Students: Fees and Charges

(asked on 15th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will allocate funding from the public purse for universities to offer refunds of 50 per cent to (a) postgraduate, (b) international and (c) other students who privately fund the cost of their tuition in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic year.


Answered by
Michelle Donelan Portrait
Michelle Donelan
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
This question was answered on 22nd March 2021

This has been a very difficult time for students, and the government is working with the sector to make sure all reasonable efforts are being made to enable students to continue their studies. I want to thank all higher education (HE) staff for their tireless work to ensure that young people do not have to put their lives or their academic journeys on hold.

I welcome the huge amount of resources universities have given to ensure online teaching is of the high quality expected by the government and the Office for Students (OfS). The government’s clear and stated expectation is that universities should maintain the quality and quantity of tuition and seek to ensure that all students regardless of their background have the resources to study remotely.

Universities are autonomous and responsible for setting their own fees within maximum fee limits set by regulations, where applicable. The OfS, as regulator for HE providers in England, has made it clear that HE providers must continue to comply with registration conditions relating to quality and academic standards, which set out requirements to ensure that courses are high quality, that all students, both domestic and international are supported and achieve good outcomes, and that standards are protected, regardless of whether a provider is delivering its courses through face-to-face teaching, remote online learning, or a combination of both.

We continue to regularly engage the sector in discussion on this issue. I wrote to the OfS on 13 January 2021 outlining the government’s expectations of the HE sector. Following this, the OfS wrote to provider accountable officers, setting out the actions they are taking in connection with providers’ compliance to existing regulatory requirements. The OfS has also published guidance on student and consumer protection during the COVID-19 outbreak, which is available via the following link: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/guidance-for-providers-about-student-and-consumer-protection-during-the-pandemic/.

Whether or not an individual student is entitled to a refund will depend on the specific contractual arrangements between the provider and student. Due to the individualised nature of student contracts and student circumstances, the process which is in place ensures that institutions have the opportunity to consider student complaints effectively and offers them an opportunity for early resolution of complaints with students. This is particularly important in situations where remedies other than refunds would be more helpful or beneficial to a student.

If students have concerns, there is a process in place. They should first raise their concerns with their university. If their concerns remain unresolved, students at providers in England or Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for Higher Education to consider their complaint. This is the case for both domestic and international students. The OIA website is available via the following link: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/.

The OfS does not get involved in individual student complaints. These are for the relevant HE provider and possibly the OIA. Students can, however, notify the OfS of issues that may be of regulatory interest to it. These are called notifications. The OfS uses this information as part of its regulatory monitoring activity and keep HE providers under review to ensure that they comply with the ongoing conditions of registration. The OfS has produced a guide for students to support them in this process, which is available via the following link: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/office-for-students-notifications/.

In relation to international students, the government has worked closely with the HE sector to ensure that existing rules and processes are as flexible as possible for international students at this time. This includes the ability to engage via distance/blended learning for the duration of the 2020/21 academic year and confirming that existing international students who have been studying by distance distance/blended learning will remain eligible to apply for the new graduate route, provided they are in the UK by 21 June 2021 (27 September for those studying one-year courses in 2021) and meet the other requirements of the route. I have also written to international students directly throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, providing up-to-date guidance and setting out the support available for students.

In relation to postgraduate students, the master’s loan scheme was introduced in summer 2016 to help remove the financial barrier often faced by those wishing to step up to achieving a master’s level qualification. This was followed two years later with the doctoral degree loan. Both loans are intended as a contribution to the cost of postgraduate level study and is not intended to cover all costs associated with postgraduate study.

We recognise that in these exceptional circumstances some students may face financial hardship. The department has worked with the OfS to clarify that providers are able to use existing funds, worth around £256 million for academic year 2020/21, towards hardship support. We have also made an additional £70 million of student hardship funding available to HE providers this financial year. HE providers have flexibility in how they distribute the funding to students, in a way that best prioritises those in greatest need. This is available to all students, including international and postgraduate students.

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