Consultants clash on sub-degree costs

* There is no evidence that it is cheaper to teach students at sub-degree level than at degree level, according to a study by J M Consulting, published this week.

The work, which was commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, concluded: "There is no difference in cost either between years or between levels of provision that would be material and systematic enough to justify any impact on funding policy."

A separate study, published last week by consultants KPMG, found variation in the costs of teaching Higher National Certificate students in further education colleges. The funding council has already announced that such provision will be funded at the same level as cheaper higher education subjects.