Government Higher Education Policies - Essay Example

Task Government Higher Education Policies Introduction The government provision that is charged with intellectual development and professional societal accommodation is normally through education policies. These are usually presented by an educational institution, which delivers highly qualified individuals into the competitive environment. Mostly, the education topic revolves around the advancement of children in the society to promote productivity within individuals as they grow into active societal members (Spicker, 2011). However, education is not limited to any individual as it involves a continuing process throughout an individual’s lifetime. It may entail acquisition of new skills and information or merely boost an understanding of already existing elements. Through education, a generation that breeds an alteration of society virtues is created and these develop the environment positively as they strive to achieve constant progress. These institutions further provide a platform involving social interaction measures as different cultural affiliations and individual behaviors cross (Hasley et. al., 1997, 14). The system limits discrimination as it involves assembling different ethnic affiliations with constantly environmental entities and technology. An educational government entity entails numerous models that constitute its functionality. It promotes individual intellectual development as they mature into adulthood faced with tough societal advancements. The system also works towards producing skilled individuals that are capable of propagating advancement in the technology to boost an impending economy. However, the educational policy entails a careful use of resources that need adequate provision especially by the government to instigate its advancement. There need to be sufficient resources availability to accommodate the entire population using the facility. It is the government duty to check on syllabus revision and provision of qualified professionals to help advance the learning process. A deficiency in any entity that supports the education policy negatively influences general institutional and individual improvement. There have been numerous policy changes in the UK educational system to advance the performance in the Higher Education institution. Government Higher Education Policies There have existed numerous reforms in the British education system over the years to accommodate better learning environments. These reforms have been targeted to solve impending constraints on the educational system. There have emerged problems in the standards of school performance with low school attendance leading to poor skills in the overall working population. These problems have developed to present discrepancy in higher education system where most individuals are lowly motivated to boost their overall performance. In 1980s, an experienced slow growth in educational progress among individuals especially below 16years led to the ranking of the country among poor performers. This system saw a conservative policy implementation where the government, involved parents in policymaking and articulated their financial status from number enrolled (Hill, 2001, 3). This system further promoted a public revealing of student’s result that enabled parents compare results and performance of different schools. The government sought to these systems to improve the results and general individual performance. The government of the 1980s had been conservative and exposed the inequalities in the system that existed among several schools. Secondly, there existed a problem in poor depiction of working skills especially among the younger working individuals in the UK market. The government sought to solve this problem through introducing a curriculum that applied uniformly across individuals especially in their early learning ages. This policy to maintain equal curriculum implementation was further improved in the 1990s. This saw an introduction of a system that encourages teachers especially in primary schools to involve a one-hour session dwelling on literacy. This implementation has since improved the scholarly techniques advancing in teaching English language. Thirdly, most students defy school attendance after 16years prompting to drop their studies to concentrate on other activities. This qualification ranked below required expectations as compared to other competing nations having level 2/3 achievement. This has since encouraged the government to implement policies to enhance the general performance through application of certain measures warranting attention. These problems have led to an active participation by the government to introduce policies aiding the resolve of the impending educational development. Policies implemented have focused to introduce reforms on various sectors of education each having a separate impact on their problem. The higher education policy adjustments have mainly intrigued my attention because they help participate in the overall reform of the sector. It is through HE that individuals achieve a heightened level of technological expertise (Gombrich, 2010). To understand better the implementation of the HE policy, the specific constraint it addresses need highlighting and the history of the reform noted. Though the system has achieved noticeable progress from the time it was implemented, it continues to experience challenges that warrant adjustments. The HE system since the 1990s has mostly been available to the richer individuals who can afford the expenditure involved in its funding. This class gap has widened over the decades as most poor students are left incapable of funding the college education system prompting early employment into the industry with minimal qualification. This attribute has lowered the performance of the market in the competing society as it produces few qualified individuals in their field of development. With the expansion of the HE system, a realized increase in the attendance of rich students to the poor individuals in these institutions has elevated. The number has increased over the decades with the availability of funding by the rich individuals to access this facility. The problem the government faces is a reduced number of less fortunate students attending HE institutions. The policy employed in the HE sector over the years has entailed overall expansion of the institution. The policy to expand higher education facilities has been targeted to focus on some key aspects to the problem initially experienced. The main development in HE expansion by the government is because it wants to increase the number of qualified individuals into the competitive market to boost the economy (Tomlison, 2005). Secondly, the government seeks to solve the problem experienced where the social class affects the number of individuals getting