UK universities are facing the biggest unexpected result in decades

UK universities are facing their biggest shake-up in decades on plans for further transition to a market approach announced in consultation with the Government on 6 November.

New regime designed to reward good teaching will allow high-performing universities to increase tuition fees by the rate of inflation, according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Skills Green Paper Fulfilling our Potential: Technology developments, social mobility and choice of students.

The fees are frozen at a maximum of £ 9,000 (US $ 13 550) a year since 2012, when the government lifted the cap of just over £ 3,000. Studies show that all but a handful of universities applying the maximum fee for all of its courses.

The department says the proposals will "put students at the heart of higher education."

Under the new Technology Excellence framework, universities and their services will be classified using published data from surveys of student satisfaction, high prices, student and graduate employment rates and other sources.

Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said: "Our ambition is to drive the quality of teaching in our universities to ensure students and taxpayers get value for money and employers receiving graduates with the skills they need."

The proposals include the abolition of the Education Funding Council for England higher or HEFCE and the Office for Fair Access, and the creation of a single regulator of universities called Office for students or OFS.

The Green Paper says that the new body will have a legal obligation "to promote the interests of students, to ensure that the OFS considered issues primarily from the perspective of students, not for providers."

The "majority" of the current functions HEFCE would transfer to the new regulator.

HEFCE, the successor of the Committee of University Grants, established in 1918 to create a buffer between the universities and the government, had the role of the distribution of educational resources for universities within the total amount set by the government.

While Ministers have the government priorities, decisions were taken by HEFCE operating at arm's length "from Whitehall.

Of OFS would be "arm's length public body" with duties, including "operating gateway entry" in the sector for private providers; "Providing a baseline of quality"; use framework Technology Excellence; "Improving access and success of disadvantaged students"; "Providing protection student"; and "ensuring financial stability, management and good governance."

OFS "will ensure the institutional autonomy and academic freedom, which is supported by the success of English higher education," said the Green Paper.

How teaching grant will be distributed is fundamental to the principle of separation of ministers and allocation decisions is crucial for the credibility of the proposals.

One proposal is for officials from the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Skills to "determine the formula for the allocation of teaching grants" and the alternative is for OFS to take responsibility for formulas for the distribution of the amount by Student Loans Company or "other body financing "payments.

The first option, says the Green Paper would "enable the Ministers to strengthen the incentives to provide higher education that supports the needs of the economy."

"A duty to protect academic freedom and institutional autonomy would ensure that ministers and officials would not identify specific institutions and it can be supported by an independent advisory committee."

This may not be enough to satisfy questionable scientists who fear government interference.

Dame Julia Good fellow, president of Universities UK and vice-chancellor of the University of Kent, said: "We welcome the emphasis in the Green Paper on protecting the interests of students and demonstrating the value of university education."

But she added: "With a wide range of issues covered in the paper, we will be carefully considered complex but vitally important areas, such as how integrated funding and regulatory powers, the future of the bodies of the sector and their relationship with the government and how Green Paper defends the autonomy of our university sector on a global level. "

And Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive universities, said: "The autonomy of our universities is crucial to their success. It is extremely important that any regulation is risk-based and proportionate and does not add to the current weight or stifle innovation. "

Control of the fees cap

The proposals include the abolition of control of parliament cap on tuition fees and handed it to Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, senior minister responsible for universities.

Technology Excellence framework which reflects Excellence Framework for Research, will encourage a greater focus on teaching and graduate prospects of high-quality employment, and aims to manage the level of teaching and give students more information.

The government also sought wider participation of disadvantaged students and encourage suppliers to increase policy support to all students through their course and to find employment or further study.

New advisory group on social mobility, reporting to universities and Minister Science Jo Johnson, will be tasked with drawing up a plan to meet ambitions Prime Minister David Cameron to increase the proportion of disadvantaged pupils entering higher education and increase the number of BME students from 20 % by 2020.

The government aims to see new players on the market of higher education and the Green Paper will make it easier for them to find quick access to the funding of students and "does not limit the number of students."

New players in the market

The requirement for institutions to have a number of students before they can become universities could be done, so it would be faster and easier to get a diploma awarding powers.

Johnson said: "We must do more to ensure that the time and money students invest in higher education is well spent.

"The new Office for Students will have a clear mandate to champion value for money and the interest of students in their decision. And by opening up the sector to new universities and colleges, students will have more choices than ever when they come to apply university. "

A consultation on the proposals in the Green Paper opens today and will continue for 10 weeks, closing on January 15, 2016.