§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): My honourable friend the Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education (Alan Johnson) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
§ I made a Statement on 16 March about the results of the consultation on the proposed new criteria for degree awarding powers (DAP) and university title (UT) which ended on 12 December. We then consulted further in May on the following options for degree awarding powers: probationary DAP followed by indefinite DAP; indefinite DAP for organisations in the publicly funded higher education sector and fixed degree awarding powers for other organisations.
§ This consultation ended on 25 June. There was overwhelming support for option 2 with just a few respondents expressing preference for neither option or for option 1. I have placed a copy of the consultation report in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament, and it is available on the DfES website at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/conResults.cfm?consultationld = 1226.
§ In light of the results of both consultations, the Government have decided in relation to England:
§ to modernise the criteria for the granting of degree awarding powers to make it easier for nontraditional higher education organisations to apply—along the lines set out in the original consultation document;
§ to make degree awarding powers for organisations in the publicly funded higher education sector indefinite and fixed for other organisations, subject to satisfactory external quality audit;
71WS§ to grant university title on the basis of taught degree awarding powers and student numbers (which remain at current levels); and
§ to remove the requirement that institutions must have students in five subject areas to be eligible for university title (this will allow institutions specialising in one subject area to become universities).
§ We believe that these changes strike the right balance between our concern to modernise the criteria for both degree awarding powers and university title, and the concerns that emerged during both consultations.
§ The detailed revised criteria for England will be published on 1 September and the moratorium on new applications for DAPs from English institutions will be lifted on the same date. The moratorium on new applications for university title under the current criteria remains lifted.