“May 2014 marks one year until the next General Election. Since the last election in 2010 we have seen the most radical change in higher education policy in a generation – the Browne Review of higher education, the Higher Education White Paper, the introduction of £9,000 fees, changes to student number controls, the introduction of Access Agreements, controversy over international student visas, and from 2015, the removal of the student number cap. All this has been underpinned by the controversial sale of the student loan book. This is in marked contrast to the previous decade of relative stability with only modest, incremental change.
It seems likely that higher education will once again be an election issue. I have spent time with both David Willetts and Liam Byrne in the last couple of months as they begin to shape their positions leading into the election, and importantly, work out how election commitments can be funded. I have consistently argued that any system has to achieve a balance between accessibility and affordability for students, and financial viability for the university. Of course, there are several options as to how this might be achieved and the main parties are actively seeking the views of the community at this stage.
For the government, the basic elements of their policy remain in place with strong emphasis on the role of universities in supporting economic recovery, little interest in any significant change to the £9k fee, paralysis in their position on international student visas, and continuing commitment to protect the science budget. Some stability would be welcome, but a continuing freeze on the science budget and student fees, results in a year on year reduction in overall funding to universities. For Labour, Liam Byrne has made a public commitment to remove student visas from any system of visa control, and is actively examining the financial viability of a reduction in fees to students to £6k. Whilst there are obvious attractions to the reduction in fees, we will have to examine carefully how this can be afforded and ensure that this does not lead to an overall reduction in funding for education coming to universities. At this stage there is little indication of the Labour position on science funding. I will be keeping a close eye on these evolving policies and speaking out when I think it necessary.
An interesting role in the development of Labour policy seems to be being played by John Denham, our local MP and Southampton alumnus, but also previously Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills. John is a good friend to the university and always interested in our views. I hope to be catching up with him over the coming weeks too.”