Postgraduate education is vital for the economy, so a system of government financial support – like the one for undergraduates - is needed to help students
When the government publishes its white paper on the funding arrangements for university teaching, many will be looking at its approach to postgraduate master's degrees. The Browne report gave scant attention to this sector, concluding only that its authors had seen no evidence that the absence of student support has harmed access to postgraduate education, and recommending that no action be taken. The fatal flaw in this position is that it is based on "evidence" relating to the current system. The future system, the one that Browne has helped to create, will be vastly different.
There is a strong likelihood that postgraduate fees will rise to match the full cost of teaching. It is probable that there will be an abrupt decline in the number of UK students who are willing and able to continue their education.
Universities such as my own will continue to offer high-quality postgraduate courses, and enable students to engage with leading research academics. There is a real possibility that these programmes will increasingly be dominated by overseas students.
This trend is already in place. UK universities have seen more than three-fold growth in the number of full-time international students participating in taught master's degrees in the last 10 years for which records are available, compared with a healthy but much more modest 40% growth among UK students. Increased fees will undoubtedly depress the market for UK students.
Such an outcome from government policy flies in the face of the evidence about the importance of postgraduate education. Last year's review led by Professor Sir Adrian Smith concluded that the skills of postgraduates are "critical for tackling major business challenges". It highlighted the potential for "responsive and tailored" postgraduate provision to play an important role in "upskilling" the UK workforce.
That view echoes the recent CBI report, which encouraged industry to support graduates to develop the applied skills required in the workplace.
Today's undergraduates are going to encounter a changing work environment. Access to postgraduate education will play a much greater role in their career entry and progression, with "in-career" postgraduate taught programmes being key tools. The Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, chaired by Alan Milburn, identified the financial constraints of postgraduate education as a real barrier to social mobility – and that was under the current funding arrangements, not the post-Browne era.
While it's likely that the state will continue to support some postgraduate education in strategic disciplines such as teaching and social work, the rest will be subject to the same market forces as the undergraduate market. The government has put in place a support system for undergraduates. Not for postgraduates.
Given the importance of continuing education, it would seem logical to extend the system of loan provision to postgraduates. We need a system of financial support that reflects the reality of lifetime learning. A single loan system to cover both undergraduate and postgraduate learning, with a lifetime cap, is the solution. Loans could be taken by students whenever they take up their studies. A lifetime cap provides flexibility, allowing students to meet their individual needs. The lifetime cap also provides government with a method for controlling investment. Such a system could be established without changing the proposed arrangements for undergraduate education already set out. It is practical to deliver. Other countries, notably Australia, have similar systems.
The Browne review necessarily concentrated on the requirements to fund undergraduates. However, there is both the opportunity and necessity to create an integrated system of student financing. The alternative is a system in which UK universities continue to operate in a global market place for postgraduate education from which our own students become increasingly excluded.
• Don Nutbeam is vice-chancellor of Southampton University