What does HEFCE do for students?

We want to protect the collective interests of higher education students – past, present and future. Our other roles include funding teaching and research.

More focus on student interests

Strategic statement

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Find out what we mean by the collective student interest, and what we are doing to promote and protect it.

How we act in the student interest –examples

The student experience
We fund research and agencies that promote effective ways to enhance the experience students have while studying, and encourage the sharing of good practice.
Key Information Sets
We are working to ensure prospective students are properly informed through a set of key information about courses.
Student engagement
We believe students need to be informed partners in their education and have funded the creation of a student engagement ‘toolkit’ for the higher education sector.
Protecting students
We prioritise students when an institution might be threatened with closure.
Assessing educational quality
We believe the student interest is central to the external assessment of quality, standards, information and engagement and work to protect and promote it.
Equality Challenge Unit (ECU)
We fund the ECU to promote good practice in equality and diversity throughout the HE sector.
National Scholarship Programme - NSP
We deliver a programme that provides direct financial benefit to students from low-income households entering higher education.
National Student Survey
We initiated and fund the NSS so that students can express their views about their educational experience.
Supporting research careers
We support universities in developing the careers of researchers through a range of activities, including a concordat that sets out clear expectations for researchers, research managers, research institutions, and funders.

In the future, we will:

work more closely with the NUS
develop our knowledge of student concerns and perspectives
work more closely with other organisations in higher education
that have contact with students
ensure our policies and actions consider the perspectives of students
consider students’ needs more in our discussions with universities, colleges and other organisations involved in higher education.

What can we do for students? What are our powers?

We can:

support the development of good practice in:
- outreach work to raise attainment and aspiration to study in higher education
- learning and teaching practices
- providing information for students and employers
- helping students to stay on their course and succeed once they have entered
  higher education
help to give students more choice and flexibility by promoting a broad range of courses and
subjects
encourage policy makers to consider the student interest
champion and raise the profile of student interest issues
use evidence to promote and protect the student interest
publishing information that is in the student interest.

We cannot:

fine institutions
compensate students financially
force others (for example the Government or other higher education organisations) to
pursue the student interest
lobby or campaign in an obstructive manner in the student interest
help individual students
fund individual research projects.

Why this new focus? And why now?

We have always worked to protect the interests of students. But in 2011 the Government set out a role for HEFCE as ‘the student champion’. This made our work in this role more explicit.