Fees-ible reforms?

The UK’s universities are highly regarded abroad, but are controversial at home. While increasing participation has boosted people’s skills and their social mobility prospects, ‘edusceptics’ worry that too many people are attending university, and about the funding of the growth through fees and loans. Meanwhile the number of young people going to higher education continues to rise.

The independent review post-18 education and funding, led by Sir Philip Augar has grappled with these controversies, and the Government has now set out its response.

Who are the biggest winners from these proposed changes – students, universities or the Treasury? How will post 18 education and training change as a result of them?   What can we hope for from the Lifelong Learning Entitlement? And will these reforms leave the country in a better or worse place to deliver the education- and skills-based productivity gains we need to cope with  big economic changes and to raise living standards, in the 2020s?

The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar chaired by David Willetts – as part of The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation – to debate and answer these questions with leading experts, the Chair of the Post-18 Education and Funding Review Dr. Philip Augar, and Panel Member Professor Alison Wolf. The event will be open for people to physically attend, and also broadcast via YouTube and the Resolution Foundation website. Viewers will be able to submit questions to the panel before and during the event.