Market reforms should boost student lives

摘要

You might say that Bis has been busy. A flurry of consultations has emanated from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as the reality of exposing our further and higher education systems to greater competition starts to hit home. The concept of placing students' interests at the heart of reforms is likely to have a significant impact on the university system, especially those that, historically, were driven by research excellence rather than student experience. Arguably, this new approach has never been more pertinent - applications for UK university places are down 9% from this time last year. The University and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) has revealed that just under 70,000 people have applied for places in 2012. At this time last year, the number was almost 77,000.