Postgrads under review

Chairs of eponymous committees - Flowers, Follett, Jarrett et al - are to be joined by Martin Harris, vice chancellor of Manchester University, following the setting up of a new inquiry into postgraduate education.

Professor Harris is to chair the 12-strong committee that will conduct a Review of Higher Education to be completed by March 31, 1996. The committee will be complemented by six Government observers and four officials from the sponsoring bodies - two from the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals and the Standing Committee of Principals.

The decision to set up the review reflects the concern of all three bodies that in recent years postgraduate education had received less attention than the numbers and funding of undergraduates.

The review programme will establish the size and shape of the sector under review before making recommendations on funding, HEFCE policy and the future of the sector. "Our recommendations will cover Britain as a whole, while taking account of differences in Scotland," said Professor Harris.

Institutions have been asked to give their views on the purposes and planning of postgraduate education, current provision and funding by September 1. Policy recommendations will then be hammered out in a series of meetings in the following four months.

The review, which will also be seeking evidence from employers, includes Keith Bell, director of recruitment for accountants Price Waterhouse, and six heads of institution including Ian Graham-Bryce, principal of Dundee University, among its members.