News
University responds to cost-conscious career-minded students
- 31st October 2011
Last week Coventry University announced the launch of its new venture, Coventry University College. The college will open to students in September 2012 and focus on a core range of vocational subjects including business, finance, accounting, banking, law and IT.
The College degrees will be awarded by the main university, with the key selling points for potential students being the College’s flexible nature and cut price cost.
Teaching will be offered in the evenings and at weekends, providing students with the ability to maintain other work and study commitments. The College also proposes to teach its courses in seven ‘blocks’, removing the long summer break and breaking free from the traditional three semester academic year.
Crucially, the course fees for the Coventry University College courses will be £4,800 per year. This will be a major incentive to students who are concerned about the rising cost of higher education. With universities now being able to charge up to £9,000 per year, plus ever rising living expenses, the decision about whether to go on to university is now a difficult one.
UCAS is already predicting a 12% drop in applications for 2012 admissions, with the reason being cited as the increased cost of tuition fees. A BBC/ComRes survey carried out over the summer found that current A–level students were worried about debt, with 10% not planning to apply to university and 60% considering an apprenticeship as an alternative.
The ComRes survey found that employability after graduating was also a concern for students. Therefore, subject choice is refreshingly returning to take centre stage. If graduates are going to be leaving university with £30,000 worth of debt, then they need to make sure that they enter an industry that currently requires skilled people.
As a result, universities are also expecting that applications for arts and humanities courses are going to suffer much more that vocational courses such as accountancy. Cambridge University Vice–Chancellor, Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, told the Guardian newspaper that “the ‘purer disciplines’ are in danger of losing out to more vocational courses which directly translate into salary benefits.”
Whilst Universities face having fewer applications, it is understandable that professional membership bodies such as CIMA and AAT have seen their organisations go from strength to strength. In 2010, CIMA saw its largest ever student annual intake.
Managing Director of CIMA, Andrew Harding, stated, “The figures go to show that in challenging economic times, ambitious graduates and school leavers across the world are taking no chances with their future careers and are choosing to study for a qualification that will equip them with the skills and expertise to become the business leaders of the future."It would seem in this age of austerity, Universities will need to become even more competitive and innovative to continue to attract and meet the needs of students if they are to thrive.
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