The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills has released a new Higher Education White Paper: ‘Students at the Heart of the System’. It’s proposals cover four broad areas: reforming funding; delivering a better student experience; enabling universities to increase social mobility; and reducing regulation and removing barriers for new providers.
The White Paper itself contains very little on languages or the year abroad, although:
§2.19 refers to the Russell Group’s A-level guide, which identifies languages as ‘facilitating subjects’,
§3.34 under ‘Employer sponsorship’ refers to a ‘sandwich year’ comprising ‘work experience or language training’ and a desire to reverse the decline in take-up.
There are references to strategic and vulnerable subjects, on which HEFCE will have to decide (§§1.10, 1.26) but which will also concern the quality regulator (§6.9). The repeated emphasis on graduate employability and links with employers will clearly influence our own strategy, as we had anticipated.
Consultation on overall principles is open until 20 September, with various dates for four specific consultations (early repayment, regulatory framework, teaching grant and student numbers for 2012/13 and 2013/14).
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