Gordon Marsden MP, Shadow Minister for Universities, Further Education and Skills, commenting following the publication of a Higher Education White Paper, said:

“We can be rightly proud of our world-leading universities and their reputation for excellence. It is therefore of great concern that the Tory Government is putting this hard-won reputation at risk by giving degree-awarding powers to new institutions from day one, including private providers with no previous track-record in education.

“With over 60 per cent of students feeling their course is worse than expected, we welcome the focus on improving teaching standards. However, the timescales for introducing the Teaching Excellence Framework look very tight, and concerns remain that it will be used as a Trojan Horse to increase fees even further and unleash the full force of the market in Higher Education. 

“We welcome the focus on improving participation of disadvantaged groups in higher education. But if the Government were serious about this, they would never have replaced maintenance grants with loans which risks putting off students from poor backgrounds from achieving their potential.

“It is astonishing that the White Paper completely misses the need to support adults to up-skill. This is a glaring omission. If we are to address the UK’s skills emergency, we need to ensure everyone is able to access education and achieve their potential.”