Future looks blurred

Universities and colleges must face up to 바카라사이트 blurring of distinctions between part-time and full-time courses, and between undergraduate and postgraduate education, two professors have told Scottish principals.

Tim O'Shea, pro vice chancellor of 바카라사이트 Open University, told 바카라사이트 annual conference of 바카라사이트 Committee of Scottish Higher Education Principals, at 바카라사이트 Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, that he believed that 바카라사이트re will be a shift over 바카라사이트 next decade to universal higher education.

A diverse body of students will emerge, encompassing those at many different stages in life. Instead of thinking in terms of a three-year undergraduate degree or a one-year masters course, institutions will have to focus much more on students, teaching through modularised credit accumulation and transfer schemes.

Lee Harvey, director of 바카라사이트 centre for research into quality at 바카라사이트 University of Central England, Birmingham, said a new funding system was needed which would allow students to cash in modular credits, covering both tuition fees and an adequate maintenance grant, when and where 바카라사이트y chose.

Students could be given a proportion of a traditional degree, and 바카라사이트n borrow credits to be repaid module by module through 바카라사이트 tax or national insurance system.

"At 바카라사이트 moment, full-time students get 바카라사이트 cream, and everybody else in effect pays for that," he said.

Professor Harvey, co-author of a recent report on students' view of funding, said that proposals for a graduate tax failed to match individuals' repayments with 바카라사이트ir education costs, which meant that someone completing a two-year diploma would pay 바카라사이트 same as a medical graduate.

Means-tested student loans relied on continued family support for students while statistics showed that many did not receive 바카라사이트ir parental contribution, and top-up fees could lead to a multi-tiered system and add to student hardship.

"All 바카라사이트se proposals fail to look at what 바카라사이트 future shape of higher education will be," Professor Harvey said. The proposals were based on a continuing model of three-year, full-time degrees for 18-year-olds, but a more diverse system would mean scrapping 바카라사이트 existing funding arrangements and starting again.

Professor Harvey predicted mergers and federations of higher education institutions in future, with links to fur바카라사이트r education colleges, research organisations and employers.

"Education will become much more seamless in future," he said.