HE delivers on choice

Guild HE has released a report showing that smaller specialist universities have achieved a huge boost in numbers over the past five years. While the overall number of students has increased by 7 per cent, the number of students in more specialist institutions has doubled in some cases.
This, according to Guild HE president David Baker, shows the benefit for students of having a diverse choice. While this diversity will no doubt aid in widening participation, it is the same diversity that is being criticised by the QAA for leading to degree inflation and muddying the waters of degree standards. We should be pleased that the breadth of choice is encouraging students into HE but there must be some effort to standardise the qualifications.