HELOA Higher Education Conference

1
HELOA Higher Education Conference

• Impact of the new funding system on home fees
  student recruitment
• Katherine Hewlett
• Head of Educational Liaison

2
Themes- economic demographic

• Supply and demand environment
• Educational provision
• A culture of financial aid packages
• Impact on student course choice
• Emerging demographic trends
• Future recruitment challenges

3
Supply and demand context

• 2002 HEFCE report Supply and Demand outlined
  statistics informing the widening participation
  agenda and considered the cost of educational
  provision
• 1988-94 a substantial growth of PT and
  postgraduate numbers 76.
• Pre 1992 institutions -increase of 6 of FT UG
  -1997-2001.
• Post 1992 institutions -increase of 2 from 1976
  -1998. After 1998 no growth in FT

4
Supply and demand the cost.

• The unit of resource declined. Funding
  arrangements imposed constraints on ability to
  respond to demand.
• Govt wish to address the need to increase demand.
  By 2010 50 of18-35yrs to have participated in
  FE/HE.
• Slight increase in population over the next
  15years.
• Retention to be an important issue with attention
  to social groups 4 and 5.
• Introduction of variable fees -emergence of OFFA
  Access agreements to ensure fair access to HE
  for those students from disadvantaged
  backgrounds.

5
The market- educational provision

• From 2006 HEIs have entered a market place in
  terms of course offer and cost to the customer.
• Relevance of portfolio provision to employment
• Curriculum design- FE/HE- 14-19
• Resources and funding
• League table pressure
• Recruitment practice continuation rates

6
The financial aid landscape

• Pressure on funding from the government
• Introduction of variable fees for all UK UG
  courses
• Typically 3000 which is made up of 2700 300
  bursary
• HEIs can only charge maximum if signed up to
  OFFA agreement (Office of Fair Access)
• Customer Focus
• Students/parents having to make increased
  contributions
• Expectations will increase
• Providers need to be pro-active and not re-active
• Need to manage those expectations

7
Access Agreements

• The majority of HEIs are charging the full 3000
• To offset this, some 350 million is being
  offered as non-repayable cash in the form of
  bursaries Schemes vary enormously
• 77 HEIs are providing more than 300 bursaries
  for those students on full state support.
• Bursaries range from 300 to 10,000
• 57 HEIs have established some type of
  scholarship
• Scholarships range from 100 to 30,000
• sourceOffice for fair access

8
A level playing field?

• Institutions with a lower amount of students who
  qualify for a minimum bursary of 300, will be
  able to offer larger bursaries to a small number
  of elite students e.g.
• Institutions with a higher amount of students who
  qualify for a minimum bursary of 300, will have
  to offer smaller bursaries to a larger number of
  students .

9
UCAS OFFA research on impact

• Students less clear about institutional support
  than level of fees, loans grants- need for
  financial aid centres
• Slight slow down in acceptances
• The drivers for student application to HE are
• Subject choice
• Employability
• Mode of teaching and learning- flexible/personal
  tutor

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Trends in applications -home fees

• 3.4 decrease (-12,941)UK applications
• 14 increase (1,716)EU applications
• 2005 - 56. Women (208,029) 44 men(163,654)
• 2006 decline 4 men. 2.9 women
• After 15/1/2005-138,000 additional applications

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Subjects applications on the decline

• Electrical Engineering-19.80
• Fine Art- 10.7
• Media Studies 9.2
• Computer Science- 9.2
• Law by area- 7.4
• Psychology-6.3
• Economics- 2

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Subject- applications on the increase

• Foundation Degrees 28.2
• Mathematics- 11.5
• Nursing-15.4
• Social work 7.4
• Subjects allied to medicine 8.5
• Chemistry 5.20

13
Europe top countries- 2006

• Poland 71 1,738
• France 12 1,728
• Italy 10.9 836
• Belgium 8.4 656
• Ireland -13 5,716
• Greece -5.l4 1,345

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Key issues to impact recruitment

• local study
• Increased vocational modes of study-post 16
• local consortium arrangements
• UK employment opportunities for new EU countries
• UK recruitment opportunities for EU members with
  no fees charge

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Drivers for EU member demand

• Quality of education
• Employment prospects
• Affordability
• Personal security
• Lifestyle
• Education accessibility
• Source Vision 2020, British Council

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Other trends

• Steepest growth in EU students is likely to be at
  the graduate level,
• An increasing interest in academic tourism-
  Bologna
• Increased degree mobility within Europe
• Increased competition both for European and
  non-European students
• Transnational education set to grow -UK providers
  expecting demand to outstrip fulltime study by
  40- European study abroad
• Subject-specific growth dominated by more
  vocational subjects management, law,
  accountancy and media

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Future challenges

• Increasing customer expectations
• Higher) Education has become a commodity
• Higher Education does not stop at national
  boundaries
• Universities will have to compete for students
• Higher Education has to switch from supply
  orientation to demand or customer orientation
• Marketing Recruitment become more important
• Vision 2020 quality is of overriding importance
• Top-up fees after 2010