Can Governments Improve Higher Education Through ‘Informing Choice’?

ABSTRACT

Over the past decade higher education policy in England has gradually switched from a stance of ‘government as purchaser’ to ‘government as informer’. During 2012 this policy stance has been intensified through new requirements for the advice provided by schools and the introduction of ‘Key Information Sets’ which are intended to ‘drive up quality’ through informed choice. This paper documents this policy shift and subjects it to critical scrutiny.

Keywords:

• higher education
• graduate premium
• teaching quality
• human capital

Notes

1 Some commentators (e.g. Dodds, 2011; Tapper, 2005) still write about recent policy as if it were a shift away from public ownership but this misrepresents the governance of universities in England. Traditional universities have long enjoyed a governance status as not-for-profit charities with constitutions similar to those of private or independent schools.

2 HESA Press Release 145: Income of Higher Education Institutions. Available at: http://www.hesa.ac.uk.ezproxye.bham.ac.uk/content/view/1675/161/.

3 Scholarship Search http://www.scholarship-search.org.uk/pls/mon/hc_edufin.page_pls_user_studmoney?x=16180339&y=&a=220707.

4 Information from website at http://www.careeranalysts.co.uk/prices/. Price as quoted 20 January 2012.

5 From the TDA website at http://www.tda.gov.uk/teacher/developing-career/iag-and-14-19/government-strategy.aspx.

6 More specifically, we might predict that applicants would reason that a course charging the maximum fee is in fact likely to be charging below its market value making it better value (and therefore more attractive) than a course charging below the cap which may be presumed to be at its market price. Choice between two courses charging the maximum fee demands additional information since the applicant cannot know whether the uncapped market price for one course would be higher than the other.

7 It is often asserted (e.g. O'Sullivan, 2002) that ‘information overload’ is an endemic problem in modern society. However, currently available evidence suggests that about half of all students in state schools report that they do not have enough information about higher education.