Comparing university tuition fees with PBRF performance

Conclusion

In terms of the quality of research, the analysis in this paper suggests that historically there was a positive but relatively weak association with the price of tuition at the bachelors level. In a significant proportion of cases, the relative price and quality of research did not align, inferring there was potential for incorrect information to be introduced into the decision-making process for students.

It must be stressed that the quality of research is just one dimension of university performance. The quality of teaching at a university and how the labour market views their graduates are equally as important to assess and a quite different picture may emerge if the price of tuition was compared to these measures. However, without publicly available information on these measures, it is impossible to know.

In any event, if future fee regulation continues in a similar form to the current FCCM policy, then eventually all university undergraduate fees are likely to be at their respective maxima, and hence the same in the various subject areas. Therefore, there would be no differentiation by price and students will be unable to attempt to infer quality from the cost of a course.

Recently, the Government has signalled an intention to publish a wider suite of performance measures at the provider level (Tolley 2009), potentially including measures such as completion rates. If done appropriately, these measures could help remove the necessity for students to infer quality from price and also present a more balanced picture of university performance. This in turn would aid the student decision-making process.