Behind the Headlines

Access to postgraduate study has been in the media a lot lately. On 6 January leaders of 11 UK universities told The Observer they were deeply concerned about the government’s ‘neglect’ of postgraduate students, following revelations that public funding for postgraduates would be reduced. Oxford’s own Will Hutton wrote in the paper about the fact that “within two years not one British graduate studying for a taught master's degree will get public support and the funding available to those undertaking a research-based doctorate will be cut by a fifth”, and argued that “the implications are obvious. Unless [postgraduates at UK universities] can win one of the few scholarships, or the support of a business or a charity, or have rich parents, they simply will not be able to embark on their study or research without crippling levels of debt.”

Reports on 10 January following a release of Higher Education Statistics Agency data noted that the number of UK students entering postgraduate study fell by 8% last year. And most recently the case of a student who is bringing a claim against St Hugh’s College over the financial conditions of postgraduate entry has been reported in a range of papers, and raised in the House of Commons by his MP, Hazel Blears.

At present, postgraduate study may be funded through research council studentships, the pool of which is diminishing; through sponsorship (for example by a business); through scholarships provided by the university or donors; or through private means or commercial loans. There is no national government loan system equivalent to the one for undergraduates, and UK universities cannot provide the same level of scholarships that are on offer at better-endowed US universities. In addition, national means testing for postgraduates does not exist in the way it does for undergraduates, making it much harder to target the scholarships that are available at those with the greatest need. The effect is that, for some, finance can be a barrier to accessing postgraduate education.

Oxford University has been seeking to raise the public profile of this postgraduate access issue for some time. While Oxford can provide much more scholarship funding than most UK universities, it cannot provide for everyone. In his annual oration in 2011, Professor Andrew Hamilton, the Vice-Chancellor, said: “The health of the UK’s research base depends critically on the supply of talented graduates … There are sadly too many examples of Oxford losing bright graduate students to overseas universities because of the funding gap. It is the single biggest reason why those to whom we make offers turn us down. And there is another aspect to the problem, which relates directly to the continuing UK debate about equality of opportunity and enhanced social mobility … [the existence of] major funding barriers to [postgraduate study] is hardly equitable.” He urged the creation of a UK government loan scheme for postgraduate study, as exists in the US, and discussed Oxford’s efforts to raise funds to increase scholarship support.

He returned to the theme in March 2012 in an article for The Times, and again in October 2012, announcing a £100m matched funding scheme for postgraduate scholarships, in which the University will put up £40m of its own money to match donations towards postgraduate support. He pledged Oxford's strong commitment to do all it could to close what he called the “graduate funding gap”. The generosity of donors means that, today, Oxford has already raised almost £30m of the £100m target.

There is increasing public discussion of the issues, including reports from Alan Milburn, the Higher Education Commission, the British Academy, the 1994 group, and the NUS.

Oxford welcomes broad fact-based public debate on this important issue. Unfortunately, when Hazel Blears claimed in Parliament on 23 January that “47% of [Oxford] applicants who were offered places on academic merit have been unable to take up those offers because of their inability to raise the necessary funds”, and later, “47% of people who apply to Oxford are unable to take up their places, despite having the academic qualifications, simply because they cannot raise the money up front”, both statistics were incorrect.

These were mistaken uses of a figure that Oxford has put into the public domain itself precisely to highlight the challenges of funding postgraduate students. Each year around 7,500 offers of places are made to postgraduate applicants to Oxford, and some candidates turn Oxford down. The University surveys those who do not take up their places to find out why. In the 2011 survey, the number citing lack of funding as the main reason they turned down their offer was 356, or 45% of respondents. This is in contrast to the erroneous '47% of all offer holders', which would be around 3,800, or even worse, '47% of all applicants', which would be nearly 10,000 people.

Nonetheless, it is more than Oxford would like. It is not good for social mobility or for the competitiveness of a university or nation to lose talent because of financial barriers. Oxford’s intensive fundraising efforts, and its representations to government about the need for postgraduate funding and loans, will continue.