Alex Proudfoot, Chief Executive of Independent Higher Education, has commented on the Government’s plans to reform Higher Education released today:

“Independent higher education providers have always placed the needs of their students and the careers they aspire to lead at the heart of their missions. We welcome the Government’s continued commitment to breaking down the artificial barriers between higher education and vocational learning. A more streamlined sector with flexible funding and a smart approach to regulation can put students in the driving seat for a lifetime of learning.

“The Lifelong Loan Entitlement is a genuinely revolutionary policy and we are excited to see it take shape. Students should be able to access a wide range of high-quality, flexible and industry-specific specialist courses – wherever they live, however they learn, and whenever they wish to start. The LLE will be a major leap forward on this essential path to empowering student choice.

“The Government must take care, however, that while breaking down barriers in one area it does not build them up elsewhere, to the detriment of the social and economic mobility we need. If the UK is to thrive in this age of global competition, we must be relentlessly focused on educating more of our people to a higher level every year, as this will be key to helping our most promising industries spread prosperity to the whole country. We need a pro-growth and pro-innovation policy for post-18 education which reimposes number controls only as a last resort, and we need the programmes which facilitate entry into higher education to be fully funded and accessible to all who need them most.”