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The themes playing out in the higher education debates in the houses of parliament seem strangely familiar, writes Professor David Midgley
HERB 2.0 (the Higher Education Research Bill) has been playing in both houses of parliament recently. Like HERB 1.0, which enjoyed a twelve-month run between May 2016 and April 2017, HERB 2.0 has tended to be overshadowed by the greater spectacle of the Brexit debates. And like HERB 1.0 it contains ample evidence of the depth of concern aroused by the present government’s reforms of higher education.
The occasion for the debate in the House of Commons on 23 April, as Gill Evans has noted was the presentation of a statutory instrument implementing certain provisions in the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. Since parliament does not have the power to amend a statutory instrument, the challenge took the form of a motion to annul it – which was lost, but did provide the opportunity for robust criticism. The Lords, on 9 May, were able to invoke the more august measure of a “motion to regret”, which was not put to the vote, but similarly provided a forum for the articulation of misgivings.
Prominent amongst the themes in HERB 2.0 was the ambiguous status of the Office for Students (OfS). How could it be both a funding council and a validator of degrees? Was it in reality an independent regulator or an instrument for the ministerial micromanagement of universities? The evident susceptibility of the OfS to government influence in the appointment of its board members was taken to suggest the latter, as was the fondness of the current minister for universities, like his predecessor, for wielding the punitive powers of the OfS as a means of rapid response to any feature of university life that attracts hostile media attention.
Other themes familiar from HERB 1.0 included the lack of credible representation of students or academic staff on the OfS board (representation which might, as Wes Streeting argued, conceivably be effective in the tempering of egregious pay differentials in universities) and the recognition that the marketisation of higher education was more likely to drive standards down than up. Lord Hunt, who proposed the “motion to regret”, deplored the demeaning application of the term “provider” to universities along with the market ideology of which it was a symptom, and pointed to the insecurities introduced to the higher education system by the casualisation of the teaching force that the market approach also encourages.
There was a cameo role for “academic freedom” in HERB 2.0 – in Lord Younger’s response to the motion to regret, where it appeared as an adjunct to the particular conception of “institutional autonomy” inherent in the government’s market model. But the most ringing tones of the Lords debate were those of Lord Judd proclaiming the inalienable ideal of “the university as a community of scholars” in which students and scholars together engage in the exciting enterprise of investigation. The current high international standing of British universities, he averred, was not achieved by any commitment to market ideology, but through “a long-standing and continuing commitment to scholarship, to learning and to the concept of the value of education as an end in itself, not as a means to an immediate end”.
Noteworthy supporting acts drew attention to the neglect of further education within the new framework and expressed the hope that the vacancy created by the resignation of the unfortunate Toby Young in January would be used to give representation to that sector on the board of the OfS. Special mention should also be made of the Tory ingénue who apparently continues to harbour the illusion that the TEF is designed to assess the quality of teaching.
Student loans and the problem of how to widen access have been in the news again – while the post-1992 universities are about to take a big financial hit
DfE ‘failed’ to monitor UK Student Loans Company
Times Higher Education, 11/05/2018, Ellie Bothwell
The UK government failed to effectively oversee the Student Loans Company during the tenure of its former chief executive Steve Lamey, according to a report from public spending watchdog the National Audit Office.
Student loan rates absurd, say MPs
BBC, 11/05/2018, Sean Coughlan
The inflation measure used to set interest rates on student loans is “absurd”, says a report from MPs.
The government uses RPI – the Retail Prices Index – which the Treasury Select Committee says is “flawed” and should be “abandoned”.
England’s large post-92s take hit on ‘student outcomes’ funding cut
Times Higher Education, 11/05/2018, Simon Baker
A number of newer English universities are among those losing the most direct teaching funding next year following a £30 million cut to funding designed to stop disadvantaged students dropping out of university.
At some large post-92 institutions, including London Metropolitan University, Leeds Beckett University and Manchester Metropolitan University, overall grant funding will drop by more than £1 million, a large part of which is down to the cut.
White working-class boys in England ‘need more help’ to go to university
The Guardian, 10/05/2018 Richard Adams
Helping white, working-class boys in England to go on to higher education should be a top priority for policymakers, according to a manifesto to widen access to universities that identifies more than 30 gaps and weaknesses in policy.
Thinking big: 35 ideas for widening access to higher education
Wonkhe, 10/05/2018, Diana Beech
Let’s face it – we all appreciate a nod in the right direction when starting a new job.
This could be a polite hint about what needs doing, guidance on what to prioritise, or helpful advice on how to go about it. Chris Millward, is surely no exception to this rule, having just started out in his new role as Director of Fair Access and Participation at Office for Students (OfS).
UK universities alarmed by poaching of top computer science brains
Financial Times, 09/05/2018, Aliya Ram
The hiring of professors in artificial intelligence by big technology companies is “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs”, according to Abhinay Muthoo. The dean of Warwick university’s King’s Cross campus in London, which coordinates its AI projects, fears the poaching of the best computer science brains in UK higher education by US groups such as Amazon, Google and Uber is threatening Britain’s ability to build on a world leading position in machine learning.
Business schools create new courses to tap apprenticeship levy
Financial Times, 08/05/2018, Jonathan Moules
Business schools are being reinvigorated by the apprenticeship levy, with 40 out of 113 universities creating specific MBA courses to take advantage of the tax, according to a new survey.
More than 1,400 people will enrol in levy-friendly MBA courses during the next 12 months, according to the poll by TES, an education magazine.
More than 1,400 people will enrol in levy-friendly MBA courses during the next 12 months, according to the poll by TES, an education magazine. A further two universities said they were in the process of setting up courses, while others said they were considering a move into the market.
Scrap essays to stop cheats, universities told
The Times, 0405/2018, Rosemary Bennett
Universities have been urged to stop relying on the traditional written essay to assess students in order to overcome the scourge of “contract cheating”.
Online essay mills, companies selling essays and coursework, have sprung up all over the world. An Australian study said 6 per cent of students there had bought at least one essay or paid for work they submitted for their degree.
Unconditional offers fail students. Bring back university entrance exams
The Guardian, 04/05/2018, Gillian Evans
Good A-levels have long been treated as indicators of an applicant’s ability to cope with a degree course and graduate successfully. But the rise of unconditional offers has undermined this. In 2013-14, 2,985 students were told their grades didn’t matter – by 2015-16, that number had risen to 51,615. At the same time, drop-out rates are rising. Now, the new regulator, the Office for Students, is working with Ucas to investigate the impact of unconditional offers on students’ access to higher education and degree and employment outcomes.
If student maintenance grants are coming back, who will pay for them?
The Guardian, 01/05/2018, David Morris
Back when student maintenance grants were abolished in 2015, universities seemed relatively relaxed. Ignoring the student protests over how they would cope with high costs of living, universities were quietly satisfied that at least the changes came in tandem with an inflationary rise in tuition fees, linked to their performance in the teaching excellence framework. How times have changed.
