Oral Answers to Questions

David Evennett Excerpts

Monday 14th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Claire Coutinho (East Surrey) (Con)]

19. What steps his Department is taking to prioritise improving the quality of higher education.

[Sir David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con)]

20. What steps his Department is taking to prioritise improving the quality of higher education.

[The Minister for Higher and Further Education (Michelle Donelan)]

For the first time ever, the Office for Students is setting minimum thresholds for completion and for progression rates to graduate jobs. We are also consulting on stopping the uncontrolled growth of low-quality courses.

[Michelle Donelan]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. From September 2023, we are reducing interest rates on student loans to the retail price index only. This, combined with the tuition fee freeze for over seven years, means that students can graduate with up to £11,500 less debt from the off.

[Sir David Evennett]

I fully support the idea of minimum eligibility requirements to maintain the high quality of our degrees. However, will my right hon. Friend assure me that students who do not meet those requirements will have alternative routes open and available to them, including via foundation years or college courses, that will allow them to progress subsequently to university when they are ready?

[Michelle Donelan]

I agree with my right hon. Friend. Too many young people are pushed on to courses that they are not ready for at the moment, which is why we are capping the cost of foundation years to enable more people to use this as an access route. We are also introducing the lifelong loan entitlement, which will make higher education and higher technical education much more flexible.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Walker]

I hear what the hon. Gentleman says. We have consulted on the approach to be taken to assessing such schemes. As we discussed earlier, a change in condition is one factor that the Department can take into consideration in such cases, so I ask him please to write to us with more of the detail.

[Sir David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con)]

T9. Does my hon. Friend agree that essay mills have the potential to cause severe damage to academic integrity? What steps are being taken to tackle them?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Alex Burghart)]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right: essay mills denigrate the excellent work that the vast majority of students do by allowing a tiny minority to cheat. That is why, in our Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, which will soon receive Royal Assent, we are outlawing them, and we will punish everyone involved in them.