Elizabeth Truss
Main Page: Elizabeth Truss (Conservative - South West Norfolk)
Mr Willetts
There are some barriers here. One of our frustrations—I am sure that we have all come across examples of this—is that small and medium-sized enterprises might like the use of a piece of equipment that they could not afford to buy themselves, or they might like some technical advice on a project, but they do not realise that there is a university in the area that might have that piece of equipment or those technical experts. The SME does not necessarily ever step foot inside the university, and does not know what is available. We want to break down those barriers, and that is what we are looking to Professor Tim Wilson’s review to tackle.
Elizabeth Truss (South West Norfolk) (Con)
Although I support relaxing the Stalinist quotas that we have had in our universities, I am concerned that a flat AAB hurdle may disincentivise people from taking subjects such as science and maths, which state school students are already half as likely to take as their independent school counterparts. What can the Minister do to address that?
Mr Willetts
In a letter that the Secretary of State and I have sent to HEFCE today we make clear our continuing commitment to strategically important and vulnerable subjects. We will of course monitor the effects of the change in the first year, but we wish to take it further, so that gradually more and more A-level grades are included in the system.