An offer of loans of up to £10,000 to students taking taught postgraduate degrees has been greeted with enthusiasm by the education sector.
According to Treasury estimates the new loans would see an additional 10,000 students taking such degrees each year, giving a shot in the arm to university departments that have seen an overall drop in the number of undergraduates going on to postgraduate study in recent years.
The loans will be available to students resident in England studying in the UK and EU students taking taught courses at universities in England, aged 30 and under, from 2016. They will be available to part-time and full-time students.
Announcing the new scheme, the chancellor, George Osborne, said: “Until now there has been almost no financial support available, and the upfront costs of postgraduate degrees deter bright students from poorer backgrounds.”
