Higher and Further Education

Adrian Bailey Excerpts

Tuesday 11th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Lab/Co-op)]

I welcome the motion, and the opportunity to debate the issues that it raises.

Much of what has been said in today’s debate should have been said 18 months or two years ago. The range of problems that we are discussing now arose partly because of the back-to-front way in which the Government have implemented education policy. We have seen the most profound change in our education system since the war. The trebling of tuition fees, along with the cuts in higher education funding, took place without adequate consultation with all interested bodies, and without the normal process involving a White Paper and subsequent legislation. The rest was supposed to come later. Yes, we did get the White Paper—about nine months later—and it listed a range of consultations that still needed to take place. We were then promised a Bill, which has somehow evaporated, and as a result we are now having to deal with a legacy of muddle and confusion, both in the minds of would-be students and in universities.

In the short time available to me, I want to focus on the idea of widening participation. As a representative of a black country constituency with a legacy of low income and low educational aspiration, I think that the policies that are now being implemented had the potential to bring about profound consequences. The first and most obvious was that the headline raising of tuition fees, and the likely debt that would have to be paid off as a result, would disproportionately deter those from low-income families. That has still to be tested. Initial figures from UCAS indicate that although there has been a drop in the number of applications—the figure of 50,000 has been mentioned today—the percentage of applications among those with lower-income backgrounds has not changed significantly. However, that fails to take a couple of factors into account.

First, the cohort that is going to university now would have gone into the sixth form two years ago under a different regime, and would have had university aspirations at that time. We do not yet know whether the cohorts of subsequent years will have the same aspirations. Secondly, a worrying trend is beginning to be discerned among applicants. UCAS says that there is no evidence that applicants are opting for their local—sometimes cheaper—universities. In fact, considerable evidence is emerging in the black country that applicants are opting for their local universities so that they can study at home, although I do not know whether those universities are cheaper. The local newspaper, the Express and Star, rang a number of secondary schools, and some of the leading providers of university applicants—Wood Green in Wednesbury, Brownhills in Walsall and Wednesfield in Wolverhampton—said that the percentage of their students applying to go to their local universities so that they could study at home had greatly increased. That is good news for Wolverhampton, but it has other implications.

[Simon Hughes]

The Chairman of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee is being very fair in his analysis. All the evidence is that, because of cost of living issues, if there is an equal choice of university, more students will want to go less far away in the future. We also ought to pay attention to the fact that there has been a drop in the number of mature students applying to universities. They are far more difficult to reach because they cannot be captured in the school context. That is a challenge in the west midlands, as in the rest of England.

[Mr Bailey]

The right hon. Gentleman mentions a number of issues that I wish I had sufficient time to deliberate upon. The point I am making is that those from lower-income backgrounds whose local university is not one that higher-aspiration students might wish to attend are suffering a disadvantage. A two-tier system may therefore be emerging. More lower-income students will want to stay at home regardless of the nature of their local university. I should stress that I think Wolverhampton university is excellent, and I would recommend it to prospective students, but it may not be the most appropriate institution for those seeking professional and academic qualifications. Not only will such lower-income students be missing out on the broader university experience of living away from home—although it is debatable how important that is—but they are less likely to have a good home learning environment.

[Mr Thomas]

If there is an increase in the numbers wanting to stay at home and go to their local university, there is also the risk of distortions in respect of choice of subject. In that context, has the hon. Gentleman seen the comments of the languages professor at Southampton university who is worried about the lack of provision of languages courses in the east of England, with the sole exception of Cambridge?

[Mr Bailey]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I have alluded to the lack of choice such students would have. Their local university may well not offer the appropriate course for them to be able to optimise their educational development. That is a further example of potential disadvantage.

People from lower-income and lower-aspiration backgrounds will also be disproportionately disadvantaged as a result of the further education loans measures. They are more likely to have missed out on their original educational experience. They are also more likely to be in jobs where they need to upskill, so they will have greater need of support to study for enhanced qualifications. The Government are seeking to shrink the public sector in order to benefit the private sector, and the lowest-income areas are often those with the highest proportion of public sector workers, who are most at risk, and most in need of support to acquire the skills to enable them to transfer from the public sector to the private sector, in furtherance of Government policy. This is an example of disjointed government. People who will need to change jobs as a result of Government policy in one area will have the support that they need to fulfil the Government’s objectives kicked away. The end product could well be that their lives are devastated, along with the Government’s economic objectives.

I would like to discuss many other aspects of funding and the economics of this issue, but my great concern is supporting educational aspiration and fulfilment, and the need to do that to benefit our economy. That will not be achieved under these proposals.