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Withdrawal of funding for ELQs Opening Plenary Dr Liz Beaty Director, Learning and Teaching. Withdrawing of funding for ELQs: Plans for implementation Anna Sherratt. Background. We have been asked by the DIUS to withdraw funding for ELQs
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Withdrawal of funding for ELQsOpening Plenary Dr Liz Beaty Director, Learning and Teaching
Withdrawing of funding for ELQs: Plans for implementation Anna Sherratt
Background • We have been asked by the DIUS to withdraw funding for ELQs • An ELQ: a qualification that is equivalent to or lower than a qualification that a student has already achieved. • Example: if Patrick has an honours degree in French and is now studying for an honours degree in history, then Patrick is studying for an ELQ.
Why? John Denham: • ‘While there may be much benefit to an individual, or their employer, in them retraining for a second qualification at the same level, this is not, in my view, usually as high a priority for public funding as support for students who are either entering HE for the first time, or progressing to higher qualifications’ • ‘I think the same principles as govern student support should also apply to funding distributed by the funding council’
The government’s request • Funding for ELQs should be reduced by £100 million by 2010-11 • The process should begin in 2008-09 • Students already studying for an ELQ should not be affected • Exemptions to be made ‘in light of Student Fees Regulations and Student Support Regulations’. • ‘Transitional protection’ for those institutions most affected in the short-term
Principles • Where possible, fund ELQs where this is clearly in the public interest • Maintain, when possible consistency, with HEFCE policies • Base the implementation of the ELQ policy upon existing policies • Minimise additional burden for institutions
Exemptions based on existing regulations • Most students studying for an ELQ are not subject to regulated fees or entitled to student support. • But there are some exceptions…. • We propose to exempt from the ELQ policy all students studying on courses that are treated as exceptions in the Student Support Regulations or the Student Fees Regulations. • This includes most medicine and nursing, dentistry, veterinary science, social work and teacher training. • So why do medicine/ dentistry and subjects allied to health see some reduction in funding?
Other interventions • Exempt foundation degrees • Exempt co-funded numbers • Introduce a targeted allocation to reflect students studying for a SIVS subject as an ELQ • Provide a £20 million uplift to the part-time targeted allocation
The safety net • The proposed safety net would maintain each institution’s recurrent teaching grant at a comparable 2007-08 level in cash terms • This will ensure that that no institution’s teaching grant will fall in cash terms as a direct result of the ELQ policy. • We are committed to providing the safety net until 2010-11
Some questions anticipated • How will the ELQ policy affect the ongoing fundability status of students? • If my institution’s HESA/ILR data is incorrect, can I amend it? • Is there scope for adding further exemptions or protections? • Does the ELQ policy impact differentially on particular student groups? • How much is saved through the ELQ policy?
Further examples • A student studying for an honours degree who partially completed an earlier degree • A student whose prior qualifications are unknown • A student whose highest prior qualification is a professional one • A student who has a masters degree who is studying for a PGCE • A student who is studying for a second postgraduate qualification
What next? 7 December 2007: Consultation closes 24 January 2008: Board consider outcomes 3 March 2008: Institutional grant letters March 2008: Outcomes circular Sept 2008: Revised HESES/ HEIFES guidance 2009/10: Initial review of impact of ELQ policy
Questions for discussion • Do our proposals succeed in protecting the public interest? • Do our proposals maintain consistency with HEFCE policies? • What might be the knock-on consequences of the ELQ policy (for instance, in terms of accountability burden and impact on different student groups)? • Is there anything further that we can and should do?