Business, Innovation and Skills written question – answered at on 12 October 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
(1) whether (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had discussions with the US Justice Department on its lawsuit concerning for-profit higher education providers;
(2) what (a) discussions and (b) meetings (i) he, (ii) ministers and (iii) officials in his Department have had with (A) providers of for-profit higher education who have businesses based in the US, (B) the US Government Accountability Office, (C) the US Department of Education, (D) the US Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, (E) US elected representatives and (F) higher education lecturers and practitioners from the for-profit higher education sector in the US.
It is not the normal practice of the Government to disclose details of their discussions with foreign governments. I am aware of developments in the US for-profit higher education system and the particular concerns raised in the Justice Department's lawsuit. But the comparison is an imperfect one. Funding incentives are different and the UK has a highly regarded system of quality assurance, with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education responsible for upholding standards in UK universities and colleges.
I meet regularly with a wide range of providers of higher education in the UK and internationally. The Department does not hold comprehensive information on whether higher education providers Ministers have met are classed as for-profit or not-for-profit institutions. Quarterly-updated list of all BIS ministerial meetings with external organisations is available at:
http://data.gov.uk/dataset/disclosure-ministerial-hospitality-received-department-for-business
BIS officials will also have had conversations with a range of higher education providers. A comprehensive record of such meetings is not maintained.
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