Universities Minister: Two-year degrees will save students thousands
1 min read
Universities will be able to offer two-year degrees in a bid to save students some £5,500 on tuition fees, the Government has announced.
Condensed undergraduate courses would contain the same number of units and contact hours but in a third of the time and with a 20% price reduction, Universities Minister Jo Johnson said.
He said that cutting back on a year of having to pay living costs as a student and the opportunity to get into work sooner meant a potential total saving of up to £25,000.
And he said he wanted to move beyond being "stuck with a system that has increasingly focused on offering only one way of benefiting from higher education".
It comes amid increasing concern about the cost of going to university - with some students now being saddled with some £50,000 in debt.
The possibility of two-year degrees was mooted earlier this year but the announcement today would make the plan considerably cheaper for students.
They have been tried before but Mr Johnson lamented that take-up had been “pitiful”.
He said the new plan was part of a drive to “break the mould” in a system where degrees lasting three years had “crowded out” more flexible ways of studying.
And he said the idea would attract mature student hopefuls who are hesitant to take three years out of employment.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
