Over the summer I have met a number of times with Bill Rammell (recently departed Minister for Further, Higher Education & Lifelong Learning) and other partners including Universities UK (UUK), UCAS and GuildHE as part of a committee known as the Coalition of Partners on Student Finance.

Our remit is to work with the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS) to help ensure that current and prospective students are aware of the financial support that is available to them. NUS has consistently called for a more effective, single point of information to help guide students through all areas relating to university information, advice and guidance. Whilst this committee can only deal with one angle of this work, it was important to have student representation and ensure that the message from government is a student-focussed one, and hits the right groups of students who may be eligible for financial support.

Student finance information and a bursary map, detailing busaries available at each institution in England and Wales, are available on DirectGov.

Last year, institutions in the UK underspent on bursaries by £19m – money meant for the poorest students, still in the university coffers. Whilst the Coalition of Partners on Student Finance deals with the current arrangement for promoting the availability of financial support, outside of this forum we have still been making the case for a National Bursaries Scheme which would make the navigation of student support so much easier, and would surely allow the poorest students better access to the money that they need.

A recent Higher Education Policy Institute report provided us with another strong argument, when they also supported the creation of a single system of national support. This was featured in The Times and the BBC.

This is a debate which has once again surfaced to the fore, and its important it stays there until it is delivered.

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