Lifting the cap on fees has marketised higher education, with falling student numbers and reduced entry requirements

Some call what’s happening in the university sector a “radical overhaul”. This sounds planned and orderly. But as student numbers fall and talk turns to the politically embarrassing possibility of university bankruptcies, this starts to look more like a demonstration of the law of unintended consequences.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/24/market-forces-chaos-universities-fees

The number of Europeans studying at UK universities has soared, yet they have not figured at all in the debate about cuts

Recently, I’ve been teaching journalism at a British university. It’s a popular course already turning students away. But now, with the requirement for universities to trim their sails and cut student numbers coinciding with a hike in applications, it is likely to be turning down an even larger number. This will add to the hordes of disappointed students we have been hearing so much about in the press recently.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/09/university-funding-european-students