This HEPI long read was authored by Dr Edward Hicks. Edward was on a placement with HEPI during the General Election campaign. He usually works for the House of Commons, and has worked for three Select Committees and the House of Commons Library.
The differences between the four nations of the UK in undergraduate higher education are well known. Most prominent are the differences in fees, with fees for almost all Scottish-domiciled undergraduates in Scottish universities paid for by the Scottish Government, fees of £4,750 in Northern Ireland and fees of £9,250 in England and Wales. There are differences in the length of degree, with Scottish degrees normally lasting for four years, whereas the majority of undergraduate degrees elsewhere in the UK last for three years. There are differences in funding and regulatory structures. Depending on the university, Scottish graduates then receive an MA degree, whereas elsewhere in the UK the normal is a Bachelor degree.
Postgraduate provision across the four UK nations also has distinct similarities and differences. Given the comparatively low publicity that postgraduate education receives compared to undergraduate education, highlighting these differences and similarities demonstrates the varying choices the administrations in the three devolved nations and the UK Government have made regarding funding.
Many of the key trends of postgraduate education across the UK apply to each of the four nations of the UK. The majority of postgraduates are on taught courses (PGT), of which the majority are on Master’s courses. The minority of postgraduates on research courses (PGR) are mainly, but not exclusively, on doctorate research courses.[1] The majority of full-time postgraduates are international students (71% overall, 69% in Wales, 70% in England, 75% in Northern Ireland, 76% in Scotland), while the majority of part-time postgraduates are from the UK.[2] Nearly half of UK-domicile part-time students are studying at postgraduate level, and the majority of UK-domiciled postgraduate students are part-time students.[3]
The trends of expansion among international students on taught Master’s courses, alongside flatlining or reductions among UK postgraduates, are found in each UK nation. The length of Master’s and PhD courses, the structures of how they are conducted, and so on, are broadly similar: there is no clearly distinct Scottish approach to postgraduate courses as there is at the undergraduate level. In all four nations, the fees charged, both for home and international students, are uncapped and unregulated, being entirely at the discretion of the universities, which can charge different rates based on the home address of students and the course being taken.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – overseen by the UK Government – runs competitive award schemes for postgraduate students through its research councils (for example the Arts and Humanities Research Council). The usual stipend it pays for tuition fees for PhD students, £4,786 a year for 2024-25, is followed by most UK universities when setting fees for UK-domicile PhD students. Although Scottish universities were those initially leading the charge in 2003 for the establishment of a UCAS for postgraduates, called UK Pass, it failed to attract more than a handful of institutions.[4] UCAS does provide a search tool to facilitate students to find postgraduate courses, but nothing equivalent to its role in undergraduate admissions. Similar challenges are also faced across the UK nations.
These myriad similarities might lead to the conclusion that the UK postgraduate system is a UK-wide one, into which the differences of historical practice, institutional and national culture, and the devolved institutions have made few inroads. There are, however, subtle differences. For example, in Wales, a higher number of postgraduate taught students are from the UK than outside the UK, in contrast to the other three UK nations. Apart from in Northern Ireland, there are higher levels of mobility between the four UK nations, with a lower proportion staying in the nation of their permanent address for PGT and PGR study.[5]
The main difference this blog focuses on is the difference in postgraduate loans. The loans are not the only source of funding. For eligible students, additional funding is provided through the Disabled Students Allowance for eligible students, which is provided at different amounts in each UK nation. Subjects such as social work and teacher training have different funding structures, and childcare support for postgraduate parents differs across the UK, being most extensive in Wales. Scholarships and bursaries are provided by higher education providers, charities, UKRI and the regulatory and funding bodies, for example by the Office for Students for students focusing on AI and data science.[6] Nevertheless, the loans represent a significant source of support for postgraduate students. The latest amounts and terms and conditions are summarised in the table below.[7]
There are three major differences between the loan systems.
1) The courses and qualifications covered
- There are loans available for Master’s and Doctoral students in England and Wales. For Master’s students, the maximum amount for students starting in 2024 is greater in Wales than in England. For Doctoral students the opposite is (narrowly) the case.
- In Scotland and Northern Ireland loans are only available for Master’s courses, not for doctorates. In Northern Ireland, the loans are also available for postgraduate certificate and diploma courses.[8] In Scotland the loans are also available for 1-year postgraduate diplomas.[9] By contrast, in England the guidance explicitly states diplomas and certificates are not eligible for Masters loans, with the same eligibility followed in Wales.[10]
2) The purpose of the loans and who receive them
- In England and Wales the postgraduate loans can be used for either fees or for living costs and are available to both full-time and part-time students.
- In Northern Ireland the loan is solely for tuition fees and is available full-time and part-time Master’s students.
- In Scotland there is a loan for fees available to both full-time and part-time Master’s students. There is a loan for living costs (and a temporary special loan) which are both only available to full-time Master’s students.
3) The repayment and interest rate rules:
- The threshold for beginning repayments differs between Scotland (£31,395), Northern Ireland (£24,990), and England and Wales (both at £21,000). The rate of repayment varies – it is 9% above the income threshold in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In England and Wales, because the threshold is lower than for post-2012 undergraduate loan repayments, 6% is repaid on the income between the two thresholds, with 9% above it.
- The interest rate also differs – for 2024-25 it is 4.3% in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and 7.3% in England and Wales.
- These differences in interest rate and threshold reflect the different plans used for loans in each UK nation. In Northern Ireland, the loan system for all students follows Plan 1, the scheme established before the 2012 changes in England and Wales. Therefore, the interest rate is calculated by either following RPI index Inflation, or the Bank of England’s Base Rate interest rate plus 1%, whichever is lower. The same approach to calculating interest rates is used in Scotland, but its threshold is different because it follows Plan 4, which is a distinct loan plan for Scotland. England and Wales follow Plan 3, which is the plan for Postgraduate Loans. Under this plan interest rates are calculated as RPI+3%.
How have these differences come about? They primarily reflect the different approaches taken in the 2010s, when postgraduate loans began to be provided by the respective UK administrations.
From 2012/13, the system in Scotland of tuition fee payments for postgraduate diploma courses was replaced by a loan scheme.[11] By 2015, Scottish students could receive a tuition fee loan of £3,400 and a living cost loan of up to £4,500.[12] A working party was established to look at postgraduate taught provision, but not research provision. Its report was published in December 2015 and recommended a ‘clear and universal entitlement to student loan support’ for Scotland-domiciled students undertaking taught postgraduate study.[13]
A similar consultation was held in Northern Ireland in 2015 on introducing postgraduate loans for postgraduate taught students. Respondents favoured a tuition fee loan rather than a larger, more general, loan, or one restricted to specific subjects. There were concerns that a general loan, similar to that introduced in England for Master’s students, would mean onerous repayments for students. There was also strong support for regulating fees and expressing support for extending loans to research students.[14] In response, the Department for Employment and Learning accepted the tuition fee loan idea; but rejected regulating fees.[15] Extending loans to research students did meet with a favourable response from the Department for Employment and Learning ‘The Department will seek to ensure that Northern Ireland system students have access to a similar product [as being introduced in England]’.[16] However, this policy was not subsequently implemented, possibly due to the instability of the Executive and changes in departmental responsibility from the Department for Employment and Learning to the Ministry for the Economy.
In 2014/15 the UK Government introduced the Postgraduate Support Scheme in England to target underrepresented groups in specific subjects.[17] In 2016/17, following announcements made in 2014 and 2015 by the then Chancellor of Exchequer, George Osborne, a £10,000 Master’s Loan was introduced in England. Two years later, a £25,000 Doctoral loan was initiated. This followed a long-standing campaign to improve support for postgraduate students, both in recognition of the limits of the alternatives and through a wish to promote social mobility by breaking down financial barriers.[18] The loans were purposefully not designed to cover all costs and did not distinguish between fees and living costs.
Wales introduced Master’s loans in 2017/18 and Doctoral loans in 2018/19. In addition, the Diamond Review in 2016 advocated for equal treatment between undergraduate and postgraduate students and between full-time and part-time students, which resulted in the introduction of a mixture of grants and loans, the balance being means-tested and all recipients receiving a minimum £1,000 grant. [19] [20]
In England, the immediate impact of the Master’s loan was an increase in Master’s students, including from disadvantaged students.[21] There was less of a discernible uplift in Doctoral student numbers, attributed to the loan not being thought sufficient to cover fees and living costs.[22] More recently, the number of students taking up Master’s loans fell in 2022/23, for the second consecutive year, taking the number of borrowers to below the level seen each year since 2017/18. This reflects a drop in England-domicile students entering on postgraduate taught courses in 2022/23, and early figures from the Office for Students suggest a further fall in 2023/24.[23]
Concerns have been raised that the Master’s loan has not kept pace with increases in fees for home students.[24] There was also a small drop in the number of students taking up Doctoral loans in 2022/23, compared with 2021/22, though this remained higher than in preceding years. Early indications suggested further reductions in 2023/24 in numbers of borrowers and data in June 2024 showed a reduction in the total amount of loans paid out.[25]
While in England the loan system has remained largely unchanged, there have been reforms in Wales and Scotland. In December 2023, the Welsh Government’s Draft Budget proposed that the grant element of postgraduate funding would be withdrawn, being replaced by a loan for new students from the 2024/25 academic year.[26] Rejecting calls by the Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee to reconsider this decision, the Welsh Government argued that:
- Postgraduate education was less important than undergraduate in developing life chances.
