Regulatory Ransom
Oxford University will face fines of up to £500,000 if it fails to satisfy the requirements of a new 'access regulator', the Office for Fair Access (OFFA).
The Government this week published details on how the proposed watchdog - designed to encourage disadvantaged groups into higher education - would operate.
The guidelines show a determination to attract students from poorer backgrounds through a series of "access agreements", such as bursaries for poorer students of at least £300, and also detailed punishments for non-compliance from universities. Institutions will also be obliged to keep back up to ten per cent of their fee income, in order to fund these bursaries.
Education Secretary Charles Clarke has however said that top universities, such as Oxford, will be expected to offer bursaries far in advance of £300, owing to their more secure financial status. Cambridge has already signalled its intention to provide bursaries of up to £4,000 for poorer students.
According to Charles Clarke, "In extreme circumstances of non-implementation...OFFA has the power to fine universities or refuse to renew their agreement - preventing them from charging above the standard fee."
The manner of the fine imposed by OFFA would be the cutting of the University's Government grant by up to half a million pounds.
The draft proposals have generated much criticism in the Commons, with some MPs harbouring suspicions that they are specifally targeting the old, well established universities, who are likely to charge the highest variable fees, by further draining already inadequate funding.
The Conservatives argue that the access regulator "will do more harm than good to the university system", accusing the government of creating a "meddling and interfering bureaucracy". The Shadow Health and Education Secretary, Tim Yeo, contests: "The Government will now hold universities to ransom, in an effort to further their social engineering agenda."
However, the OFFA guidelines stress having no direct involvement in admissions, something that Louise McMullan, OUSU Vice-President for Access and Academic Affairs, has criticised.
McMullan told The OxStu that in order to be effective, "OFFA must focus on the results of access works and the admissions' system, rather than the general principles of University policy."
The University has declined to comment formally, as the legislation remains at "too early a stage". However, a University spokesman asserted to The OxStu that Oxford would have little to fear from the disciplinary measures, given its position at the "forefront" of access schemes.
26th Feb 2004