"The Governor View" - Political parties’ higher education policies

With a General Election looking likely next year, the nascent policies emerging from the party conferences held in September took on added significance.

Headline proposals included Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of an “Advanced British Standard” to replace A-levels and T-levels, reform of the Apprenticeship Levy and creation of new “Technical Excellence Colleges” under Labour and a Liberal Democrat pledge to reinstate maintenance grants. In Wales, Plaid Cymru proposed a reduction in chargeable tuition fees for Welsh students in Wales, while in Scotland the SNP reaffirmed its commitment to fully fund university places for Scottish students studying in Scotland.

Some governors who spoke to Advance HE pointed to what was left unsaid, citing Kier Starmer’s indication in May that the plan to scrap tuition fees has been dropped has been followed by numerous hints about reducing the financial burden on students, but fuller details are yet to emerge.

Similarly, other governors noted that while there was much championing of apprenticeships by ministers at the Conservative Party conference, no concrete proposals seemed to have emerged about how to increase apprenticeship opportunities across industry and business to the level that would be needed to make them the viable alternative to university that the rhetoric suggests.

Rushi Sunak’s plan for an Advanced British Standard could have several implications for higher education, according to governors (although as one pointed out, the use of “British” in its title is a misnomer as it would only apply in England).

“If you are going to teach maths and English up to 18, you are going need more teachers,” said a governor at a post-1992 university in the Midlands. “But a lot of universities have lost their teacher training accreditation this year because of new government rules. Where are these teachers going to come from?”

A move away from a specialised three or four A-levels model to a baccalaureate could mean reform of the university admissions system and of HE teaching.

“At the moment we are assuming a high level of specialised knowledge,” she said. “Will students of the future have that? Or will we, for want of a better word, have to dumb down our courses?”

Curriculum reforms could also disrupt the already beleaguered T-levels, which universities are yet to embrace fully. Of more concern to governors is the abolition of many BTECs.

“In London, a really high proportion enter with BTECS and many are widening access students, so the policy is a big problem,” said a governor in the English capital.

Whatever the pros and cons of an Advanced British Standard, many governors think it is unlikely to ever get off the drawing board.

“We do have a narrow programme of sixth-form study compared to many countries, so I can see why it might be looked at. But Rishi Sunak said it will take 10 years to design so I can’t see it happening,” said a governor at a Russell Group university in the north of England.

Governors also question the continuing narrative of “rip-off degrees” – the phrase was used by the prime minister at the Party conference without evidence to support it.

“So far the majority of Office for Students (OfS) quality assessment investigations have been glowing,” said one governor. “Some of the lines from the reports could go on marketing material! I don’t think that it is working in the way that the government wanted it to.”

Labour calls for easing of the debt repayment for graduates were welcomed but governors are more concerned about cost-of-living pressures on current students.

“A more progressive system where richer graduates pay for longer or student debt is written off for public sector workers is interesting, but what that doesn’t do is help with maintenance costs while students are studying which is a big barrier,” said a Russell Group governor.

Governors thought that the policies of the Labour-led Welsh government might give an indication of the direction of travel for the party nationally. Maintenance grants are in place in Wales and universities there have a lower fee cap at £9,000 rather than £9,250. This has left institutions in Wales with as many concerns about underfunding as those in England, however.

“We all know that the funding mechanism for UK undergraduates is broken,” said the board chair of one Welsh university. “It doesn’t cover costs and everybody is chasing international students to try and make up shortfalls and many universities didn’t get the number they needed this year and are wondering what they are going to do about it.”

Wales has gone down the route of bringing HE and FE much closer together with a Tertiary Act, aimed at removing needless competition in post-16 and putting vocational education at the fore. The Westminster government is also keen on raising the profile and reach of FE.

But some governors in England, along with other high-profile voices, argue against treating universities like “poorly performing secondary schools”.

“Plans for a tertiary sector only works if HE is staying at the Department for Education - but I think we should be moving away from this,” said one governor. “Labour is also indicating that we will stay in the DfE which means we are considered as “big schools” and I think that is worrying. Excellence as a sector is dependent on our research and if you take that out of the equation some provision is pretty mediocre. I do worry that science and research will be sidelined in a tertiary model.”