- The shift from grants to loans was not expected to significantly impact participation, not least because of the generosity of support to Welsh students and the terms of loan repayments.
- Deciding to undertake advanced study is one for the individual to make, and much of the return would come to the individual rather than society.[27]
The latest student loan figures for 2022/23 showed that the number of Wales Master’s loans fell to 5,900, a second consecutive year of reduction in take-up, and a number of borrowers lower than every year since 2019/20. The number of students receiving the Postgraduate Master’s Grant, then still provided, also fell in 2022/23 compared to the two preceding years. By contrast, there was a 5.6% increase in the number of students receiving the Doctoral Loans. Early indications suggested reductions in the take-up of postgraduate loans in 2023/24, and in June 2024 statistics showed a fall in the amount of money lent out to students.[28]
In Scotland, the SNP Scottish Parliamentary manifesto in 2021 promised a review of postgraduate support. A review has been established which proposed various reforms in August 2023:
- Increasing the size of the tuition fee loan from £5,500 to £7,000 to take account of inflation,
- Extending access to Scotland’s postgraduate support to full-time and part-time students staying at Scottish private providers, and full-time students studying at private providers elsewhere in the UK,
- Extending access to postgraduate funding for students studying eligible postgraduate courses in other parts of the UK (previously this was only available if there was not an equivalent course available in Scotland).
- Decided not to extend the loans to cover postgraduate certificates, concluding there was a lack of demand among providers, students or stakeholders.[29]
In January 2023, the Scottish Government had stated it did not intend to extend postgraduate loans to PhD students.[30] Instead, it highlighted that £36.9 million is allocated through the Scottish Funding Council’s Research Postgraduate Grant, a block grant paid to universities based on the number PGR students enrolled and a subject weighting, which rose to £37.9 million in 2024/25.[31] The total number of full-time students supported through postgraduate loans fell from 7,750 in 2022/23 to 7,615 in 2023/24, but the amount of funding per student rose from £7,030 to £7,930.[32]
In Northern Ireland, in place of doctoral loans, there is the postgraduate research award scheme, which includes awarding studentships provided by the Executive’s Department for the Economy, and the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.[33] A consultation on the existing postgraduate tuition fee loan in 2022 also highlighted the lack of loans for PGR students. Responses strongly supported raising tuition fee loans in line with inflation.[34] In response, the then Economy Minister, Gordon Lyons, announced a wider review of higher education funding, and to raise the amount of postgraduate loan to £6,500 in one go.[35] This position was reaffirmed by the new Economy Minister, Conor Murphy, when power-sharing was restored in 2024.[36] The Northern Ireland Department of the Economy launched a consultation reviewing the awards on 1 August 2024. This will explore the options of either: (a) carrying on with the existing scheme; (b) making it more targeted; (c) increasing the number of awards from 729 to 1,000; (d) reducing funding by 50% or 80%; or (e) closing it entirely, reallocating the money to block grant research and innovation funding. The consultation document also mentioned that any changes to the scheme would require consideration of further changes such as the ‘introduction of additional support for postgraduate study, such as the introduction of a PhD loan facility.’[37] In 2022/23 there were reductions in the number of students taking up postgraduate loans, with early indications of an additional fall in 2023/24 and data in June 2024 showing a reduction in the total amount of loans paid out.[38]
One consequential question is: have the different funding systems noticeably impacted on the numbers entering postgraduate courses across the UK? The data on entrants published by HESA would suggest only limited differences. For example, among PGR students, comparing entrants in 2018/19 with 2022/23, the number of Scotland-domicile PGR students studying across the UK fell by 9.9% from 1,775 to 1,600. The proportion from Northern Ireland fell by 3.6% (415 to 400) and those in Northern Ireland by 1.7% (300 to 295). This compares with greater reductions among England and Wales domiciled PGR students, where numbers fell by over 13% in both cases.[39] Among those embarking on PGT studies, entrants onto Master’s taught courses in England and Wales did rise in 2022/23 compared with 2018/19, whereas those in Scotland and Northern Ireland fell.
