University students on courses deemed to support the industrial strategy will receive maintenance grants, Bridget Phillipson has announced.
Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, the Education Secretary criticised the Conservatives, whom she said treated universities “as a political battleground, not a public good”.
The grants are intended to support students studying “priority courses” in levels four to six, which include the certificate of higher education and higher national diploma qualifications, and undergraduate degrees.
They will be funded by a new levy on international students, which will apply to English higher education providers only, with more information to come in this autumn’s Budget.
Ms Phillipson said: “The Tories treated our amazing universities as a political battleground, not a public good.
“Labour is putting them back in the service of working-class young people.”
Ms Phillipson said that students’ “time at college or university should be spent learning or training, not working every hour God sends”.
The Education Secretary is running in Labour’s deputy leadership election, and faces the former Commons leader Lucy Powell.
To applause in the conference hall, Ms Phillipson told party delegates and activists: “In a darkening world, I am proud that our Labour Party, the greatest vehicle for social justice this country has ever known, is in Government and is delivering so much of that dream.
“Just look at what we have already achieved together: free breakfast clubs rolling out across the country; hundreds of new school-based nurseries opening from this autumn; Best Start family hubs, reviving Sure Start for a new generation; and, ended the tax breaks which private schools enjoyed.”
Two business advocacy chiefs have welcomed the plan to grant money to students in a joint statement, but shared their fear that the levy to fund it risked universities’ financial sustainability.
Henri Murison and John Dickie, the chief executives of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and BusinessLDN said: “We welcome the return of maintenance grants, which will make a real impact on students from lower-income backgrounds and help more young people access higher education, both in London where notable progress has been made on getting children from deprived backgrounds into university and in the north where despite the progress to date there unquestionably remains more to do.”
They added that they were “concerned that funding this commitment through a levy on international student fees risks undermining the financial sustainability of universities”.
They also warned that domestic students could lose out on the subsidy which international students effectively provide.
Jonathan Simons, of the policy consultancy Public First, said: “Our research shows the impact of a levy on international students will be devastating, especially for regional economies.
“Around 40% of our universities are currently in deficit.
“A levy will lead to a further loss of jobs and places for UK students, and a damaging cut to vital world leading research and investment.”
Mr Simons added: “There is a real danger that the very students the Government wishes to help won’t be able to access a course at all – because the international students won’t be there to subsidise them.”
