Are the odds still stacked against the UK’s ‘challenger institutions’?

A small point of correction. It is not the function of universities to train anybody. I am an engineer but am involved in education not training. The latter should come from companies and is an important element of degree apprenticeships.

Additionally, new providers are deliberately put at a serious disadvantage by the Home Office for international student recruitment, a vital source of revenue across the sector. Upon obtaining a license to sponsor student visas, during the first 4 years (probationary period) there will be ridiculous restrictions placed upon their students, effectively punishing them for taking a chance on innovative new universities! In particular they will be denied: - the right to work part-time (20 hours a week) - the right to get 2-year post-study work visas upon graduation. Supposedly these restrictions are to prevent abuse of the visa sponsorship system. I don’t see any logic in that. The UKVI does not seem to take into consideration the rigour already applied by the Office For Students for degree awarding bodies. They are unnecessary, unfair, anti-competition and penalising honest challenger new higher education providers and their students, putting these institutions at a further disadvantage.

Is there a shortage of engineering graduates, or is it, at least in part, that students having graduated in engineering are then exposed to careers that offer higher salaries, fewer experience hurdles, and much faster progression than is available in engineering pathways?