The Conservative Party estimated that the government would save £910m by 2030 if it scrapped courses that taught 13% of students.
It said this was because the taxpayer “offsets” student loans when graduates do not earn enough money to pay them back. The logic here is that removing courses that lead to lower earnings would result in less unpaid debt.
It said its savings would allow the government to invest in 100,000 more apprentices per year by the end of the next Parliament.
The Conservatives’ calculations are based on the assumption that 75% of the students who would have enrolled on those courses would go into employment or apprenticeships instead.
However, there is no limit on the overall number of students that universities in England can admit – so universities could recruit students to other degree courses if some were closed.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said this meant it was “unclear” whether savings from scrapping “low-value” courses would be large enough to fund the Tories’ expansion plan.
Birmingham City University (BCU) vice-chancellor, Prof David Mba, said the prospect of more apprenticeships was “great” but he did not want that to be at the expense of university courses.
He said the idea that a degree was a rip-off if it did not reach a minimum earning threshold was “bonkers”, particularly for creative subjects.
“Let’s look at my Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. We train musicians, pianists, over three years; they end up with a degree and it will take them probably a while, as a creative out freelancing, to build up a career and to reach certain earning levels that might be commensurate with what the government think it should be,” he told BBC News.
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