Higher Education: Reform

Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe Excerpts

Monday 12th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe]

My Lords, I, too, thank my noble friend for introducing this timely debate. The new and substantial reforms to university funding have had some unpredicted effects on applications and admissions. We do not yet have reliable data on enrolments but we know that application figures, though down by just over 7%, have been less badly affected by higher fees than many predicted. In particular, it is reassuring to note that applications from students from the lowest participation backgrounds have decreased by less than those from students from higher participation groups.

However, within this, I am concerned about the decrease in applications for some languages, arts and design, and social studies courses. Some of these subjects have recorded decreases in applications of between 16% and 20%. We need to pay attention to this but it is also worth taking the long view. Subjects in arts and design have experienced considerable growth over the past few years: a 36% increase between 2006 and 2011. Although that growth has slowed and has been less than that for STEM subjects during the same period, the trend has been positive. Unfortunately, languages have been in longer-term decline. The other worrying feature has been the fall-off in applications from mature students. If this experience is repeated in future years, we may have a serious problem. Encouraging older students into higher education is increasingly important to the economy. A huge amount of progress has been made in the past decade and we cannot afford to see it reversed.

The change in the profile of applicants this year may explain some of the variations in subject choice, so we will need to distinguish between short-term effects—because this is the first year of a new system—and longer-term trends. For instance, there is widespread concern about the combined effects of higher fees at undergraduate level and an inadequate supply of commercial loan funding on the take-up of postgraduate education. There is concern, too, about the way in which government funding and student number control policies, combined with an increasing concentration of research funding, could lead to increased stratification of the university system. I urge the Government to tread cautiously. The past year has created huge challenges for university leaders. Very strong institutions from all parts of the sector have found it extremely difficult to operate in circumstances where several sets of goalposts have shifted simultaneously.

This instability in the English system has added to concerns about simultaneous disruption of international activities. This is one of a number of areas where our universities excel. Their international reach is phenomenal. Much has been said about the economic value of their international activities, but I think that we in this House understand that the internationalisation of universities is as much about the character of their teaching and research, and the quality of the educational experience enjoyed by their students, as it is about their considerable export earnings. The Government have been urged by not one, not two but three separate Select Committees to take students out of net migration targets. When will the Government respond to these calls?

I will make a final point on research funding. What will the Government do to ensure that the European research and innovation budget is protected in the forthcoming EU budget negotiations, especially since EU funding currently constitutes 10% of national research investment? As David Miliband recently put it, we have to get the EU budget,

“out of supporting cows, sheep and goats and into supporting skills, universities, and innovation”.

If the Government do not back our universities, other Governments in other parts of the world will help their own universities fill the very big gap that we will leave.