The private higher education provider landscape in the UK

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics – private HE providers in the UK.

	N	Col.%
Age
Est. 10 years or less	252	31.4
Est. 11–20 years	225	28.1
Est. 21–35 years	170	21.2
Est. over 35 years	155	19.3
Legal status
For-profit company	543	67.7
Not-for-profit company	71	8.9
Charity	188	23.4
Provider name
University/University College	10	1.2
Academy/College/School	407	50.7
Company/Ltd	265	33
Other	120	15
Student loan status
Approved for student loans	107	13.3
Not approved for student loans	695	86.7
Tier 4 visa status
Licenced to sponsor tier 4 visas	86	10.7
Not licenced to sponsor tier 4	716	89.3
Subjects offered
Business/IT specialist	371	46.3
Other specialist	146	18.2
Non-specialist	285	35.5
Highest level of study
Level 5 or below	272	33.9
Level 6	178	22.2
Level 7 or above	352	43.9
Location
London	284	35.4
South of England	94	11.7
Elsewhere In IK	424	52.9
Validation arrangements
Validated by public university	269	33.5
Validated by qualifications body	84	10.5
Validated by other body	349	43.5
Not validated	100	12.5
Quality review status
Quality reviewed	199	24.8
Not quality reviewed	603	75.2

Table 2. Initial latent class analysis output.

Latent classes	AIC	BIC
1	14,163.68	14,257.42
2	13,107.76	13,295.24
3	12,915.79	13,201.70
4	12,791.75	13,166.72
5	12,992.96	13,363.24
6	13,011.25	13,390.90

Table 3. Four latent class solutions.

Size of latent class	1	2	3	4	All
	49.7%	10.5%	27.0%	12.8%	100.0%
Age
Est. 10 years or less	0.474	0.481	0.105	0.000	0.314
Est. 11–20 years	0.327	0.366	0.205	0.190	0.281
Est. 21–35 years	0.178	0.039	0.310	0.283	0.212
Est. Over 35 years	0.021	0.120	0.380	0.527	0.193
Legal status
For profit company	0.938	0.924	0.294	0.271	0.677
Not-for-profit company	0.033	0.059	0.201	0.089	0.089
Charity	0.028	0.017	0.505	0.640	0.234
Provider name
University/University College	0.000	0.013	0.000	0.086	0.012
Academy/College/School	0.237	0.927	0.722	0.761	0.507
Company/Ltd	0.617	0.005	0.058	0.059	0.330
Other	0.146	0.055	0.219	0.094	0.150
Student loan status
Approved for student loans	0.000	0.399	0.000	0.714	0.133
Not approved for student loans	1.000	0.601	1.000	0.286	0.867
Tier 4 visa status
Licenced to sponsor tier 4 visas	0.017	0.248	0.104	0.348	0.107
Not licenced to sponsor tier 4	0.983	0.752	0.896	0.652	0.893
Subjects offered
Business/IT specialist	0.666	0.692	0.180	0.081	0.463
Other specialist	0.030	0.056	0.358	0.451	0.182
Non-specialist	0.300	0.252	0.444	0.468	0.355
Highest level of study
Level 5 or below	0.514	0.242	0.190	0.056	0.339
Level 6	0.158	0.152	0.370	0.215	0.222
Level 7 or above	0.328	0.607	0.440	0.729	0.439
Location
London	0.177	0.954	0.406	0.440	0.354
South of England	0.111	0.020	0.139	0.175	0.117
Elsewhere in IK	0.712	0.026	0.455	0.385	0.529
Validation arrangements
Validated by public university	0.090	0.457	0.478	0.886	0.335
Validated by qualifications body	0.106	0.376	0.047	0.000	0.105
Validated by other body	0.694	0.107	0.260	0.069	0.435
Not validated	0.109	0.060	0.216	0.045	0.125
Quality review status
Quality reviewed	0.093	0.639	0.140	0.758	0.248
Not quality reviewed	0.907	0.361	0.860	0.242	0.752

Note: Modal categories are indicated in bold.

Table 4. Leaner characteristics at public and designated private providers 2016/2017 (%).

Institution	Leaner characteristics
	Gender		Ethnicity		Age		Disability
	Male	Female	White	BME	Under 30	30 or more	Yes	No
Public	43	57	77	23	80	20	12	88
Private	48	52	50	50	60	40	10	90