Higher Education Funding Policies Research Articles

Higher Education Funding Policy and Research Productivity of Universities in Georgia

This research study explores the existing funding systems of higher education in Georgia and their influence on universities’ research productivity. The research used Harman’s (2007) typology of research funding— institutional, project, and special program—to analyze each approach’s effect on universities’ research productivity. The research revealed that these funding models did not substantially affect the development of scholarly and research capacity. Major barriers to the development of higher education and research are largely related to the amount and financing models. Analysis of the higher education financing policy showed that per capita financing does not allow sufficient research activities at HEI, and targeted financing programs oriented toward developing specific scientific directions or improving scientific infrastructure do not promote research productivity. Based on research findings, the author argues that immediate changes in funding policy are required for the institutional development of university-based research in higher education of Georgia.

Does Student Loan Debt Structure Young People’s Housing Tenure? Evidence from England

AbstractThis article analyses the interaction between two policy areas affecting young people in England – housing and student funding. It is the first of its kind exploring a range of dynamics in the relationship between housing and student loan debt. Young people today are far less likely to own their home and are more likely to live with their parents than earlier generations. In parallel, higher education tuition fee increases have led to a growing share of students taking out loans and graduating with higher debt, which they will be repaying for most of their working lives. This research examines the relationship between student loans – having borrowed for higher education and attitudes towards debt – and housing tenure at age 25, using the Next Steps dataset. We find that young graduates who did not borrow for higher education are more likely to own their home and less likely to rent or live with their parents than graduates who borrowed for their studies or young people who never attended higher education. These results suggest that higher education funding policies and student loan debt play important roles in structuring young people’s housing in England.

Who can earn risk-free profit? : Possibility of Arbitrage in the Hungarian Student Loan System

People without tertiary educational attainment are more affected by poverty. Thus, obtaining a higher degree of education can act as a key to pulling sections of society out of the poverty trap. In higher education, Hungary has a dual-track tuition policy, which offers restricted merit-based entry to state-funded universities, leading to entirely free higher education for a limited number of students. As the most disadvantaged students perform worse at secondary school, their chances of being enrolled in free tertiary education are much lower. To improve equity, students have access to a well-designed student loan system in Hungary. This study demonstrates that Hungary’s higher education funding policy is currently further widening the gap between the rich and the poor, as holding a Student Loan 1 and a Hungarian Government Security Plus (MÁP Plusz) position results in arbitrage for those who do not need to borrow to finance their tuition fee and living expenses during the academic years. Instead of supporting the catchingup process for students coming from low-income backgrounds, the Hungarian system provides additional financial aid to advantaged students. Based on an international comparison of student loan schemes, adopting a targeted approach instead of a universal one might be worthy of consideration, e.g. providing an interest rate subsidy to disadvantaged students or setting a lower income level of the student’s household as an eligibility criterion for borrowing.

Graduate attributes: Social constructions and lived experience of university students in Ireland

Aim. This paper examines how dominant understandings of students in third-level education in Ireland are reflected in national policies, filtered through the official and aspirational texts issued by Irish colleges, and negotiated and contested by students. Specifically, we investigate the discrepancies between the perceived needs of students in third-level education as imagined in government policies and promoted by higher education institutions, and the lived realities of students who grapple with multiple challenges brought about by structural failures in housing and higher education funding policy.
 Methods. Through documentary analysis and primary qualitative data on student experiences, we examine how the imagined figure of the third-level student/graduate becomes imbued with the aspirations of multiple stakeholders: policymakers, academic institutions, and potential employers - in ways that conflict with the lived realities of students.
 Results. We find that students are caught between the ambitions and expectations of an education system that pushes them into higher education without the requisite and adequate supports.
 Conclusion. The ideal graduate is expected to embody the nation’s hope for future success as well as to uphold the alma mater’s reputation among employers. Couched in this rhetoric of the graduate as the beacon of hope, however, are deeper failings of a welfare state that is still battling the aftermath of recession. These failures are projected onto students, manifesting in a very real way in their minds and lives as they struggle to balance between institutional, family and personal expectations, the demands of daily life and future plans.

Deterred by debt? Young people, schools and the escalating cost of UK higher education

ABSTRACTPopular commentaries lament that reforms to the financing of Higher Education (HE) in the UK will operate as a significant deterrent to HE participation amongst students from less advantaged backgrounds. This view of debt as a deterrent is powerful and exists not only at a societal level, but also, as we show, is present in schools. Our data reveal, however, that these ‘debt commentaries’ play out very differently across schools according to the nature of their catchment and the sorts of views staff hold about pupils in relation to their fear of debt. Furthermore, students’ views on debt largely contradict these popular ‘debt-as-deterrent’ narratives and instead are often characterised by acceptance, ambivalence and at times positive orientations towards the prospect of debt. These findings vividly illuminate both the regional and institutional specificity of staff and student decision making in relation to ‘debt’, hence they have substantial implications for HE funding policy specifically and debates about widening participation in HE more generally, where ensuring greater equity in the scope of choices young people have when it comes to choosing a university is a pressing concern.

HE in FE: vocationalism, class and social justice

The paper draws on the Wolf (2015) report (Heading for the Precipice: Can Further and Higher Education Funding Policies Be Sustained?) and other quantitative data, specifically that derived from HEFCE’s Participation of Local Area (POLAR) classifications. In addition it explores key literature and debates that associate higher education in further education (HE in FE) with the pursuit of social justice. This enables an interrogation of conceptualisations of vocationalism as well as a consideration of its articulation with class and gender. Whilst the paper is set within a particular and English socio-economic context, it addresses issues that have a much broader global significance. The paper argues that whilst HE in FE has limited traction in facilitating social mobility it does serve as a resource in the struggle for social justice.

