The new crackdown on student numbers for “rip-off” university courses is not an attack on arts and humanitiesdegrees, an education minister has claimed.
It comes after Rishi Sunak announced plans to cap student numbers on university courses with poor career prospects, which he claims sell young people a “false dream”.
There are fears the plans would hit disadvantaged people most, with poorer students finding “the drawbridge being pulled up”.
The plans have also been criticised because creative courses could be badly affected.
Responding to claims the cap on student numbers is an attack on the arts and humanities, higher education minister Robert Halfon said: “That’s absolutely not the case. Because we’re not saying that particular arts courses are going to have limits. It may be that in some universities there are arts courses that are leading to good jobs.”
He told Times Radio: “What we’re saying is it’s only courses in universities, whatever those courses may be, that lead to poor outcomes — whether that’s continuation, completion of courses or not getting good, skilled jobs at the end — those courses will be the focus of recruitment limits by the Office for Students.”
He added: “The fundamental purpose of university, of course apart from education and research, which are very important, is to get a good skill and again a good job at the end of it.”
Under today’s proposals, limits will be imposed on courses that have high dropout rates or a low proportion of graduates getting a professional job.
Critics argue the use of graduate salary data to measure the quality of courses is “reductive and unhelpful”.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the announcement was “an attack on the aspirations of young people”.
Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Munira Wilson said: “Universities don’t want this. It’s making it harder for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to go on to further study.”
