English higher education’s value-for-money problem

OVER THE past year rent strikes have swept British universities, and even a pandemic hasn’t stopped the finest traditions of student protest. A building has been occupied, barricades stormed and manifestos drawn up. The short-term aim is “a few quid in a student’s pocket,” campaigners say, with many currently paying to rent empty dorms. The grander aim, though, is “resistance to marketisation of both universities and, more importantly for the working classes, housing.”

Left-wing activists instinctively dislike the market; many other students simply feel they get a rough deal from it. On March 8th a small number will return to in-person teaching, with more to follow after the Easter break, a year after the disruption started. They are not a happy bunch. A recent survey by Yonder, a pollster formerly known as Populus, finds that just 36% of British students believe they get value for money. Of the 21 countries polled on behalf of Chegg, an ed-tech firm, only South Koreans feel they get a worse deal.

In Scotland tuition is free and in Northern Ireland it is heavily subsidised but elsewhere students face some of the highest sticker prices in the world. Most of those in England pay £9,250 ($12,900) a year for tuition. Since four-fifths of British students leave home to study, their living costs are high, too. Many do not...