Natfhe angered over Hefce diploma plan

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds should be encouraged to do degrees as well as diplomas according to university and college lecturers' union Natfhe in its response to proposals made by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to widen participation.

The funding council is proposing to give priority to diploma level qualifications.

"It is quite questionable to assume that working-class students want diplomas not degrees," said Liz Allen, Natfhe's national officer for higher education. "If participation is to be extended to those who have not traditionally had access to higher education, then it should be done on the same terms as to others."

To compete in the job market, people need degrees, she added. "The more you expand student numbers, the more important it is to get a degree."

Natfhe broadly welcomed the proposals, but it called for more funding to encourage specific ethnic groups. There should be student-related additional funds for Muslim women and Caribbean men, it said. And there is also a need for more information on the nature of participation and representation by different groups.

Hefce plans to allocate about Pounds 30 million to universities and colleges that recruit students from disadvantaged backgrounds as part of its teaching allocation.