Higher Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics: Science and Technology Committee Report

Baroness Garden of Frognal Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, I am pleased to wind up for the Government in this debate. I thank the sub-committee and its chairman, my noble friend Lord Willis, for a thoughtful and incisive report on a very important subject. The quality of the debate reflects the expertise in this House. I note the regret of the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, at the delay in debating such an important report.

The Government are well aware of the importance of skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. They are vital for growth and are highly valued across all areas of the economy. Work is in hand to address many of the areas outlined in the report. Despite the backdrop of significant financial crisis and difficult decisions on priorities for funding, the Government have ensured that we have supported the teaching of STEM subjects. We have ensured that our universities have a sustainable income stream. We have protected the £4.6 billion science and research programme budget, and have announced almost £1.5 billion additional capital funding for science and innovation projects. That is in addition to the £1.9 billion capital announced in the spending review. In partial response to the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, I should say that we have increased and safeguarded the money going into these subjects.

Activity in school is the beginning of the STEM pipeline, and much activity is taking place to stimulate interest and excitement among children, an issue that was raised in a number of the contributions today. The noble Viscount, Lord Hanworth, mentioned maths as being an impossible subject and trying to make maths more accessible. A number of initiatives are going on on this. The See Inside Manufacturing campaign has been a very successful way of opening young people’s eyes to the career opportunities available in engineering by showing them around some of the UK’s leading industrial companies.

Complementing this, we have programmes such as STEM ambassadors, apprenticeship ambassadors, Make It in Great Britain, and the exciting Big Bang Fair. The fair has grown year on year since 2009, attracting more than 60,000 people last week at ExCel and inspiring the very youngest. In 2009, my noble friend Lady Sharp and I went tearing across the road, having eventually been released from here, to witness some of the activities going on in the QEII centre. Certainly, it was an inspiration to see very young children getting so excited about science, technology, engineering and maths.

UCAS data show that STEM and clinical subjects held up well in 2012-13. That follows eight years of rising A-level entries in STEM subjects and six years at undergraduate level. The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, mentioned that we need more girls and those from disadvantaged backgrounds choosing STEM. The types of initiatives that I have mentioned are the very ones that will encourage them into those subjects. My noble friend Lady Sharp also mentioned the dearth of girls in some areas. However, 40% of STEM ambassadors are women.

On the teaching of maths, the Department for Education is funding Mathematics in Education and Industry to devise a new course, as mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Broers, working with Professor Tim Gowers of the University of Cambridge. We are also funding the maths department of that university to create a first-class curriculum for advanced maths with an emphasis on ideas such as complex numbers and trigonometry. Imperial College, too, is getting money to develop and pilot a one-year course for A-level maths teachers to bolster their knowledge. I shall say something about teachers later.

At key stage 5, of course it is important that A-levels in general are fit for purpose and continue to match the best education systems in the world. They should also be responsive to the needs of the higher education sector and industry, which my noble friend Lord Willis made very clear in his contribution. Universities and employers tell us that they want highly numerate people with an excellent facility with words and first-rate analytical skills. So it is important that students have access to courses and qualifications that do just that.

The Secretary of State for Education has set out an ambition that within a decade the vast majority of students should be studying mathematics up to the age of 18. Again, a number of noble Lords have pointed out that there is a desire to make this happen. However, research suggests that the current A-levels do not adequately prepare students. It shows that the modularisation of the current A-level has left many students unable to demonstrate deep understanding and incapable of making connections between topics. These skills are crucial to success in higher education and employment. This was echoed in Ofqual’s public consultation, which found strong support for greater university input into A-levels.

We are strengthening both curriculum and qualifications to ensure that they set expectations that match those in the highest-performing education jurisdictions in the world and that they better prepare students for further study.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education wrote to Ofqual on 22 January setting out changes to A-levels. In recognition of concerns about timing raised during Ofqual’s consultation, the Department for Education has delayed that timetable to 2015.

From September 2015, the A-level will be linear, with all assessment coming at the end of two years’ study. This will lead to students developing a deeper knowledge of their subjects. Research suggests that students benefit from the greater intellectual maturity that will be developed over two years.

My noble friend Lady Sharp mentioned the AS-level and that it has performed a very useful service. It is to be decoupled from the A2, but it will be retained as a standalone qualification to help encourage breadth of study. My noble friend and the noble Lord, Lord Broers, mentioned the need for a widening of school subject areas. The international baccalaureate, which has had such a successful take-up in certain schools, still remains a fairly small part of the sixth-form provision, but has always had that breadth of science, humanities, languages, and so on.

