Universities

Lord Liddle Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Liddle (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare a non-current interest: I was for four years a director of the University of Cumbria and for seven years chair of the council of Lancaster University. My theme in these brief remarks is that I believe universities have lost their place at the centre of the ambitions of our nation. I think this is a tragedy.

Lancaster University was opened by Prime Minister Harold Wilson 60 years ago. That was a great occasion. For him, it embodied what his new Labour Government were all about: a new Britain of classless opportunity for all, which he was to achieve through massive investments in education. The opening of the new universities was a very successful public intervention. A successful institution was built, which has grown—with some bumps along the road, of course—to 16,000 students. It has kept to the mission of providing academic excellence with equal opportunity.

How do we put universities back at the centre? I praise the Government for having taken steps to resolve the financial problems and increase the maintenance loan, but the maintenance loan is still 10%, in real terms, below what it was at the start of the Covid pandemic. As an earlier speaker said, 55% of students now need to work to finance their way through university. We need to think more deeply about the role of universities and their financing. To be cruel, this was a bit of sticking plaster politics. We have to proceed with greater thought and more reform.

On research, I listened very attentively to the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Krebs. There is cross-subsidy, a funding gap and potentially a long-term problem there, but he should at least have given the Government credit for what they did in the Budget on research in maintaining the existing budget and not trying to shoehorn the rejoining of Horizon into the research budget. That was a positive step.

At Lancaster I observed a terrific tension between the success of the golden triangle as a great set of research institutions—I fully support that, by the way; I do not believe the way forward is to try to ruin the things you do really well—with universities such as Lancaster, which, in terms of the research assessment exercise, achieved very good results but lacked the critical mass to do projects in the sciences and the medical world, where breakthroughs are being made today. I do not know how we resolve that dilemma. I was keen on partnerships—mergers, even—with other institutions in order to create more critical mass. The European partnerships that Lancaster was able to join were critical, and that is why rejoining Horizon was of such importance.

I think universities should have a duty to come up with proposals to use their research strengths as part of local growth plans—that is essential—and their partnerships would play an important role in that. They should also be required by the Government to put spinouts of research at the centre of their concerns.

On opportunity, the problem with our university system is that there is too much of the single model of the three-year degree. We should be more adventurous in thinking about other models of learning. We should use the lifelong learning entitlement in innovative ways. We should see how people can combine work and study at the same time. We should go over to a modular system that people can build on at one institution and then, later in life, continue at another. We should have more provision for part-time and mature students. Universities should also be charged with the responsibility for breaking down barriers with further education and raising further education standards.

I could go on but I see my Whip staring at me in a knowing way, so I shall be a good boy and say only that we have to think radically about the role of universities, which play a vital role in our society. Now is the moment for a new wave of reform.