Policy on post-18 education shows a twisted idea of value

Government’s plans are an attack on aspiration that will damage disadvantaged students, says Emma Hardy

Last month, education secretary Gavin Williamson made another speech attacking the number of university students studying the ‘wrong courses’—this time described as “low quality”. It raises the question: What is a low-quality degree and how can we tell?

The Department for Education is talking about removing one metric—the National Student Survey—without proposing a replacement. Students are consumers in the government’s marketised model of higher education, but the government does not seem to believe that their views have value or should be quantified at all.