Overall postgraduate-taught student entrants increased in each four nations. In Scotland and Northern Ireland this appears to have resulted mainly from more part-time students studying PGT modules which did not explicitly lead to a postgraduate qualification and so would not appear to result from a more generous treatment in the loan system; nor did full-time PGT student numbers in Scotland change markedly differently from part-time PGT students despite the differences in maintenance support. There was very little difference in the graduate outcomes for postgraduates educated across the UK. Among the most recent graduating cohort in 2021/22, approximately 80% went into full-time or part-time employment.[40] There was a notably higher proportion of postgraduate research graduates in Northern Ireland on fixed-term contracts (43%) against the UK as a whole (33%) and other UK nations.[41] The subsequent pay, in terms of those earning £51,000 or more, of full-time employees who studied postgraduate courses was lowest in Northern Ireland, followed by Wales, Scotland and England. Overall, 20% of men at all UK HE providers and 11% of women.[42] Lastly, the rise in PGT student numbers during the Covid-19 pandemic makes it hard to assess the potential effect of the different PGT loan and grant systems.[43]
The consultations in Northern Ireland and in Scotland, and the recent changes in Wales, raise certain key questions regarding the comparisons between the four nations:
- Do the reductions in PGR numbers demonstrate that the loan approach in England and Wales has proven ineffective in raising entrants, compared to the approach on awards being used in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
- Does the system of England and Wales, where students are free to spend their loan on fees or living costs as they wish, work better than one where a distinction is made between fees and maintenance support in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
- Which postgraduate taught qualifications should be eligible for the loans?
- Do the different funding systems – both the loans and the provision of alternative sources of funding from governments, universities and so on – impact the willingness of potential postgraduate students to apply?
[1] HESA, SB269 Figure 3, accessed 31 August 2024
[2] HESA, SB269 Figure 8, accessed 31 August 2024
[3] HESA, SB269 Figure 3, accessed 31 August 2024
[4] Ucas to pilot centralised postgrad admissions service, The Times Higher Education Supplement, February 10, 2006, p. 6.
[5] HESA, Who’s studying in HE?, 29 August 2024, SB269 Figure 5
[6] Office for Students, Evaluation of new data science and artificial intelligence postgraduate conversion courses: Final report (February 2024), p. 1
[7] UK Government, Repaying your student loan, Student Loans Interest Rates and Repayment Threshold Announcement, and Funding for postgraduate study, Student Awards Agency Scotland, Postgraduate funding – Full time and Part-time Postgraduate funding, Student Finance Northern Ireland, Postgraduate Taught Fee Loan – Guide 2024/25, Student Loan Company, Change to Plan 1 student loan rate announcement, 30 August 2024, Student Finance Wales, What finance is available for postgraduate Master’s courses and What finance is available for postgraduate doctoral courses
[8] Northern Ireland Assembly, AQW 9476/22-27, Student Finance NI, Tuition Fee Loan – Who can get this, accessed 3 September 2024
[9] Student Awards Agency Scotland, Who can apply for funding, accessed 3 September 2024
[10] UK Government, Master’s Loan: Eligibility, accessed 3 September 2024, Student Finance Wales, Who qualifies for postgraduate Master’s finance, accessed 3 September 2024
[11] Gillian Clarke and Ingrid Lunt, International comparisons in postgraduate education: quality, access and employment outcomes (HEFCE, September 2014), p 137, Student Awards Agency Scotland, Higher Education Student Cohort in Scotland 2013-14 (October 2014), pp. 39, 47
[12] Scottish Government, Taught Postgraduate Review: Working Group Final Report, 21 December 2015, p. 13
[13] Scottish Government, Taught Postgraduate Review: Working Group Final Report, 21 December 2015, p. 9
[14] Department for Employment and Learning, Consultation on Part-time and Postgraduate Student Finance A Summary of Responses (November 2015), pp. 16-17.
