Future of university education report

Lord Browne's report (PDF) into the future of university education reports today. With yesterday's CEHR report identifying that eight per cent of Black students are at Russell Group institutions, compared to 24 per cent of White students today's finding will only increase interest in the disparity in opportunities between students from different backgrounds.

The following are some of the recommendations:

• There should be no limit on fees charged by universities
• Rise of repayment threshold to £21,000 •'Radical overhaul' of careers service
• Universities charging more than £7,000 a year would be subject to increased scrutiny over student access
• An Access and Success fund should be set up to help universities recruit and retain students from disadvantaged backgrounds
• The government will fully underwrite fees charged up to £6,000
• Public investment should continue, at a level similar to the current one (£700m per year) to support certain courses, such as science and technology subjects, medicine, nursing and "strategically important" language courses
• Universities will no longer have to provide a minimum bursary (currently £329) for students on full grants - the cash will be distributed through the grants system instead
• Four existing higher education bodies (Higher Education Funding Council for England, Quality Assurance Agency, Office for Fair Access, and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator) would be abolished and replaced by a single Higher Education Council