Government must halt privatisation of universities and learn lessons from failed US experiment

The union said the catalogue of scandals in the US around mis-selling of degrees, poor graduation rates and the private firms' reliance on taxpayers' money meant the government needed to take stock before giving private firms the green light to move further into UK universities.
 
The union was responding to reports this morning that the for-profit higher education provider, BPP, is launching an aggressive expansion plan to jointly run at least 10 public universities. The union highlighted the fact that the scandals in America led to an investigation by the US Senate and a rare call stateside for tighter regulation. More on the scandals in the US can be found here and here 

UCU went on to tell the government to pay attention to a recent report from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) which warned ministers that for-profit companies could threaten the quality of students' education and diminish the standing of UK higher education. More on that story can be found here

Just last week 500 senior academics joined calls to halt any expansion of for-profit universities. Eighty-five per cent of professors polled said they thought for-profit providers would offer lower quality courses than public universities and 81% said they believed an expansion of for-profit providers would lead to a decline in the UK's global reputation. More on that story can be found here
 
In 2008-9, the US taxpayer pumped almost $24 billion into for-profit education. For-profit colleges, on average, rely on federal loans and grants for 86% of their revenue. However, despite this investment for-profit institutions in America have much lower graduation rates and students are twice as likely to default on their loan payments.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'The government's tuition fees policy is a complete mess. However, inviting for-profit firms into a market to try and drive down the price is incredibly dangerous. Student loan debt in the USA now outstrips credit card debt, with millions of vulnerable people mis-sold poor quality, inappropriate qualifications using federal money.

'Allowing the expansion of for-profit providers can only undermine the excellent international reputation the UK has built, and works hard to maintain. In the interests of students, parents and our universities, I urge the government to pause, look again at the recent HEFCE report that warned about the potential damage to quality, standards and reputation and reconsider its privatisation programme before it is too late.'