国际英语新闻:British education chief suggests to scrap "low-value" university courses

LONDON, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Education Secretary called Sunday for an end to university degrees which leave graduates not earning enough to pay off their student loans.

Damian Hinds said new analysis shows that on more than one in ten of all courses, there is a 75-percent chance that graduates won't be earning enough five years after leaving university to start making loan repayments.

He said universities and higher education providers offering poor value degrees are letting down thousands of students and costing the taxpayer millions.

Hinds has called on universities to drop or revamp courses delivering poor value for money.

Graduates must start repaying their loans when they earn 25,000 pounds (31,782 U.S. dollars) or over. The analysis shows that on 40 percent creative arts courses students are not earning enough after five years to start paying off their loans.

"When young people apply to go to university it is based on the assumption that a degree will set them up for a bright future, but today's analysis shows that isn't always the case," said Hinds.

"The opportunity to study at university should be open to anyone with the talent and potential to benefit from higher education. With students and taxpayers sharing the cost of higher education it's right that we challenge those institutions which could appear to be more focused on 'getting bums on seats' than getting students into high quality courses worth paying for."

Hinds asked universities to be brave and ask themselves if they're running courses that really help students gain the skills they need for the workforce of tomorrow. "If they're not they should improve them or end them," he noted.

The new analysis has identified around 20 providers where at least three quarters of all students are still not earning enough to start repaying their loans five years after graduation, a situation Hinds said he believed should be a "wake up call" for universities about their responsibility to deliver the best outcome for students.

Hinds' comments came as an independent panel conducting a review into post-18 education and funding finalises its recommendations to the British government.