“Skills” is a buzzword for all parties but according to one governor, the impression given is that skills development is not part of universities’ remit.

“HE is full of vocational and technical education but there seems to be very little understanding that HE does that too,” said a governor at a new university. “That is why we are seeing a push for FE and apprenticeships and that is worrying and too simplistic.”

In the pursuit of skills, Labour is proposing local skills improvement plans with a place at the table for universities. But governors have a sense of déjà vu.

“We already have them or versions of them and universities are already part of the agenda,” said one. “It’s not rocket science: it’s about pinpointing skills shortages. Many are unique to each area but the cross-cutting themes are very similar, such as digital and green. What does that tell us that we didn’t know?”

In London, one of the major skills shortages is in the creative industries. Yet according to one governor in London, there is a mismatch between rhetoric on so-called “rip-off” arts degrees and local needs.

“If you are going to have local skills improvement plans, you have to have skills devolution - which could be something that Labour might take up because I assume we are going to see quite an alignment of Labour mayors at the next General Election,” she said.

This governor envisages little change in HE policy even in the event of a change of government.

“Whoever gets in, I think there will be another independent review because the Augar review is seen as Theresa May’s thing and a product of its time; Covid came in and so much of it is not applicable any more. We will get a review and it is not going to be a priority because schools and the NHS will come before that. I think we are on the current trajectory for quite a long time.”

One party that is talking about maintenance grants is the Liberal Democrats, which has pledged to reintroduce them. As one governor points out, the party could be a kingmaker in the event of a hung parliament at the next General Election.

“The quickest win for anyone coming in would be to reinstate maintenance grants but we also have to caveat that with the fact that the number of disadvantaged students is increasing,“ said a London governor. “By the end of this decade, three-quarters of London students will be from free school meal backgrounds, so grants will be expensive.”

North of the border, Scottish students have free higher education – a policy that the SNP is committed to – and student number caps are in place. The limits create a situation where funding from international students is even more crucial.

“While I agree with the idea of fully funded places, it is affecting the bottom financial line of Scottish universities,” said a governor of an ancient university in Scotland. “I think what we get for each Scottish student works out at about £6,000 or so. We are not fully covering costs for Scottish students and we are not able to increase numbers. We are competing in this market where institutions down south are able to invest and expand. The principle of HE being open to all I agree with but the impact it is having in terms of the finance of the university is noticeable and concerning; that amount has not increased so it is like it has been cut.”

A strong widening participation agenda – with a target of 20 per cent of students from the most deprived communities accounting for a fifth of entrants to Scottish universities by 2030 - has increased access. The byproduct of such targets, coupled with the dependency on foreign student fees, is a “squeeze” on places for more affluent students that has brought unwelcome headlines.

“Academic staff and the governing body are very aware of the squeeze of the middle classes,” said a governor. “The international market is keeping HE solvent. Here we offer one-year masters that are £30,000 and I think elsewhere it is £35,000. That is where you can start to make your money but this year across Scotland people haven’t been able to meet their PGT targets. What can we do? We don’t have the leavers that are available down south.”

While the WP agenda might be morally right, providing good support to WP students is costly.

“We need to start addressing it much earlier on,” said the governor. “If students are coming with a grade B or a C through contextual admissions, what happens when they are in a class and everyone else got As and we’ve got content to cover? How does that marry up? It is easy to set targets and to get them in but getting to the root of the problem costs money.”

Going forward, UK legislation on minimum service levels aimed at minimising disruption by striking teachers and lecturers could lead to some interesting exchanges on governing boards.

One governor described the policy as “a red rag to a bull to staff” but said that other board members may have a different take.

“We have a lot of people from the private sector and high-end business and from discussions we’ve had this year, they are not sympathetic to strikes at all,” she said. “It will be interesting to find out what they think about minimum service levels if it came up but from an academic staff point of view – absolutely not.”