Higher Education

Lord Mackay of Clashfern Excerpts

Wednesday 9th April 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mackay of Clashfern (Con)]

My Lords, I first entered the field of work as a university lecturer in mathematics at the University of St Andrews, but my interest in the university sector had been sparked a good time before that by the inspiring lectures that I heard at Edinburgh University from the late Sir Edmund Whittaker and Professor Max Born. The thrill of being given inspiring lectures by people who were at the very forefront of research in their subjects was a terrific opportunity that I greatly relished and still cherish.

At the moment, I am the commissary of the University of Cambridge. I am glad to mention in relation to that matter that the very successful vice-chancellor of Cambridge University who recently retired was a lady, so Cambridge is in the forefront of developments of that kind, too. I am also privileged to be a fellow of two of the Cambridge colleges.

I have no doubt whatever that the university sector is an extremely important part of our national life in the United Kingdom and of our national heritage. A separation in the United Kingdom would damage the unity of that sector in a way which I think would be sad. However, my principal question is whether the universities are not more important than business. The purpose of universities has been eloquently described by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Winchester and by the right reverend Prelate who has just made his maiden speech.

There is no doubt that a university has to look after its business to see that its income and expenditure are properly balanced and to make the best use of what it produces in the way of research, attempting so far as possible to turn that into advantage and income to the university as well as, of course, benefit to the wider world. That makes me anxious that the university sector is at the moment in the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. No doubt a university should have business, should be able to innovate and should be able to develop skills, but it is much more—that is only part of the university. In my respectful submission to your Lordships, the university sector should be where it properly belongs in the Department for Education, because surely it is the apex of our education system and should be integrated with the other parts of the education sector. I know that the change was made for particular reasons, which I think are no longer applicable. I believe that it would be an advantage to the universities to return to where their home was in the Department for Education.

The second point that I want briefly to mention is academic freedom. It is vital that the universities should enjoy a full measure of academic freedom. Those of your Lordships who were here then will remember that I once found myself in debate with the late Roy Jenkins about this matter. He carried his definition of academic freedom on a Division before the Government whom I was representing had finalised their definition, so his definition stayed in the Bill that we were debating and then in the Act. The subject was so important that our late, very much esteemed colleague, Earl Russell, wrote a book about it which is no doubt familiar to at least some of your Lordships.

Academic freedom is vital, and it is important that the Government should not in any way trench on that. I am not exactly certain why the Government took the power to control university fees, but that is a matter perhaps left to those more economically minded than me. I am thinking of the general standard of freedom within the universities to pursue what seems be the right course at a particular time. That applies not only to universities as such but, in my view strongly, to those who are members of the university society—the professors, lecturers, readers and so on. The orthodoxy of today may not be the orthodoxy of tomorrow. Too rigid an adherence to a particular line of theory at the present time may well be detrimental to future development. Universities should be open to receiving that, and the individuals who run their departments should be attentive to seeing that they do not attempt to impose their views too strongly on others.

I have a particular example in mind which relates to the noble Lord, Lord Rees of Ludlow, whom I am glad to see in his place. When he accepted a very much merited Templeton Prize, one or two fellow academics who had a different point of view with regard to Templeton sought to express that in language which on the whole I would have preferred they had avoided. However, I do not in any way seek to interfere with the freedom of people to have their own point of view; it is just that if I want to have my own point of view, I should be reasonably open to other people having theirs.