Willetts: Supporting Open University should be a ‘priority’

The Open University’s financial woes are partly a result of government policy and should be looked at in the review of post-18 funding, former universities minister David Willetts has said.

According to Willetts, who is now a Conservative peer, the changes to the university fee and loan system that he oversaw as minister have created a “problem” for mature students.

In an article published by the Daily Mail on 9 April, Willetts is quoted as saying that supporting older students should be a “priority” in the government’s ongoing review of tertiary education funding, which covers higher education.