'That's What She Said' report here. - National Union of Students

Literature review
Gender and higher education policy
“A University is a trust confided by the State to
certain hands for the common interest of the nation” 167
Sir William Hamilton, 1835
This research has clear implications for policy in higher
education and in relation to violence against women,
since the current UK strategy on the latter does not
adequately target students as a particular risk group. 168
Below, we present our analysis of a selection of key
policies relating to HE, and especially those which have
relevance to gender issues. 169 The expansion of FE and
HE has been stated by policymakers across the political
spectrum to be an economic imperative. 170 This is
problematic if higher education spaces are not
empowering for all types of students, and in particular if
the most privileged male students are reacting against
widening participation by policing what they consider to
be their territory.
Perhaps the most important recent policy initiative in
Higher Education is the Independent Review of Higher
Education Funding and Student Finance, or the ‘Browne
Review’. This was launched in 2009 in order to review
the funding of undergraduate education in England and
ensure sustainability. Other aims included examining
levels of participation and quality of teaching across
HEIs, and addressing failures of the higher education
system which had been identified prior to the 2010
election, for instance around widening participation.
Recommendations included encouraging HEIs to
expand to meet student demand, with a target of
increasing the number of places by 10 per cent, and
requiring institutions to better inform students about
teaching standards and curricula, levels of support and
guidance, assessments, facilities such as libraries and
IT services, and students’ unions. However, the major
directive of the review was in relation to student fees:
underpinned by the principle that students should ‘pay
more’ in order to ‘get more’ and see their degrees as an
investment, the report recommended that the cap on
tuition fees should be removed (it was eventually raised
to a maximum of £9,000 per annum). It also
recommended an increase in maintenance support for
low-income students, and suggested that upfront costs
for part time students should be eliminated. 171
In 2011, NUS’ The Pound in your Pocket report
addressed the financial significance of this policy
change for students in England. 14,500 were surveyed,
and 42 per cent indicated that they did not feel able to
concentrate on their undergraduate studies because of
financial concerns. 70 per cent of the respondents in
the sample were women. 172 Recently, there have been
stories in the media about women undergraduates
dealing with financial insecurity through working in the
sex industry, and in November 2012 a businessman
was arrested in connection with a website called
‘Sponsor a Scholar’, which was offering young women
up to £15,000 per year to cover their tuition fees, in
exchange for sex acts with strangers. 173
Following the Browne Review, the 2011 Higher
Education White Paper Students at the Heart of the
System was commissioned. Its key aims were stated to
be ensuring sustainable funding of the HE sector in
England, delivering a better student experience and
increasing social mobility. Overall, the paper concluded
that the changes recommended in the Browne review
were necessary, relating ideas about ‘costeffectiveness’
to the principle of spreading equality of
opportunity. It also argued that students should be
better off following the changes to the higher education
funding framework, due to the fact that tuition fees
would be based on a ‘pay as you earn’ scheme and
because changes being implemented to HEIs would
increase flexibility, diversity and ‘choice’. For instance,
there would be more user-friendly methods of study
such as sandwich courses and distance learning,
offered by a wider range of providers (including private
universities), and institutions would be made more
accountable and innovative through a competitive
market and university-industry collaboration. It also
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