Universities will be more involved in reviewing the subject content of A-levels and assessment where appropriate. An advisory committee established by the Russell Group will advise Ofqual on A-level content. Awarding organisations will develop new A-levels in the facilitating subjects such as mathematics and the sciences, drawing on the expertise of these university academics.

Your Lordships are aware of the importance of academic freedom and university independence. Our universities are regarded as the most autonomous in Europe, and I am sure that the House would want to maintain that position. The UK has specific legislation—the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and the 2004 Act—which forbids the Government from directing institutions’ admissions criteria. While I absolutely support the importance of high standards, government cannot intervene in specific entry requirements.

Moving on to postgraduates, the noble Lords, Lord Broers and Lord Willis, the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, and the noble Lord, Lord Krebs—in fact most noble Lords who have participated in this debate—have mentioned postgraduates, which formed a very significant part of the report. The Government recognise that postgraduate education is an important element of higher education provision in the UK. The Minister for Universities and Science attended a roundtable on postgraduate taught provision on 23 January chaired by Sir Alan Langlands, the HEFCE chief executive. This confirmed the importance of taught postgraduate education. The sector has grown and thrived on a mixed economy of private, public, charitable and employer finance and on limited regulation, but there are concerns about sustaining this position in a highly competitive international market. The roundtable’s conclusions will inform the next stage of work. HEFCE will review participation in postgraduate study, working closely with BIS, and will publish a report later in the spring that will provide new evidence on progression to postgraduate study and an overview of the postgraduate landscape.

HEFCE’s allocation for taught postgraduate provision is now being maintained at similar levels to 2011-12, at around £135 million. HEFCE will provide £240 million for postgraduate research degree supervision support, and research councils will invest £340 million in postgraduate research provision. However, your Lordships will understand that in the current difficult economic climate we should encourage universities, banks and employers to come up with their own solutions to supporting postgraduates, not just look to government.

The noble Lord, Lord Willis, and other noble Lords, have noted the absence of a higher education Bill. A White Paper, Students at the Heart of the System, was published in June 2011 and sets out the Government’s plans, and we are moving our higher education reform agenda forward primarily through non-legislative means. We will, of course, keep the situation under review. We are aware of how many times higher education is debated, in one way or another, in both Houses. It is an important aspect of our lives, and if there is not a Bill, that is not because there is no interest but because these matters are being dealt with in other ways.

On student tuition fees, we are operating the broad structure of the previous Government’s changes of 2005-06, which both Houses agreed. As we know, eligible undergraduates do not now pay up front. Government loans cover tuition fees and students repay only after graduation when they earning a reasonable salary and at a rate of 9% of their income. It is affordable. However, I acknowledge, as many do, that this has not been very well communicated to the student population. It is disconcerting to discover how many people still think that it will be students who are in debt or, indeed, parents. We need to get the message across, loud and clear, that no student now pays fees up front and that no parent needs to pay either at that stage. There is consensus among political parties that you can reasonably expect graduates to make a larger contribution but it has to be done on a fair and progressive basis. On this we are ahead of the debate than many other countries.

A number of other questions have arisen, which I will take not in as logical an order as I would like as it has been a very full debate. The noble Lord, Lord Broers, asked why recommendation 15 for an expert group to consider the supply and demand of STEM postgraduate provision in the UK had not been taken up. Our view is that it probably does not need a new body. With the current stakeholder landscape the UK has a wealth of expert employer advice from business. We have set up the National Centre for Universities and Business—that was in the Government’s response which was criticised by the noble Lord—and the Government are asking it to provide strategic advice periodically on industry’s needs and perceptions of graduates and postgraduates. We take the point that it is invaluable to have the views of entrepreneurs and industrialists and from all sides on how that can best be achieved.

A number of noble Lords, including my noble friend Lord Willis, bemoaned the lack of data. The possibility of improving and changing the HESA data collection and publication timetable is under active consideration within the context of the information landscape programme that has identified the importance of the timeliness of data. My right honourable friend David Willetts also bemoaned the fact that data are not available, timely or sufficient, but HESA is looking at the problem in the hope that we will have a better collection of data that can influence debate.

My noble friend Lady Sharp mentioned careers advice, as did the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson. We have, of course, given schools legal responsibility for securing access to independent and impartial careers guidance for year 9 to 11 pupils on a full range of 16 to 18 education and training options, including apprenticeships and vocational routes. We will certainly be monitoring the situation to make sure that those routes are sufficiently addressed in careers advice. We noted in the recent statement on apprenticeships that the Government are working to have apprenticeships as a valid career alternative to university and are aiming to increase apprenticeships across a range of new professional areas as well as vocational skill areas. If we can get the mix correct, we hope that the cross-fertilisation between the vocational field and the academic field will serve our country well.

The National Careers Service works through its website and also operates a one-to-one service with careers advisers to provide young people with information on science and technology-based careers. That imperative is made very clear to those who advise. On girls in science, technology and engineering, 54% of the young visitors to the 2013 Big Bang Fair were girls, while 52% of the 412 finalists in the National Science and Engineering Competition were girls. The BT Young Scientist of the Year this year is a girl and the Young Apprentice 2012 is a female mechanical engineer with BAE Systems. We are acquiring some inspirational role models for girls and young women who will encourage them to take up studies in these areas.

Noble Lords mentioned the take-up rates at A-level. The figures I have show that in maths, for instance, male take-up was 46,800 and female take-up 31,200. In chemistry, male take-up was 23,634 while female take-up was 21,093. There are some areas of science, technology, engineering and maths where the gaps are closing, but for these purposes I will not quote the figures for physics, because they are not going to help my argument.

The noble Viscount, Lord Hanworth, commented on the decline in the number of applicants for university generally. We know that by the January deadline this year, just under 480,000 applications were made to study the STEM subjects, which is a rise of 7% on the number of applications made in 2012. We must hope that this is going in the right direction, and with the exciting developments available to young people at earlier stages, we hope that that enthusiasm will be taken forward.

The noble Lord, Lord Rees, talked about the importance of science and the part it plays in our culture, as well as how international it is. People should understand the relevance of science to act as empowered citizens. We absolutely agree with that. Science is a vital part of our national skill set and heritage. Young people will miss out on a great deal if they are not taught the sciences as well as the humanities as they progress through school and carry them through into higher education.

The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, mentioned the STEM students lost to non-STEM subjects. We do not like to think of these people as lost, but that they are bringing their STEM skills to bear in many other sectors and enhancing them in ways that will be good for the economy in one way or another. That echoes the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Rees.

The noble Lord, Lord Krebs, talked about initial teacher training and he asked particularly about the number of applications per post. I do not have those figures, but I know that in 2012-13 we have been offering training bursaries of up to £20,000 for mainstream postgraduate maths, physics and chemistry trainees, and we have seen some very encouraging figures as a result. For instance, in physics we have seen the best levels of recruitment since 1979, with 900 trainees. The figures are rising and I am sure that the noble Lord will agree that the best way to foster enthusiasm in young people at school is to provide people who are trained in the subjects and are themselves really enthusiastic. That builds a virtuous circle so that people genuinely want to study these subjects because they find them fascinating. That has to be a good thing.

I turn now to student visas. A number of noble Lords mentioned the problems in this area. We have said and continue to say that we recognise the enormous contribution that international students make to the UK economically, culturally and socially in terms of international relations and friendships. They are vital to our country and we need to put the message out that the UK is open to all genuine students. There is no cap on the number of genuine students who we want to welcome to the UK and we have no intention of introducing one. There are issues around the amount that students can work, but those are also being addressed at the moment so as to make quite sure that as few barriers as possible are put in the way of getting genuine international students into this country. We recognise the setbacks of what happened earlier. There was a perception, which several noble Lords mentioned, that we were not welcoming to international students. However, we are now striving hard to reverse the trend, particularly from India where we have seen a decline in numbers. We want to make sure that Indian students know how welcome they are in this country.

I am conscious that there has been a great wealth of questions that I may not have covered. I shall look through the debate and try to find any answers that have not been included in my speech today. It is encouraging to see that the study of STEM subjects is increasing in our higher education institutions. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are vital components of our learning infrastructure. Application of the knowledge and skills learnt is not only part of driving growth in the economy but fully enhances the social and cultural fabric of our society. The UK remains a world leader in the field, with 85 Nobel Prizes for science and technology, rather a lot of which I think have come from the college of the noble Lord, Lord Rees, in Cambridge. Only the USA achieves more citations. We have a great deal to encourage us but we still have a great deal to do. The committee set out a compelling vision. We share that vision. We shall be looking at all the recommendations that the committee made and considering them. I thank the committee for a valuable report and I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this fascinating and valuable debate.