Higher Education White Paper

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Tuesday 28th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Willetts]

This is about the importance of information, advice and guidance in our schools and colleges. Again, I pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) for his work in examining the matter carefully. I urge Members of all parties to take every opportunity to visit schools and colleges and get past some of the misinformation, and be absolutely clear to young people that no young person or their family will have to pay up front for the opportunity of going into higher education. I regret the anxiety about the matter, but it is misplaced and all Members, whatever their political views, have a shared responsibility to tackle it.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

There is concern on both sides of the House about the expansion of the for-profit sector in higher education. Will the Minister not learn from the experience of the United States, where the for-profit sector has a higher failure rate than other universities and is currently being investigated for misrepresentation to prospective students? Will he listen to the concerns of HEFCE, which says that the expansion of the for-profit sector here will damage the reputation of our university system?

[Mr Willetts]

We are not Americanising our higher education system. There are important differences between the system that we are proposing and the American one, not least of which is universal access to Exchequer-financed loans, which is not possible in the US. Also, there is a robust quality assurance system, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, which we are keeping. We are not Americanising the system.

I noted that in what the shadow Minister said there was no recognition of the fact that under the previous Labour Government, five private providers were awarded degree-awarding powers. That seems to me an indication that even the previous Government were not opposed to the private provision of higher education. I very much hope that Labour is not abandoning that position.