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ENGINEERING BULLETIN

Publisher: All-Russian public organization "Academy of Engineering Sciences named after A.M. Prokhorov".

UK: No frills university college offers half price degrees

23.10.2011

A "no-frills" university college offering teaching seven days a week and degrees for around half the price of traditional universities will start recruiting students next week.

Coventry University College will focus on professional courses including accounting, law and marketing, at a maximum cost of £4,800 for a full-time degree student.

It is an offshoot of Coventry University, but students at the new institution will not have access to the university's library, IT or sporting facilities.

Instead of the traditional long summer holiday, the university college will be open 42 weeks a year. Located alongside the university in the city centre, it will offer teaching from 7am to 10pm on weekdays, and until 4pm at weekends.

The college is aimed at students concerned about taking on debts to fund their higher education, as well as helping employees combine work with gaining new skills.

The new college comes on the back of sweeping changes in higher education. From 2012, English universities will be able to raise their fees to a maximum of £9,000 and the average fee across the sector will be around £8,400.

Universities in England will also compete against each other for a quarter of the students they recruit - at present each institution has a fixed number of government-funded places for home undergraduates.

The government is introducing competition based on strength of student demand and pricing of courses which will put pressure on mid-ranking institutions to bring down fees.

Source: The Guardian
Photo: The Guardian

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