Funding US higher education: policy making theories reviewed

Higher education policy and politics in the United States (US) has been an issue of studies for several decades. Since the 1960s, researchers have been attempting to understand, explain and extrapolate on the relationships between higher education funding and political institutions. This review attempts to assess recent studies concerned with US higher education funding policies. Specifically, research undertaken for this paper followed McLendon’s (2003) suggestion for organising research studies according to four areas of contemporary political science research lines: (a) principal–agent theory, (b) policy process theories, (c) policy innovation and diffusion theory, and (d) comparative perspectives on government political systems. The studies selected for this review advance our knowledge of the forces that drive policies as well as address the issues that higher education institutions are facing: accountability, affordability and access.

Not changing English: syllabus reform at Oxford

This article offers a personal view of the reform of the undergraduate English syllabus which is soon to come into effect at Oxford University. The particular example is analysed in relation to two more general developments: on one hand, changing conceptions of the place and purpose of language study in the discipline of English, and on the other, the pressures faced by UK universities as a result of new higher education funding policies.

Promoting the accessibility and affordability in Portuguese higher education

In the last decades Portugal experienced a significant change regarding higher education admission and participation, as it passed from about 24000 students in 1960/1961 to round 377000 students in 2007/2008. Accessibility is countrywide guaranteed. Portugal has followed up the higher education funding policies in the scope of the international tendencies. A cost-sharing policy has been taken by means of the introductions of tuition fees in public education and policies which have stimulated the development of private education and changed the burden of the funding Higher Education in the direction of the students and their families. How is affordability guaranteed?

Funding universities for efficiency and equity: research findings versus petty politics

The present paper starts by discussing the principles of public funding of universities. The size of the social returns to investment in education gives an indication regarding the most efficient use of resources, while the difference between the private and the social rates relates to issues of equity. The available evidence is contrasted to higher education funding policies in several countries. It is concluded that there is a divide between the research findings regarding efficient and equitable financing, and the actual public funding of universities. The reasons for this divide are discussed in the context of political economy, rent‐seeking by several stakeholders and, above all, vote‐seeking by politicians.

Globalisation and higher education funding policy shifts in Kenya

This paper identifies, examines and discusses higher education funding policy shifts that have taken place in Kenya. The paper argues that even though Kenya's higher education funding policy shifts, from free higher education to cost‐sharing, and privatisation and commercialisation, are (to a greater extent) products of the country's encounter with globalisation, local social, political and economic dynamics have been of equally significant influence. Thus, the country's higher education funding policies have been products of a convergence of both the dynamics of globalisation and local contextual imperatives. Furthermore, the point is made that the shift from free higher education to cost‐sharing, and privatisation and commercialisation, was symptomatic of a global transition from a development paradigm that was predominantly based on Keynesianism to a neo‐liberal paradigm that privileges mean expenditure on social services (such as higher education) and the market logic.

The impact of funding policies on higher education in Jamaica

This paper analyses the changes in the higher education funding policies and resource allocation models of the Jamaican government in the period 1962–2003. Throughout these four decades, four different systems were in force. This paper focuses particularly on the arguments for the funding policies and models and the impact of the models on the operation of the higher education institutions, access to higher education and equity and efficiency within the higher education system. The analysis reveals that each funding model has its advantages and downsides. Some of these can be traced back to the logical underpinnings of the models. At the same time, however, part of the developments and (unintended) consequences are due to path‐dependent elements of the evolving small‐state system of higher education, notably the fact that the main Jamaican university is an intergovernmental multi‐campus university.

Higher Education Funding Council (HEFC) methods in the 1990s: national and regional developments and policy implications

The Higher Education Funding Councils (HEFCs) were established to implement a devolved higher education funding policy. Over the 1990s, HEFC funding methods evolved to reflect government aims of expanding student places and reducing unit costs, while increasing equity, access and competition as well as teaching and research quality. This analysis tests the achievement of Funding Council methods and resulting block grant allocations against these goals. While research funding became more influenced by Research Assessment Exercise scores, student numbers continued to be a main force in the allocation of teaching grants. Despite variations in allocations between regions and institutional types, HEFC funding methods reinforced research and teaching funding differences between institutions.

Do Business Cycles Affect State Appropriations to Higher Education?

Spending on higher education constitutes an important and increasing portion of state government spending and a major source of operating funds at public institutions of higher education. Anecdotal evidence suggests that state appropriations are subject to cyclical variation. An analysis of state appropriations to higher education, enrollment in two‐ and four‐year public colleges and universities, and state‐specific measures of the business cycle for all 50 states over the period 1969‐1994 shows that state appropriations to higher education are highly sensitive to changes in the business cycle. A 1% change in real per capita income was, on average, associated with a 1.39% change in real state appropriations per full‐time equivalent student enrolled. This implied decline in state government funding, coupled with the increase in enrollment in higher education during recessions reported by Betts and McFarland (1995), suggest that public institutions of higher education may experience fiscal stress during economic downturns. These results also suggest that state legislators and education policymakers should reconsider their higher education funding policies during recessions in order to allow public colleges and universities to provide dislocated workers with access to quality education and training during these periods.