Ministers ‘rush to approve private degree courses’

BBC |July 12, 2012

By Hannah Richardson|BBC News education reporter

Ministers are being accused of “falling over themselves” to approve degree and diploma-level courses at private colleges in England.

New figures show 400 courses have been approved since 2010 when ministers pledged to open up the higher education market.

Private colleges are not subject to the same quality checks as public universities.

The government said it planned to strengthen checks on private providers.

Currently it is the Student Loans Company which checks course descriptions against information on courses in the public domain. It then passes this information on to government officials.

However, the universities minister David Willetts said in a parliamentary written answer earlier this year that such checks did not cover the quality of education provided.

Instead many private providers form partnerships with specific universities which take on a validation role for certain courses.

‘Unregulated’

The figures were published by the Student Loans Company in response to a Freedom of Information request from the Times Higher Education magazine.

They showed the number of courses approved in 2011-12 rose by 77% from 228 in 2010-11 to a total of 403 in 2011-12.

The acceleration of the approval rate is also illustrated by the fact that one college had 98 courses approved by officials in just a single day.

Another college had 22 courses approved just weeks before it was closed by the UK Border Agency.

Head of the UCU academics’ union Sally Hunt said the data showed how little oversight the government has given to courses run by private providers.

She added: “At a time when public universities are being starved of funds, ministers seem to be falling over themselves to sign off ever- increasing amounts of taxpayers’ money to more or less any company which applies for designated course status.”

The government should act to to halt the “unregulated process and introduce stringent regulation for private providers”, she said.

Students on such “designated” courses qualify for government-backed tuition fee loans from the SLC.

‘Quality checks’

The firm said that some £55m in loans and grants was allocated to courses with private providers in 2010-11.

This figure is expected to rise considerably as such providers are able to increase their course charges from about £3,000 to £6,000 from this September.

But unlike universities, most private providers are not subject to stringent quality checks by the Quality Assurance Agency.

Universities UK said the UK’s public universities were some of the most highly-regulated in the world.

It said the QAA, which bases its checks of public universities on a “set of UK-wide nationally-agreed reference points”, has a key role in monitoring standards and auditing institutions.

Universities UK added that such private institutions were not subject to student numbers control or any of the accountability requirements from the funding body, Hefce.

‘Due diligence’

A UUK spokesman said: “We are very supportive of finding a way to bring them under the same student number controls and onto a level playing field, ensuring that they engage with the QAA, Hefce etc in the same way that our institutions have to.

“This is important to ensure that these organisations (QAA, Hefce) are seen to be meeting their obligations to safeguard the student experience and ensure public funding is spent effectively.”

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesman said all courses designated for student support must be validated by a recognised UK awarding body – such as a university – to help ensure quality.

“In the last 12 months, we have also introduced due diligence checks on organisations applying for designation for the first time. These look at a range of factors including financial sustainability and consideration of any parent company.

“But we recognise the case for going further and have recently said we are now looking at introducing more robust and transparent requirements on quality assurance, financial sustainability and governance,” he added.

The Student Loans Company said it checks colleges by asking them to provide information about the courses they offer including timetables, intensity and amount of days of study required.

It then checks this against information in the public domain and passes it on to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Student Loans boss to stand down

BBC |May 25, 2012

The chief executive of the Student Loans Company, who attracted controversy over his tax arrangements, is to stand down.

The publicly-funded body says Ed Lester will leave his£182,000 post when his contract expires early next year.

Until February, Mr Lester received his pay package without deductions for tax or National Insurance.

An outcry over the arrangements led to a review of public sector pay.

The review identified more than 2,400 cases of public sector staff being employed indirectly rather than having tax deducted at source through PAYE.

Recruitment under waySince January, 350 such contracts have been ended and tighter rules have now been introduced.

Mr Lester’s salary arrangements had been agreed by the tax authorities and the government. He was paid gross through his private service company based at his home address.

A spokeswoman for the Student Loans Company (SLC) said: “Ed Lester has always made it clear that he would be leaving the Student Loans Company when his contract expired in January 2013.

“He accepted the position as permanent Chief Executive and Accounting Officer on a two year contract on 1 February 2011.”

Mr Lester would not be commenting, the SLC said, and his replacement would be paid through PAYE, as Mr Lester had been since February.

The arrangement for Mr Lester’s pay was disclosed in an HM Revenue and Customs letter obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Exaro News and BBC Newsnight.

Following the revelations, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said the way in which Mr Lester received his salary would be changed and launched a review of similar arrangements across Whitehall.

Each government department has now published a list of “off payroll” appointees earning more than £58,200.

Mr Alexander also announced a consultation on a new law to require any person in control of an organisation, in the public or private sector, to be on its payroll.

Students’ Emails Wrongly Shared In Administrative Error

BBC |March 21, 2012

A government quango has apologised after thousands of students’ email addresses were sent to other customers.

Student Finance England accidentally released the emails of about 8,000 students in what it said was an “administrative error”.

The firm said it had been in touch with all the students involved.

Student Finance England is part of the Student Loans Company, a government-owned organisation set up to provide grants and loans to UK students.

On Monday, the firm sent out an email to about 8,000 students who are due to start university courses this autumn, reminding them to fill in grant application forms.

But the email included the email addresses of all those on the distribution list.

One student affected contacted the BBC News website and said:“This is such a disgusting error in the security of students’ data. They can’t get away with it.”

In a statement, the firm said: “We are sorry that a number of student email addresses have been included in an email which has been sent to other customers.

“The information was sent in error and only included email addresses, no other personal student data was shared.

“We have contacted all customers affected to let them know about this issue.

“The integrity and security of student accounts and the protection of personal information is vital to us, and we apologise to all of the students involved.”

In 2009, the Student Loans Company came under fire after thousands of students did not receive their loans in time.