UK further education college face the leading unanticipated consequence for decades

UK universities face their biggest shake-up in the decades under plans for a further shift towards a market approach announced in the government's consultation on November 6

The new regime designed to reward good teaching will enable high-performance universities increase their tuition fees at the rate of inflation, according to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Green Paper fulfilling our potential: teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice.

The fees have been frozen for a maximum £ 9,000 (US $ 13,550) a year from 2012, when the government lifted the lid with just over £ 3,000. Research shows that all but a handful of universities applying maximum compensation to all its ranks.

The Department says the proposals will "put students at the heart of higher education".

According to the new teaching Excellence Framework, universities and their departments will be judged, according to published data from surveys student satisfaction, student retention rates and graduate employment rates, and other sources.

Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said: "Our ambition is to increase the quality of teaching in our universities to ensure students and taxpayers get value for money, and employers get graduates with the skills they need."

The proposals include the abolition of Higher Education Funding Council for England, or HEFCE, and the Office of fair access to, and creation of a single regulator university named Student Office or SFO.

The Green Paper says that the new body will have a legal obligation "to promote the interest of students to ensure that the SFO considers issues primarily from the perspective of students, and not the provider."

"Most" of HEFCE current functions will be transferred to the new regulator.

HEFCE, the successor of the Committee of University Grants, founded in 1918 to create a buffer between the individual universities and the government has a role in the distribution of teaching resources for universities in the amount set by the government.

Although the ministers stated government priorities, decisions are taken by the HEFCE operating at arms length 'from Whitehall.

SFO would be "arm's length public body" s duties, including "operating input gateway" for private sector providers; "Ensuring basic quality"; running Teaching Excellence Framework; "Expanding access and success for students in disadvantaged"; "Ensuring the protection of students"; and "ensuring financial sustainability, management and good governance".

OFS will "protect the institutional autonomy and academic freedom, which was the foundation of the success of the English higher education," says Green Paper.

As the teaching grant will be distributed is the fundamental principle of separation of Ministers decisions and the allocation is crucial for the credibility of the proposal.

One suggestion for the officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, "a formula for the distribution of teaching grants", while the alternative for the SFO to take responsibility for the allocation formula, to the Student Loans Company, or "other body financing" making payments.

The first option, the Green Paper says, will "allow ministers to strengthen incentives to provide higher education to support the needs of the economy".

"The duty to protect academic freedom and institutional autonomy ensure that ministers and officials can not single out particular institutions, which could be supported by an independent advisory board."

It may not be enough to meet the suspect academics who fear government interference.

Dame Julia Good fellow, President of the University of Great Britain and dean of the University of Kent, said: "We welcome the Green Paper's emphasis on protecting the interests of students and demonstrating the value of a university education."

But she added: "With a wide range of issues covered in the article, we will be carefully considering the complex but vitally important areas such as how resources and regulatory powers integrated, future sector bodies and their relationship to the government and to the Green Paper protects the autonomy of our world-class university sector. "

A Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive universities, said: "The autonomy of our universities is crucial for their success. It is vital that any regulation on the basis of risk and proportionate and not add the current load or stifle innovation."

Control fee cap

The proposals include the removal of parliamentary control over the cap on tuition fees and submit to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, senior minister in charge of universities.

Teaching Excellence Framework, which reflects the Research Excellence Framework, will encourage a greater focus on quality teaching programs and graduate recruitment, and is designed to drive up standards of teaching and give students more information.

The government is also seeking wider participation for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and encourages providers to increase the focus on support for all students through the course and employment or further study.

New social mobility advisory group, reporting universities and science minister Jo Johnson will be responsible for developing a plan to meet Prime Minister David Cameron's ambition to increase the proportion of students in disadvantaged entering higher education and increase the number of BME students by 20% by 2020.

The Government is keen to see new players in the market of higher education and the Green Paper will facilitate them to establish, with faster access to student financing and "no caps on the number of students."

New players in the market

The requirement for institutions to have a certain number of students before they can become a university can be done, so it will be easier and faster to get degree awarding powers.

Johnson said: "We must do more to ensure that the time and money students invest in higher education is well spent.

"New Student Office will have a clear remit to champion the value for money and student interest in their decisions. And the opening of the sector to new universities and colleges, students will have more choices than ever when they come to apply to the university."

Consultation on the proposals in the Green Paper opens today and will last 10 weeks, closing January 15, 2016.