In this paper, we consider lessons for other countries about the design of student loans with income-contingent repayments (i.e. repayments calculated as "x" per cent of each borrower's subsequent income). Using a dataset of 20,000 simulated lifetime graduate earnings paths, we estimate the cost and distributional effects of reforms in…

The focus of this paper is the coalition United Kingdom government policy on university funding in England as a political economy. It depicts higher education as a public and private good in the context of international trends in "cost sharing" and it addresses the centrality of economic drivers for the profile and orientation of higher…

Reflecting the changing ideological and economic perspectives of the government of the day, the expansion of higher education in England has prompted numerous reforms aimed at reshaping and restructuring the sector and its funding. Leading to student riots and sparking some of the sharpest controversies in British higher education the reforms…

The government is consulting the sector on a new skills strategy and a simplified funding system for further education (FE). Some of the leading players were asked what they made of the government's vision and what they would like to see in the strategy. Brendan Barber warns that spending cuts will undermine many of the positive proposals in the…

With 6 billion British pounds of public spending reductions already on the table, and far deeper cuts inevitable, what are the prospects for adult learning in the new Parliament? Some of the regular contributors of this journal were asked what they expected and what they would like to see. Ewart Keep warns that the coalition parties' commitments…

This report presents an analysis of the diversity of income streams in UK higher education institutions (HEIs) at a time when the sector is facing considerable uncertainty. The research was conducted over a six-week period from March to April 2010 and, as such, it predated the establishment of the new Coalition Government in the UK. In the period…

Describes and evaluates further education's new funding methodology, introduced in 1993 by Britain's Further Education Funding Council when it took control of the higher education sector from local authorities. The methodology provides colleges with incentives to expand and lower unit costs and tries to reduce funding inequities among colleges.…

Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) were established in 2001, intended to be a key driver in enhancing the contribution of the further education (FE) sector to meeting skills needs. Current government policy expects employers and individuals to pay a greater share of the costs of training, particularly at Level 3, which is the CoVE priority…

This is the first in what is intended to be a regular series of short publications. It will enable the effects of the new variable fees arrangements for UK and EU domiciled full-time undergraduates attending Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded higher education institutions (HEIs) in England to be monitored. It brings…