Originally published on eve.gd on 28 June 2011, last updated 6 September 2026.
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Today is the day that we've all been dreading waiting for. The final unveiling of the UK Higher Education White Paper.
It's expected later today, but here's some early reactions.
The Guardian runs with "'Naming and shaming' for degrees with poor jobs record", which gets to the core of the matter:
Scrapping or overhauling "dead-end" courses would limit losses to the taxpayer from students who fail to repay their loans.
The BBC are going with "Universities shake-up eyes greater competition", focusing on a fight for proportion of places.
Aaron Porter has been taking the opportunity to point out some major flaws, stating:
The #HEWhitePaper has failed to show how it will improve access to Uni or improve quality #missedopportunity
@renireni gives us this, which I think is absolutely spot on:
Full implementation of the student as consumer. Cost of everything, value of nothing #hewhitepaper
Meanwhile, the Tory minority on Twitter (@richardbrabner) seem to have found a way of gamifying the concerns:
Good morning @MarioCreatura, shall we try and find the most over-the-top reaction to the #HEWhitePaper today? Pint for the winner?
Meanwhile, @timeshighered remains a great source for updates throughout the day. In the meanwhile, I'm going to use today to get away from all this arguing and actually go teach.
Update: 09:10am
@emmielouli posts an interesting piece on Resisting the HE White Paper.
@emmielouli
Resisting the HE White Paper
Think my next update will be much later as there's much of the same material circulating on speculation.
Update: 16:16
The White Paper is out and you can read it here: UK HE White PaperUK HE White Paper 2011</a>.
Update: 19:31
Many responses in, a sample:
The Times Higher: a roundup of official responses.
Education Activist Network: "a disaster for universities".
Mike Baker: a good rundown of what's actually in there!
Featured image by FeatheredTar under a CC-BY license.
This reference list has been generated, in many cases, through an automated process and may therefore contain errors or incomplete metadata. It is provided purely as assistance for finding the items mentioned within this post.
1. Coughlan, Sean, ‘Universities will have to bid for a quarter of places’, BBC News, 28 June 2011 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13927710>
2. Mike Baker: HE White Paper key points rundown <http://www.mikebakereducation.co.uk/blog/396/he-white-paper-key-points>
3. Penner, Joel, ‘Joel Penner’, Flickr <http://www.flickr.com/photos/featheredtar/>
4. ‘Press release – H.E. White Paper – a disaster for universities; a government in chaos’, Education Activist Network, 28 June 2011 <http://educationactivistnetwork.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/press-release-h-e-white-paper-%E2%80%93-a-disaster-for-universities-a-government-in-chaos/>
5. Twitter: @MarioCreatura on HE White Paper <https://twitter.com/#!/MarioCreatura>
6. Twitter: @renireni on HE White Paper <https://twitter.com/#!/renireni>
7. Twitter: @richardbrabner on HE White Paper <https://twitter.com/#!/richardbrabner>
8. Twitter: Times Higher Education account <https://twitter.com/#!/timeshighered>
9. Vasagar, Jeevan, and Jessica Shepherd, ‘'Naming and shaming' for degrees with poor jobs record’, The Guardian, 28 June 2011 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jun/28/naming-shaming-degrees-poor-jobs-record>
10. ‘White Paper: reactions round-up’, Times Higher Education, 28 June 2011 <http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=416655>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13927710
http://www.mikebakereducation.co.uk/blog/396/he-white-paper-key-points
http://www.flickr.com/photos/featheredtar/
http://educationactivistnetwork.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/press-release-h-e-white-paper-%E2%80%93-a-disaster-for-universities-a-government-in-chaos/
https://twitter.com/#!/MarioCreatura
https://twitter.com/#!/renireni
https://twitter.com/#!/richardbrabner
https://twitter.com/#!/timeshighered
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jun/28/naming-shaming-degrees-poor-jobs-record
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=416655