enrolment in these institutions. The government’s intention is to register the most number of qualified individuals into HE institutions regardless of their social class, probably increasing the number of poor individuals into the institutions (Machin & Vignoles, 2006, 15). The government’s target had been to register 50% of young individuals into higher learning institutions by 2010 successfully. This would entail high costs and limited the government ability to apply free HE funding as experienced in the early 1990s. The funding by the government fell in the subsequent year as they introduced a system that required individuals to pay a 1000-pounds charge yearly on admittance for tuition fees. However, this provision was presented to the rich students with poor students excepted from paying this amount. The government further eliminated maintenance costs paid by these poor students by 1999 providing them with loans to accommodate their education funding. This system prompted the needy students to repay the provided loans on employment to provide the equal services to other needy students in the system. Labour government further made reforms in 2003 that presented a platform for universities to augment their funding (Richards, 2010). Universities were required to establish a variation in their operational structure through their funding charges. The fees were imposed on the students where an institution would be required to state their high or low charge. The maximum amount his policy provided to be paid was placed at 3000-pounds yearly that could be deposited in intervals, not necessarily on admission (Scott, 2012). The most important provision this policy entailed was in its flexibility of the student to pay the fee after graduation being determinant on their income level. However, students in low-income brackets after graduation unable to meet this debt payment are exempted from its full reimbursement. There are limitations involved in the implementation of the higher education policy and factors need addressing before it is deemed successful. There is a limited response to determine the requirement of increased HE admittance and its impact on secondary learning. The more the number admitted in the universities, a significant increase experienced in secondary admittance. The increase in the number of university student admittance has vastly encouraged development in the industrial setting. However, the reforms in the HE system have promoted variable performance in individual and institutional grades. There is a variable level of performance with increased admittance as these institutions have become easily accessible. The ability of most individuals to acquire HE admittance has greatly limited competition as the performance in the intellectual field dampened. The tuition fee program has warranted scholars to determine the quality of education qualification they would want achieved in the institutions as they seek better services (Garner, 2008). The performance in these institutions is dependent on the number of admissions annually with the higher-class contents depicting poor performance due to a reduced teacher-student contact. Further evidence has indicated that most poor students fall short in achieving the qualification standards in HE. This breeds an elevated difference in the performance within the institutions. The tuition fees makes it possible for more students to access the university education, however, there exists limited competition as the rich students used to this system thrive. This factor may be traced to their ability to access high educational facilities throughout their lifetime and the encouragement of their parents to further advance in their careers. Most poor students adapt to experiencing challenging educational experience with few utilizing the tuition fee provision. However, with increased admittance into the HE institutions, graduates have gained knowledge applied to various industrial sectors as they provide better skills. Research has shown that the system has benefited positively the population as graduates that are more qualified are employed as compared to non-graduates. Most employers prefer individuals with qualifications from higher institutions to those who lack the proper educational documentation. With advanced learning level, more skills are gained to challenge better the problems presented in workplace and individuals develop a sense of faster learning of the work process. This policy has greatly benefited the economy with its ability to provide more highly qualified individuals to develop the economy providing competition to other countries. Through the involvement of an increased number of the population enrolment in the institution, an added number is provided in the population that will help boost the overall market competitiveness. Conclusion The high education policy reforms promoted overall increase in individual productivity with increased enrolment in these institutions. Most poor individuals have benefited from this policy with their interest to participate in the HE program fulfilled. Through various policies, including the HE policy, the government has ensured major developments in the education system with key implications to overall nation development. Further advancement need to be adjusted to reduce the tuition fees that has drove most scholars to seeking alternative means of HE in other countries (Scott, 2011). The quality of HE can be improved through constant consideration of the number enrolled per school and the teaching means employed. A further assist to boost the quality of this education system would entail high school intervention in cutting financial costs. Bibliography Garner, R., (2008), Government's education policy is self-defeating, academics warn, the independent, retrieved 8 January from: Gombrich, R.,(2000), British Higher Education Policy in the last Twenty Years: The Murder of a Profession, retrieved 8 January from: Hasley, et al, (1997), Education: culture, economy, society, New York, Oxford University Press. Hill, D., The Third Way in Britain: New Labour’s neo-liberal education policy, google documents, retrieved 8 January from: Richards, C., (2010), Education Policy and Practice 'under' New Labour: an epistolary critique, FORUM, VOL52 (2), 163-180, ISSN 0963-8253. Scott, P, (2011), Higher education reforms: anger is growing, the guardian, retrieved 8 January from: Scott, P, (2012), Higher education needs real reform, not a return to the past, the guardian, Retrieved 8 January from: Spicker, P., (2011), An introduction to social policy; Education and social policy, retrieved 8 January from: Tomlison, S., (2005), Race, Ethnicity and Education under New Labour, Oxford Review of Education, VOL 31(1), 153-171, ISSN 0305-4985. Vignoles, A. and Machin, S. (2006), Education Policy in the UK, Google documents, retrieved 8 January from: Read More