England skills & education white paper
On Monday 20 October, Bridget Phillipson unveiled the UK Government’s white paper setting out plans for major reform of post-16 education and skills in England. Pre-briefings had focussed on vocational education, and specifically a new “V-level” qualification to replace BTECs. Immediately after the announcement, the bulk of the reaction focussed on the decision to allow tuition fees in England to rise with inflation for the next two academic years, with legislation to happen to make this automatic in the future, provided that the teaching carried out by institutions is adjudged to meet a “higher quality threshold”.
As had been heavily trailed over recent months, there will be new targeted maintenance grants. These will be made available to ‘tens of thousands’ of students from lower-income households who sign up to “priority” courses that support the UK Government’s industrial strategy, namely:
- computing
- engineering
- architecture, building & planning (excluding landscape gardening)
- physics & astronomy
- mathematical sciences
- nursing & midwifery
- allied health
- chemistry
- economics
- health & social care
With every carrot, however, comes a stick – and the grants will be funded by a levy on international student fees, which will apply to HE institutions in England (but which has been ruled out for those in Wales, potentially opening up a chance for an international student boost west of Offa’s Dyke). This blog explores some of the potential models which might be adopted.
On research, the white paper indicates that the UK’s dual support system of funding will remain intact, meaning a reprieve for those who thought that QR funding might have been in the UK Government’s crosshairs. The white paper categorically states: “We will ensure basic curiosity-driven research is protected and can grow as the economy allows and will set UK Research and Innovation a new strategic objective to support this” – which suggests no increase in QR funding any time soon. There will also be a modification of what the UK Government expects in return for the retention of the existing system, with research expected to conform to one of three priorities: curiosity-driven, delivering UK Government priorities (missions / industrial strategy), and targeted commercialisation and scale-up support.
The white paper was not accompanied by a defined legislative agenda or timescale – and nor was there any indication that the HE element of the proposals will be subject to public consultation (although one is open on the V-level element). In some ways, this shouldn’t be a surprise, as Labour’s manifesto had already pledged a comprehensive post-16 education strategy, which is what the white paper really sets out.
A full briefing is available on request from the Academy.
Other news in brief
- REF update: Rumours continue to swirl during the three-month pause to the REF, with little firm information emerging. There is an expectation that the pause won’t just be “unpaused” to allow things to carry on as normal; instead, it is likely that there will be significant changes to the exercise, reforming much of the settled landscape of the last 10-20 years or possibly – in one suggestion – to allow AI to play a much bigger role (£). There is also much talk about “doing fewer things better”, including more alignment to UK Government missions, which would fit with the direction of travel signalled by the recent education and skills white paper for England. Meanwhile, the current UKRI pilot on transparency on QR funded research is being watched closely as a potential route for institutions to ensure that QR-funded projects are better-understood by stakeholders within and beyond the sector.
- UUK budget submission: Universities UK submitted a lengthy set of suggestions ahead of the UK Government’s budget later this month. As well as – unsurprisingly – emphasising universities’ contributions to the delivery of national missions, UUK call for “a sustainable financial settlement” to counteract the real-terms decline in funding for both teaching and research as a result of recent UK Government policies, which UUK estimate has resulted in a net loss for the sector of £1.4 billion.
- OfSE investigates Fairfield School of Business: The Office for Students in England announced an investigation into Fairfield School of Business and Bath Spa University, specifically examining whether the courses delivered by Fairfield School of Business on behalf of Bath Spa University are high quality, and whether Fairfield School of Business has effective management and governance arrangements in place.