This week I set about researching a piece for The National Student on students’ reaction to the government’s White Paper on proposed Higher Education reforms.

The paper was finally released six months after its accompanying motion was passed in Parliament last December in the midst of those student protests that dominated headlines across the country.  It sets out proposals which, put simply, are supposed to justify their plans to allow Universities to charge up to £9,000 per year in tuition fees from the academic year 2012/13. Main proposals in the paper include lifting restrictions on the amount of places Universities can give to prospective students with A-Level results of AAB or higher to effectively encourage competition between Universities for the brightest students, and mandating greater transparency of data such as contact hours and graduates’ starting salaries at Universities in order to help potential students decide where they want to apply. More