Academic Funding

Putting vision back into higher education: A response to the Government White Paper

July 9, 2011 1257

There is no government mandate for the privatisation of higher education and for the despoiling of the social and cultural value of universities.

Academic staff and students from across the sector and in a variety of campaigning groups – Campaign for the Public University, Oxford University Campaign for Higher Education, Sussex University Defends Higher Education, Warwick University Campaign for Higher Education, Humanities Matter, No Confidence Campaign, Cambridge Academic Campaign for Higher Education – have written a trenchant response to the Government’s White Paper. 

 This document – Putting the Vision Back into Higher Education – is also a call for contributions to an Alternative White Paper to be published at the end of the Government’s consultation period in September.  This will be presented to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, together with the weight of opinion in its support.

The response to the White Paper argues that:

  • It threatens the excellence of higher education in England. It does not put the student at the ‘heart of the system’, but the market.
  • It cuts direct public support for undergraduate degrees by 80%, and by transferring costs to students via higher fees it succeeds in providing fewer resources for most degrees while requiring students to pay more.
  • It is a reckless gamble, a dangerous experiment in university funding with no precedent in British experience. Its different elements are incoherent.
  • While the Browne Review advocated a new funding model because of uncertainty over public funding, the present proposals will not produce stability. The uncertainty is switched to the ballooning student support arrangements necessary to maintain a fee-based system of loans and the Government’s overriding interest is now to reduce their cost.
  • It has parallels to the privatisation wrecking the financial solvency of high-quality public universities in the US (such as the University of California, where net private revenues have not covered the public funding lost through cuts despite upwardly spiralling tuition costs).
  • It had no vision for higher education, only a narrow emphasis on employment and education as an individual investment in human capital.
  • It is necessary for higher education to “sustain a culture which demands disciplined thinking, encourages curiosity, challenges existing ideas and generates new ones; [and to] be part of the conscience of a democratic society, founded on respect for the rights of the individual and the responsibilities of the individual to society as a whole” (Dearing Report, 1997).

Please email contributions for the Alternative White Paper to: altwhitepaper [AT] live.co.uk by 2 September 2011.

Related Articles

Deciphering the Mystery of the Working-Class Voter: A View From Britain
Insights
November 14, 2024

Deciphering the Mystery of the Working-Class Voter: A View From Britain

Read Now
Julia Ebner on Violent Extremism
Insights
November 4, 2024

Julia Ebner on Violent Extremism

Read Now
Emerson College Pollsters Explain How Pollsters Do What They Do
International Debate
October 23, 2024

Emerson College Pollsters Explain How Pollsters Do What They Do

Read Now
All Change! 2024 – A Year of Elections: Campaign for Social Science Annual Sage Lecture
Event
October 10, 2024

All Change! 2024 – A Year of Elections: Campaign for Social Science Annual Sage Lecture

Read Now
‘Settler Colonialism’ and the Promised Land

‘Settler Colonialism’ and the Promised Land

The term ‘settler colonialism’ was coined by an Australian historian in the 1960s to describe the occupation of a territory with a […]

Read Now
Webinar: Banned Books Week 2024

Webinar: Banned Books Week 2024

As book bans and academic censorship escalate across the United States, this free hour-long webinar gathers experts to discuss the impact these […]

Read Now
Research Assessment, Scientometrics, and Qualitative v. Quantitative Measures

Research Assessment, Scientometrics, and Qualitative v. Quantitative Measures

The creation of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) has led to a heated debate on the balance between peer review and evaluative metrics in research assessment regimes. Luciana Balboa, Elizabeth Gadd, Eva Mendez, Janne Pölönen, Karen Stroobants, Erzsebet Toth Cithra and the CoARA Steering Board address these arguments and state CoARA’s commitment to finding ways in which peer review and bibliometrics can be used together responsibly.

Read Now
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments