Home truths

A higher education funding plan being studied by Labour would lower overall student numbers and increase the proportion of mature students.

John Denham, Labour’s former universities minister, has suggested that 60 per cent of students should study from home. Currently 30 per cent stay home to study, according to new research published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Students who study from home are typically older and attend lower tariff universities, according to the study.

The research is based on the “Futuretrack” longitudinal study of everyone who applied for a university place in the UK during 2005-06. About 80 per cent of those aged 26 and over lived at home. Less than 20 per cent of those aged 18 years and under lived at home. Around 55 per cent of students at institutions with the lowest entry tariffs lived at home compared to less than 20 per cent of those at institutions with the highest entry tariffs.