Our Chief Executive Officer, Dr Diana Beech, reflects on her time at the Conservative Party Conference 2023.
Like many sector representatives, this week I’ve been up in Manchester attending the 2023 Conservative Party Conference. This was the third consecutive Conference of the governing party that I’ve been to since joining London Higher – on what will soon be my third anniversary at the organisation! In that time, I’ve not only heard speeches from three different Prime Ministers, but I’ve watched as Conference slogans have morphed from Boris Johnson’s big-picture promise of “levelling up” to Rishi Sunak’s more pragmatic focus on long-term decision-making.
For anyone new to the Party Conference scene, there are two parallel tracks to keep an eye on: the Government speeches taking place in the main hall, and the vast and varied “fringe” agenda of external discussions. What you get out of Conference is, therefore, largely shaped by the fringe events you attend, and delegates are free to plan their days around topics that interest them. This year, with higher education events in relative short supply, my route through the fringe largely followed the golden thread of regional devolution, as I was keen to find out if the levelling up ambition still exists, how London and its institutions fit in, and if thinking has progressed on regional skills needs and opportunities for social mobility. In this blog, I set out what I learned from both sides of the Conference experience.
Headlines from the main hall
Over the three days, a crescendo was building for university announcements in the main hall. On Monday, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan kicked things off announcing a consultation on minimum service levels for universities, aimed at limiting the impact of industrial action on students. On Tuesday, Science Secretary Michelle Donelan’s announcements of £60m for a Regional Innovation Fund and £8m for artificial intelligence scholarships were clouded by ‘culture war-esque’ accusations of “the slow creep of wokeism” into research. She committed to “depoliticizing science” through a review into the use of sex and gender questions in scientific research, to be led by UCL’s Professor Alice Sullivan.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay had better news for universities, confirming funding for 205 additional medical school places from September 2024, to be shared mainly between England’s three newest medical schools including at that of London Higher member, Brunel University London. Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove also adopted a pleasing change of tone towards universities, celebrating the fact that “our universities are the best in Europe and they’re growing” and explicitly pointing out that “there are more students from state schools at our best universities”.
The warm words for universities were nevertheless to be short-lived. On Wednesday, in his leader’s speech, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed to put an end to the “false dream” of 50 per cent of the population going to university and denounced encouraging young people down the university route as “one of the greatest mistakes of the last 30 years”. In doing so, he reiterated his commitment from earlier in the summer to put an end to (still undefined) “rip-off degrees” and to stop universities enrolling students on courses that “do nothing for their life chances”. The Government’s newest suite of T-Level qualifications also found themselves in for the chop as part of the Prime Minister’s pledge to introduce the “Advanced British Standard”, replacing both A-Levels and T-Levels in a drive for “parity of esteem” between technical and academic education, and offering pupils a wider breadth of subjects including some form of English and Maths until 18.
Focus on the fringe
While the Ministers in the main hall may have left us waiting for detail, the real substance came from the Conference fringe. On Monday, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) could be counted on to outline the asks from three current Vice-Chancellors for effective future higher education policy. London’s very own James Purnell of UAL was the only panellist to call for Whitehall reform to reunite the higher education and science briefs, as well as make a plea for the vital role of the arts in a rebadged commitment to making the UK a “science and creativity superpower”. Former Universities Minister Lord Willetts and UCL’s Professor Geraint Rees also endorsed this view at a UCL Policy Lab/Onward event, acknowledging the UK’s expertise in the arts, social sciences and humanities, which are all essential for successful technological developments.
While it is never easy to make the case for the capital in the north – especially against the backdrop of growing speculation about the abandonment of the Manchester leg of HS2 and a very vocal Andy Burnham on the Conference fringe – there were still plenty of London–focused discussions, mainly attempting to remind policymakers of London’s own intra-regional levelling up needs. I twice heard Minister for London Paul Scully outlining the need to balance London’s three intertwined roles as (i) a local city, as (ii) the nation’s capital city, and as (iii) a globally connected city, with each needing bespoke political attention.
Yet, despite well-meaning panel presentations from London councillors and business representatives, I did not hear a single reference to London’s higher education sector as a solution to the capital’s skills and productivity problem – and only one passing reference to the potential of London’s universities to boost business growth through innovation and research. So, it is clear that, as a sector, we have much more to do to build a coalition of support across our region and nation – something which is becoming all the more pressing given the May 2024 London mayoral election and the need to unite candidates behind a more favourable agenda for universities, placing them at the heart of the drive for skills, jobs, opportunities and Net Zero.
After three days of intense debates, I am returning to London with much to think about with our members and the London Higher team. And next week, I’ll be doing it all over again in Liverpool for the Labour Party Conference, where I’ll also be joined by my London Higher colleague Mark Corbett, our Head of Policy and Networks. Mark will be writing up his insights from Liverpool in next week’s blog.
