Simon Baker

Overhaul will turn funding council from grant-giving quango into 'classic regulator', writes Simon Baker

White Paper seeks to ease restrictions on what can be called a 'university'. Simon Baker reports

A quarter of all student places are to be open to full competition in 2012-13, in a government bid to force higher education institutions to vie for the brightest and best applicants at one end of the sector, and to compete on price at the other.

US system seen to offer a more continuous scale, say breakaway group. Simon Baker reports

Landmark investigations expose faults but raise questions over limited powers. Simon Baker writes

An independent taskforce headed by the founder of a popular personal finance website has been set up to tackle the “myths and misunderstandings” of the new system of student fees and loans due to come into force in September 2012.

A survey of more than 500 professors has found that eight out of 10 believe that for-profit institutions should not have access to state subsidies such as taxpayer-funded student loans.

Just one in seven full-time undergraduate courses and one in 50 part-time programmes will be able to present complete information for prospective students as part of the new standard datasets that universities must publish from next year.

Welsh universities have had their initial plans for higher tuition fees in 2012-13 rejected by the country’s funding council in a move that will be closely watched in England.

The number of student complaints referred to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator shot up by a third last year, according to figures released today.