22 | S EVIEW OEP HE Y AR | NEW URR
2 | RPECIAL RF TORT |E NEWS & CS & CEUNRT A N AI F F Read more opinion pieces click here REVIEW OF TH
"A SIGNIFICANT ISSUE FACING THE UK IS THE CURRENT DISCOURSE AND FOCUS ON IMMIGRATION AND NOT JUST THE IMPACT THIS HAS ON INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS"
SAM JONES, HEAD OF COMMS AT UNIVERSITY ALLIANCE
currently locked out of higher education because of this arbitrary limit. But not all institutions will want to grow. Some will focus on creating an excellent student experience over and above growing their student numbers. Others, including alternative providers and new entrants to the market, will want to grow their undergraduate numbers. However removing the cap will place great pressure on the higher education funding system. We need smarter, sustainable funding for UK higher education to ensure strategic investment and to prevent cuts to student places or underinvestment in high- quality programmes. I think it’s totally unsustainable that for every £1 given out in student loans, only 55p will ever get paid back – it’s a public spending black hole that needs plugging. That’s why University Alliance developed our higher education loan programme (HELP) proposal. It off ers a possible solution to sustainable funding – a lifetime loan allocation so people can go back to study and retrain throughout their lives. Most crucially it off ers a real fi nancial solution for postgraduates who cannot access student loans – they are a vital pipeline to secure the future of our world-leading research base and to encourage the transfer of knowledge into innovation that helps our economy and society to thrive.
Q: How do you think the outcome of the general election will aff ect HE in 2015?
Gordon Slaven: Higher education policy is unlikely to feature as a key bat leground for the UK general election. Currently, it’s hard to make a confi dent prediction on the eff ect of the general election, as party policies for the next fi ve years are unpublished. However, whoever forms the next government will have to work hard to support the sector to address the major challenges. Sustaining funding will be vital and allowing the sector to grow greater international partnerships and at ract top fl ight research students and
Students endure fi nancial hardships and future debt unimaginable even to the students of 10 years ago, and we stand to suff er far worse prospects than our parents. We need a new deal for the next generation of students. They hold the key to the next general election, and we will be making sure they use it.
early post-docs will be crucial for the UK to remain at the heart of international innovation and research, and our young people to have the access to and skills to succeed in the global knowledge economy.
Pam Tatlow: There is no doubt that the future is uncertain but politicians would be unwise to think that the question of fees has gone away just because a record number of younger students have applied to university.
The next government must off er a funding solution which delivers sustainability and which promotes a world-class university system that can respond to the diversity of today’s students and the demands of a knowledge economy. Whoever is elected the next government should review the visa regulations which apply to international students and the compliance regimes which are being applied by the UK Visa and Immigration service. These are a cause of huge concern both to universities and students. The risk to the UK’s international higher education reputation which has been built up over many years is immense and needs to be halted.
Megan Dunn: We cannot speculate what will happen until we receive the party manifestos and see who wins next May. What we do know is that students are the force to be reckoned with at the ballot box. Our ‘new deal’ manifesto covers education, work, and community because students are not single-issue voters because we do not have single issues.
Sam Jones: I think it is pret y unlikely we will get huge amounts of detail on higher education generally in election manifestos. Best-case scenario is a set of principles that recognise the important role universities play in driving economic growth and a healthy society. Worst-case scenario would be a set of rigid policies that put the long-term sustainability of the sector in jeopardy. However, I think the more signifi cant issue facing the UK is the current discourse and focus on immigration, and not just the impact this has on international students. At a time when Britain should be considering its place in the world and how we secure that in the future, it is deeply worrying that the focus should be so narrowly and internally focused. Universities need to ensure that they remain globally focused despite the current immigration debate and the view of the world that springs from.
Alistair Jarvis: There will be major decisions on public funding for universities to be made as part of a tough spending review expected shortly after a general election. Whoever forms the next government will have to decide where university and research funding lies in their list of funding priorities. Student funding and fees could yet become a hot topic in the general election campaign. Any policy changes would have an impact on universities and students following the election. There are some diff erences in the major political parties’ views on international students and immigration. Policy change in this area could have a major impact on UK universities' success in at racting international students. UB
REF FT ARSAIRS
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www.universitybusiness.co.uk | T: @UB_UK
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