This blog has been written by Jolanta Edwards, Director of Strategy at London Higher.
Let’s talk money. Let’s talk impact. Let’s talk civic responsibilities and sustainability. Let’s talk growth. Let’s talk competing on an international stage. Let’s talk about skills and work.
We are talking higher education.
If you are engaged in this sector in any way, you’ll know that the current hot topic is fees and funding, and the financial sustainability of higher education institutions both in terms of the short term and in terms of the longer-term strategy. I am pleased to be finally hearing positive messages from government, both around recognising the value of higher education and the need to properly think about where the sector goes next in terms of support. Now is the moment to properly articulate what we want, and we cannot be short sighted, or we will unravel all the good we have done, and worse, we will find ourselves falling behind other countries who are investing in the next generation of people and skills.
Perhaps nowhere is this more important than in London, which is home to over half a million students, with over 50 higher education institutions employing over 220,000 staff. London has strength in, and the opportunity to support, different industries from creative to health science and can be a key plank of government’s growth ambitions. I love the values the British system of higher education is built on, and the progress we have made towards being more inclusive. When I visit London Higher members in the capital, I am always struck by the diversity of what we have to offer learners in terms of subjects, nature and type of institution, location and support. I recognise from my own experiences the importance of support from moving from childhood into adulthood, and higher education plays a significant role in that transition. It also plays a valuable societal role; where else is there so much opportunity to explore and discuss, to meet people from all walks of life and debate issues? All of this supports the innovation, future problem-solving skills of tomorrow, and the collaboration and communication skills of today.
But this is not me making the case for higher education, where I would hope the argument is already understood. I was instead reflecting more on why finding a solution to how we finance HE is so important. And urgent. Who should pay, how much and when? Is it fair for students to pay when previous generations didn’t, or paid less? Should employers play a bigger role in funding the system? Should government be prepared to redirect funding into higher education in the interests of, say, inter-generational fairness or at the expense of other areas?
It has to start with vision and ambition. The vision from Tony Blair, and then successive Prime Ministers, at least until recently, was to have a highly educated workforce, reflecting the need to respond to an increasingly complex world, where individuals need both knowledge and skills to succeed. Where will the world, and the country be in (say) ten years’ time? Jo Johnson, for example, argues the case for graduates and succinctly articulates the need to think about future flexibility rather than just current employment needs in the foreword to We Don’t Need No Education.
So, we are talking large numbers of young people going into HE (50%+), we are talking learning and skills, and we are talking entrepreneurial spirit to ensure the things we need as a society and as a country.
But how do we make the funding for the system work?
It will depend on how ambitious we want to be, what role we see for employers, and how much debt is acceptable to a graduate, and what the repayments look like. What is absolutely clear is that we as a sector need to develop the trust which enables us to explore options. We need to be able to have constructive conversations with policymakers which look at single solutions and multiple smaller solutions. To project where things might go and to ask ourselves how future generations will feel about a different system.
By now you will have heard different solutions – increasing loans, graduate taxes, repayments over a longer or shorter time frame, larger repayments based on earnings. No matter what the solution, it will also be the timing that is crucial here. We need a solution fast.
Is it too ambitious to ask that by Christmas we are discussing what changes might be implemented before the start of the next academic year? That timing should align with the Greater London Authority’s London Growth Plan which is currently under development. We believe higher education will play an important role in that plan, by supporting skills development, research and growth and facilitating the partnerships and ambition that we know is needed in the capital and in the country. And higher education will continue to play an important role in widening participation.
Because wonderful as positive dialogue is, we can only wait so long. Let’s accept there are no easy answers and start by working together on where we want to get to and why. Let’s bring together what the component parts of funding higher education are, the complexities, inter-connectivity and interests of different departments. Let’s lock ourselves in a room and work through it.
We stand ready to help. We already regularly speak to government departments, highlighting the urgency of the matter, discussing the various asks, expectations and potential solutions, drawing on examples from our members. We present information on sector attitudes and needs, burdens and pinch points.
However, there is a need to make some decisions, and quickly. What we want to do is stage 1. We then have the task of working through how we do it, what will happen, when, and to whom. Without a clear timeline we are no closer to getting there, so let’s ask Government to commit to one, and work together to achieve a solution.
