Chancellor announces postgraduate review

George Osborne says he aims to keep the UK internationally competitive, writes Alison Goddard.

Income-contingent loans of up to £25,000 for PhDs and research-based masters degrees have been announced by George Osborne in his final budget before the general election. Mr Osborne also said that the government will conduct a review into how the government can further strengthen its support for postgraduate research. We have a package of content, available only to full subscribers to HE, which examines the details of the chancellor’s announcement, warns that at least some of the money that Labour had earmarked to compensate universities for a reduction in undergraduate tuition fess has been spent by the chancellor and reports the reactions from the mission groups.

The Guardian reports shadow chancellor Ed Ball’s claim that Labour will still be able to fund its pledge to cut fees despite the £600 million raid by George Osborne. It also says that more than half of English universities are planning to recruit more students once the cap on numbers has been fully lifted. Perhaps the other half are waiting to see what happens after the general election.