to all parties: there is unlikely to be a single solution to that challenge. Funding proposals are unlikely to succeed unless they are affordable for all involved: affordable for government, for universities, for any private-sector partner (such as a bank), and, of course, affordable for students and graduates. The evidence presented in this report underlines the diversity of postgraduate taught education. It is important that any new funding proposals respond to and support that diversity of provision so that the full range of benefits of postgraduate taught education can be realised.’
