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Higher Education in the United Kingdom: Reform or Reaction? PeterScott Professor of Higher Education Studies Centre for Higher Education Studies

About me Professor of Higher Education Studies, Institute of Education University of London (2011-) Chair of Council [Board], University of Gloucestershire (2011-) Vice-Chancellor [President], Kingston University ( ) Board Member, Higher Education Funding Council for England ( ) President, Academic Cooperation Association ( ) Pro-Vice-Chancellor [Vice-President], University of Leeds ( ) Professor of Education, University of Leeds ( ) Editor, ‘The Times Higher Education Supplement’ ( ) 3

Plan of presentation Higher education in the UK: statistics, characteristics 21 st -century challenges and opportunities The Government’s higher education reforms (in England) Conclusions – and discussion 4

Higher Education in the United Kingdom 5

Higher Education in the UK: 1 STUDENTS 2.4 million students – compared with 1.5 million in 1998 England – 2 million; Scotland – 230,000; Wales – 125,000 Undergraduate – 1.85 million; Postgraduate – 540,000 International students – 250,000; Other EU students – 120,000 Most popular subjects: business and management, subjects allied to medicine, education, social studies, biological sciences... Three-quarters of applicants accepted as students Participation rate – 45% 6

Higher Education in the UK: 2 I NSTITUTIONS 165 Higher Education Institutions (England – 131; Scotland – 19; Wales 11) 115 Universities and 37 University Colleges – plus specialist institutions, e.g. art colleges, music conservatoires Average size – 14,500 students (but 50 institutions have more than 20,000) Average income - £154 / $230 million – but more than 40 universities have incomes of more than £300 / $450 million 7

INCOME: £25.3 / $33 billion – a third from Government (via Funding Councils); 30% from student fees; 16% from research grants and contracts EXPENDITURE: £24.9 / $38 billion (57% on staff costs) PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AS % OF GDP: 0.85% (OECD average 1.03%; Highest – Finland 1.63%) 8 Higher Education in the UK: 3

Higher Education in the UK: 4 FUNDING OF INSTIUTIONS ‘Block grants’ from Funding Councils T (Teaching) funding calculated by formula (‘like funding for like provision’) R (Research) funding allocated selectively (‘funding excellence wherever it is found’) Student fees UK and other European Union students (up to a maximum of £3,300 – soon to be increased to £6,000 - £9,000) Other income Research grants / contracts, commercial income etc. 9

Characteristics of UK HE  Mass – with elite features, e.g. low wastage  Rapid expansion (55% growth in past 10 years)  Unified – but differentiated  ‘Excellent’ – as measured by scientific citations / global league tables  Public (but not State) >>> private (entrepreneurial?) 10

UK higher education: past 50 years  Mass higher education (40+% participation, ending of the binary system...) – but with many elite features (low wastage, teaching – research links…)  Intensification of research culture:  QUALITY: RAE/REF, ‘world-leading’ universities…  BREADTH: Application of research, HEIF, ‘enterprise’… 11

21 st -century challenges and opportunities 12

Fernand Braudel

Layers of historical change Histoire evènèmentielle Elections, political revolutions, economic cycle, celebrities / mass media… Longue durée Demography, geography, climate, social change, cultural revolutions… 14

Changes in deep structure 1 KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY  Fewer low-skill, more high-skill jobs  ‘Race to the top’ SOCIAL IDENTITY  Educational attainment / cultural capital  Gender (and other) revolutions, new social movements POLITICAL CULTURE  ‘Market state’  24-hour politics 15

Changes in deep structure: 2 TECHNOLOGY  ‘Black box’ technologies  Instant-access data  Rival experts GLOBALISATION  ‘Clever cities’ – and world cities  Clash of civilisations (multiple ‘globalisations’)  Inequality – and the environment 16

Impact on higher education 1 STUDENT DEMAND  Specific factors – qualifications and demography  ‘Graduate society’ COURSES, CURRICULUM, LEARNING & TEACHING  ‘Vocationalisation’ of higher education  Student expectations / culture 17

Impact on higher education 2 RESEARCH  ‘Mode 2’, triple helix…  Third stream and enterprise  RAE >>> REF (impact) UNIVERSITIES AS ORGANISATIONS  Expansion = complexity  External stake-holders  Dearth of public funding 18

Histoire evènèmentielle  Institutional landscape – largely unchanged since 1960s  System structure – binary system abandoned (fait accompli?)  Funding system – ‘arm’s length’ >> ‘delivery’; block grant >> T + R  Student support / fees – grants >> loans >> fees 19

3. The Government’s reforms 20

‘Headline’ reforms  Tuition fees tripled to maximum of £9K / $13.5K (tuition free until 1998)  State loans to pay fees, payback in work  No (direct) public funding for lower-cost subjects (i.e. humanities and social sciences)  More low-cost / private providers 21

Milestones of reforms: 1  2008: Labour Government initiates debate about future of HE / commissions reports on key topics  : Browne Committee established by Labour Governments – reports to new Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government  2010 (October): immediate Government reaction to Browne – key recommendation (no fee cap but income taper) rejected  2011 (June): HE White Paper (policy document) published – after many delays 22

Milestones of reforms: 2  2011 (November): New student number control – but (i) ‘free market’ in students with top grades; and (ii) extra places for low-fee institutions  2012 (spring): Decision taken not to introduce legislation  2012 (summer): ‘free market’ in top students extended, extra places for low-fee institutions downsized  2012 (September): 14-per-cent reduction in first-year enrolments 23

‘Knowns’  Limited fee variation = failure to create ‘true’ market  ‘Graduate tax’ (non-repayable in full by almost half of graduates)  No actual saving in public expenditure – in short run (or ever?)  Students with top High School grades ‘off quota’  Short-term collapse in student demand (!4% down)  HEFCE as ‘lead’ regulator + substantial funder (research and science / medicine / engineering) 24

‘Unknowns’  Longer-term impact of high fees on student demand  Price sensitivity among students (benefit now, pay later)  What do students really want? (KIS)  More spending cuts >> more cuts in HEFCE funding, i.e. Science / medicine / engineering + research)  Private providers (market entry) / FECs (extended roles)  Impact of ‘other’ factors, e.g. visas (London Met), Devolution 25

Four ‘stories’: interpreting reform  The death of public higher education: privatisation and nationalisation  There is no alternative / ‘cruel necessity’: filling the funding gap + more differentiation  Slow-motion car crash: making rhetoric fit reality = unsustainable / unstable reforms?  ‘Things must change so that things may stay the same’ (Giuseppe di Lampedusa) 26

4. Questions and discussion… 27