Govt considering capping student numbers from Sept

[shockthemonkey]

Has anyone read this?

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/29/government-set-to-cap-university-admissions-amid-covid-19-chaos

The article explains that strict limits could be imposed in a bid to alleviate financial black holes caused by international students pulling out as a result of COVID 19. (But I'm not sure how restricting admissions helps financially...)

Any such caps would apparently apply to both UK and EU undergrads.

Quote from article: “Unless there are significant developments, this will happen,” said one policymaker involved in the discussions between the government and universities.

The imposition of a cap means that students currently going through the application process are set to have their choices restricted. It also means some students will not be able to attend universities at which they have been offered places. (end quote)

Worrying to think that students already holding offers may have their right to attend rescinded in some way. Could this be done legally, using force majeure for instance?

Does anyone have more details or more recent info on this?

And what some Universities are doing in response to the financial impact of the virus:

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/apr/02/hundreds-of-university-staff-made-redundant-due-to-coronavirus

'Hundreds of university staff on precarious contracts have been dismissed by their employers in a drive to cut costs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Staff on fixed-term contracts, including visiting lecturers, researchers and student support workers, at Bristol, Newcastle and Sussex universities have been made redundant or told their employment will or may end prematurely, or not be renewed.'

But I'm not sure how restricting admissions helps financially

I think the aim is to stop universities going into cut throat competition for students, with the "top" universities "winning" and some of the less "top" universities going to the wall.

Speaking from the sector, and as someone involved in these matters at a national level, I think it is an excellent policy for these times.

And I work at an RG university, in a department which is consistently in the top 3 for the discipline. There is no long-term benefit to us, or the health of the discipline, to have similar departments at other universities closed or diminished. We have to think about the longevity of the discipline, and also that there is a demographic bulge coming in a couple of years.

Removing the cap several years ago destabilised the whole system and had many unintended consequences. Yes, it meant that some less well achieving young people could contemplate trying for courses they might not otherwise have considered, but I'm not sure that is always desirable.

I'm a great believer in a university education for anyone who wants it, but I'm also a great believer in it not being necessary, and that there should be viable and quality alternatives, particularly in technical and vocational training.

Of course, I do suspect that the government's actual policy was precisely that "weaker" universities should close; this was the same drive behind the establishment of the Research Excellence exercises: RAE and REF. I heard from my VC at the time of the 2001 RAE that Whitehall did not expect so many universities to do so well -- they were looking to sort sheep from goats and remove big slabs of funding.

So we need to be cautious. But the cap is not a bad thing at the moment.

Now that Scotrish results are out today, does anyone know how capping of student numbers might work in Scotland? Would both Scottish and England/Wales/NI applications be capped? And are Scottish and rest of UK applications considered separately when it comes to admission criteria?

It is certainly a complicated year for everyone.

(I remember the earlier cap a few years ago which then was abolished which will be why my daughter's course at Bristol had double the numbers on it when my son did the same course 13 years after she did (he got his degree this month). He and my daughter both have the same A level grades so I don't think we can say for that course it became easier to get in (although there were no A stars in my daughter's day) and they both had the same offer from Bristol 13 years apart which they both met.

Good luck to everyone trying this year and waiting for results currently.

Scottish numbers in Scottish universities are already capped along with EU applicants (until the funding stops for EU students). I believe rest of UK will be capped according to guidelines laid out by U.K. government - so caps will be different depending on domicile

Thanks Celtie and Xenia. Defintely a complicated year and nail- biting for all involved