[15] Department for Employment and Learning, Departmental Response to the Consultation on Part-time and Postgraduate Student Finance (March 2016), p. 11
[16] Department for Employment and Learning, Departmental Response to the Consultation on Part-time and Postgraduate Student Finance (March 2016), p. 11
[17] Sue Hubble, David Foster and Paul Bolton Postgraduate loans in England (House of Commons Library, 24 April 2019), p. 8
[18] Sue Hubble, David Foster and Paul Bolton Postgraduate loans in England (House of Commons Library, 24 April 2019), pp. 5-17
[19] Welsh Government, The Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance Arrangements in Wales (September 2016), p. 9
[20] Student Finance Wales, What finance is available for postgraduate Master’s courses, accessed 1 September 2024
[21] Office for Students, More students taking up postgraduate masters’ degrees, 18 May 2018, Lorna Adams, Jessica Huntley Hewitt, Sam Morris, Sam Whittaker and Kyle Robertson, Master’s Loan Evaluation (IFF Research and Department for Education, May 2019), José Luis Mateos González and Paul Wakeling, ‘Student loans and participation in postgraduate education: the case of English master’s loans’, Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 46 Issue 6 (2020), pp. 698-716
[22] Mark Bennett, Doctoral loans have not radically changed PhD recruitment, WonkHE, 11 March 2020
[23] HESA, Student numbers and characteristics, SB269 Figure 3, Office for Students, HESES23 summary data workbook, 26 July 2024, Tables 1-3, Level of Study: PGT (Master’s Loan) compared against the same in Office for Students, HESES22 summary data workbook, 22 March 2023
[24] Patrick Jack, Average master’s fee now higher than postgraduate loan for first time, Times Higher Education, 14 August 2024
[25] Student Loan Company, Student support for higher education in England 2023, 30 November 2023, Student Loan Company, Student Loans for Higher Education in England: Financial Year 2023-24, 20 June 2024, Figure 5
[26] Welsh Government, Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25(December 2023), p. 37.
[27] Children, Young People and Education Committee, The Welsh Government’s Draft Budget 2024-25 (February 2024), p. 60, Welsh Government, Welsh Government response to the recommendations from the Children, Young People and Education committee’s report: Scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s Draft Budget 2024-25, 4 March 2024, p. 11
[28] Student Loan Company, Student support for higher education in Wales 2023, 30 November 2023, Student Loan Company, Student Loans for Higher Education in Wales: Financial Year 2023-24, 20 June 2024, Figure 4
[29] Scottish Government, Postgraduate Review – Increase to the Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loan Equality Impact Assessment – Results (August 2023), Scottish Government, Postgraduate Review – Postgraduate Study at a Validated Private Provider – Introduction of Financial Support Package Equality Impact Assessment – Results (August 2023), Scottish Government, Postgraduate Review – Postgraduate Study in the Rest of the United Kingdom – Introduction of Financial Support Package Equality Impact Assessment – Results (August 2023), Scottish Government, Postgraduate Review – Postgraduate Certificates: Equality Impact Assessment – Results (August 2023), p. 2
[30] Scottish Parliament, PQ S6W-14520
[31] Scottish Funding Council, University Final Funding Allocations AY 2024-25, 30 May 2024, p. 11
[32] Student Awards Agency Scotland, Higher Education Student Support in Scotland 2023-24 (August 2024), p. 3, Student Awards Agency Scotland, Higher Education Student Support in Scotland 2022-23(August 2023), p. 3.
[33] NI Direct, Department for the Economy Postgraduate Studentship scheme, accessed 1 September 2024, NI Direct, DAERA Postgraduate Studentships, accessed 1 September 2024
[34] Department for the Economy, Departmental Response to the Review of the Northern Ireland Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loan Consultation (October 2022), pp. 6 8-9
[35] Department for the Economy, Departmental Response to the Review of the Northern Ireland Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loan Consultation (October 2022), p. 3
[36] Northern Ireland Assembly, AQW 9476/22-27
[37] Department for the Economy, Public Consultation – Review of the Northern Ireland Postgraduate Award (PGA) Scheme (August 2024), p. 12. See also Northern Ireland Department for the Economy, Final Equality Screening PGA Scheme – amended options and post review by Equality Unit, (July 2024)
[38] Student Loan Company, Student support for higher education in Northern Ireland 2023, 30 November 2023, Student Loan Company, Student Loans for Higher Education in Northern Ireland: Financial Year 2023-24, 20 June 2024, Figure 4
[39] HESA, Where do HE students come from?, SB269 Figure 9
[40] HESA, Graduate Outcomes 2021/22: Summary Statistics – Graduate activities and characteristics (4 July 2024), SB268 Figure 4
[41] HESA, Graduate Outcomes 2021/22: Summary Statistics – Graduate activities and characteristics (4 July 2024), SB268 Figure 7
[42] HESA, Graduate Outcomes 2021/22: Summary Statistics – Graduate activities and characteristics (4 July 2024), SB268 Figure 13
[43] HESA, Who’s studying in HE?, SB269 Figure 3