Universities could be restricted in recruiting students to poor quality courses, under new government plans.
Ministers will ask the independent regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), to limit numbers on courses that do not have "good outcomes".
Education Minister Robert Halfon said imposing restrictions would encourage universities to improve course quality. Labour said the move would "put up fresh barriers to opportunity in areas with fewer graduate jobs".
The advocacy group Universities UK said university was a great investment for the vast majority of students.
A spokeswoman for the organisation warned any measures must be "targeted and proportionate, and not a sledgehammer to crack a nut".
He said any recruitment limits on courses will be a matter for the regulator, the OfS, rather than the government.
He suggested that the OfS would use "existing powers" to look into poor quality courses, saying: "We can't order the Office for Students to do anything."
Labour's shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the announcement was "an attack on the aspirations of young people".
But Mr Halfon dubbed that accusation as "nonsense".
"The Labour party has been obsessed with quantity over quality and had been party of poor standards in education," he said.
Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Munira Wilson said the prime minister was "out of ideas" and had "dug up a policy the Conservatives announced and then unannounced twice over".
She said: "Universities don't want this. It's a cap on aspiration, making it harder for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to go on to further study." Universities UK said the UK had the highest completion rates of any OECD country and overall satisfaction rates were high.
"However, it is right that the regulatory framework is there as a backstop to protect student interests in the very small proportion of instances where quality needs to be improved," a spokeswoman said.
The idea originated in a 2018 review set up under then-Prime Minister Theresa May. The same review also suggested that more money needed to be pumped into education and that tuition fees needed to be cut - but these are not being implemented.
The new pledge comes ahead of three by-elections in Conservative-held seats on Thursday.
The government also announced it would reduce the maximum fees universities can charge for classroom-based foundation-year courses, from £9,250 to £5,760. In 2021/22, 29,080 students were studying a foundation degree.
Foundation year courses are designed to help prepare students for degrees with specific entry requirements or knowledge, such as medicine and veterinary sciences.
However, the government said research suggested too many people were encouraged to take a foundation year in some subjects like business, where it was not necessary.
University Alliance, which represents professional and technical universities, said cutting fees for foundation year courses was "disappointingly regressive" and "makes them financially unviable to deliver".
Chief executive Vanessa Wilson said: "Disadvantaged students and the 'Covid generation' will lose out if this provision is reduced or lost."
She added that the government had chosen "to berate one of the few UK sectors which is genuinely world-leading".
No more degrees for the sake of degrees sounds good to me. The 1997 Labour 50% of kids ending up with degrees goal has been disastrous and needs reversing. -studies departments on suicide watch.
Ministers will ask the independent regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), to limit numbers on courses that do not have "good outcomes".
Education Minister Robert Halfon said imposing restrictions would encourage universities to improve course quality. Labour said the move would "put up fresh barriers to opportunity in areas with fewer graduate jobs".
The advocacy group Universities UK said university was a great investment for the vast majority of students.
A spokeswoman for the organisation warned any measures must be "targeted and proportionate, and not a sledgehammer to crack a nut".
He said any recruitment limits on courses will be a matter for the regulator, the OfS, rather than the government.
He suggested that the OfS would use "existing powers" to look into poor quality courses, saying: "We can't order the Office for Students to do anything."
Labour's shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the announcement was "an attack on the aspirations of young people".
But Mr Halfon dubbed that accusation as "nonsense".
"The Labour party has been obsessed with quantity over quality and had been party of poor standards in education," he said.
Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Munira Wilson said the prime minister was "out of ideas" and had "dug up a policy the Conservatives announced and then unannounced twice over".
She said: "Universities don't want this. It's a cap on aspiration, making it harder for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to go on to further study." Universities UK said the UK had the highest completion rates of any OECD country and overall satisfaction rates were high.
"However, it is right that the regulatory framework is there as a backstop to protect student interests in the very small proportion of instances where quality needs to be improved," a spokeswoman said.
The idea originated in a 2018 review set up under then-Prime Minister Theresa May. The same review also suggested that more money needed to be pumped into education and that tuition fees needed to be cut - but these are not being implemented.
The new pledge comes ahead of three by-elections in Conservative-held seats on Thursday.
The government also announced it would reduce the maximum fees universities can charge for classroom-based foundation-year courses, from £9,250 to £5,760. In 2021/22, 29,080 students were studying a foundation degree.
Foundation year courses are designed to help prepare students for degrees with specific entry requirements or knowledge, such as medicine and veterinary sciences.
However, the government said research suggested too many people were encouraged to take a foundation year in some subjects like business, where it was not necessary.
University Alliance, which represents professional and technical universities, said cutting fees for foundation year courses was "disappointingly regressive" and "makes them financially unviable to deliver".
Chief executive Vanessa Wilson said: "Disadvantaged students and the 'Covid generation' will lose out if this provision is reduced or lost."
She added that the government had chosen "to berate one of the few UK sectors which is genuinely world-leading".
No more degrees for the sake of degrees sounds good to me. The 1997 Labour 50% of kids ending up with degrees goal has been disastrous and needs reversing. -studies departments on suicide watch.
