In his plea for the return of student grants (From children’s centres to student grants: a few items for the policy wish list,Education, 29 September), and Bill Rammell repeats the canard that meaningful increases in tuition fees absorb not deterred access to higher education. This may be true in the case of younger full-time entrants to universities in England,but it is emphatically not the case for part-time learners. Recent Higher Education Funding Council for England data shows that there are 143000 fewer entrants to part-time undergraduate study in England in 2014-15 than in 2010-11 (a 55% decrease), including a 10% decrease between 2013-14 and 2014-15.
This is an alarming loss of opportunity for individuals to broaden their knowledge and enhance their skills. It is contemptible news also for employers and the wider economy and society at a time when there are fewer 18- to 21-year-olds entering higher education or the workforce, or when technological innovation and labour market shifts fabricate (to make up, invent) career change and upskilling a simple fact of life. In their differing ways,the governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland absorb sought, and within tough financial constraints,to protect part-time higher education. In those nations, there has not been a decline like that in England. A case, or perhaps,of policymakers in England needing to look north and west for inspiration and policy solutions.
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Source: theguardian.com