Memorandum submitted by the University
of Central Lancashire (UCLan)
A. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY:
The role of universities over the next 5-10 years
1. Students want different things from university
depending on their background, mode of study etc. Certain factors
appear to be common, however, including: efficient student services
and administration; high quality teaching and interaction with
staff; excellent IT support; high quality facilities; and employability
support.
2. It is difficult to know what employers
want from graduates over and above generic skills, given that
attempts by universities such as UCLan to engage and undertake
meaningful dialogue have proved difficult. In general, however,
employer demands are centred on professional and vocational skills,
communication skills and leadership.
3. The Government and society should be
looking to universities to provide services which encompass all
of those outlined by the Committee in its terms of reference,
additionally acting as custodians of civil liberties and protectors
of freedom of speech, committed to the development and protection
knowledge etc.
University funding
4. Despite criticisms, the current funding
system has helped deliver sustained growth, widened participation
and seen increases in the research base.
5. Equity is the key principal on which
university funding should be based. A student studying on an approved
course should receive the same level of central government funding
irrespective of where the course is delivered, assuming that the
course meets the relevant quality criteria.
6. It is too early to assess whether the
cap on student fees should be lifted after 2009. In assessing
the effectiveness of student fees, the Government should look
at the impact on participation levels, student choice of course/institution
and the direct effect on students from lower, socio-economic backgrounds.
7. The current Research Assessment Exercise
(RAE) undertaken by HEFCE is arguably too selective and as a result
disadvantages those institutions, such as my university, which
have a good research trajectory but which may not have obtained
high thresholds of funding.
8. With universities being required to increasingly
operate in a market situation and secure more money from non-governmental
sources, it is of little surprise that universities engage in
international student recruitment. This will increasingly be based
outside the UK. It is entirely plausible that over the next 20
years, some universities may earn more from international rather
than UK based activities.
The structure of the HE sector
9. The future structure of the HE sector
depends on the action taken by Government faced with a choice
of intervention or reliance on the role of market forces. The
Government currently sends mixed messages about its preferred
method.
B. INTRODUCTION
TO UNIVERSITY
OF CENTRAL
LANCASHIRE:
10. The University of Central Lancashire
(UCLan) is based at campuses in both Lancashire and Cumbria. We
are one of the UK's larger universities with more than 30,000
students and with a strong international base comprising over
2,000 students. This is replicated abroad, where UCLan is one
of the leading UK Universities in terms of students studying on
its programmes in-country in China, Hong Kong and India.
11. UCLan is a major employer with over
2,500 employees, an annual turnover of over £120 million,
and with an indirect contribution to the local economy of £300
million.
12. UCLan is recognised as a university
which consistently performs above the benchmark in its recruitment
of students who would not traditionally go to university—something
which is reflected in our current bursary scheme in which £1,000
is awarded to full time undergraduates who come from homes where
the principal earner's gross salary is less than £60,000
per year. This is well above the national average.
13. Research of national and international
excellence is at the heart of academic life at UCLan and the University
has an established research reputation in a wide range of academic
disciplines including History, Law, Physics to name but a few.
The University has also recently announced a £10 million
selective investment into research excellence, which will create
ten major international research areas.
C. FURTHER DETAIL:
The role of universities over the next 5-10 years
14. It has to be recognised that there is
no one single group of students. Students are of mixed ages, experiences,
motivation etc. and study a variety of disciplines in different
modes (part-time, concurrently with working and vocational courses
for example). This leads to students wanting different things
from the university setting. Despite this, there appear to be
certain common factors which all students want, including:
— Efficient student services and administration;
— High quality teaching and interaction
with staff;
— Excellent IT and learning technology
support;
— Employability and careers services
support; and
— High quality facilities including
students union, recreational facilities etc.
15. It can be surmised that international
students want the same things as UK students however, additional
support in relation to studying a foreign language, in this context
English, is usually high on the agenda. Universities also need
to take into account the different demands that international
students may have in terms of career guidance, given that many
return to their country of origin to seek employment.
16. It can be difficult to know what employers
want from graduates, given that attempts by universities such
as UCLan to engage and undertake meaningful dialogue have proved
difficult. This is particularly the case when seeking employers'
views on curriculum design and engagement on industry advisory
boards. In general, however, employee demands are centred around
the following:
— Specific professional/vocational
skills where appropriate;
— Ability to work with others;
At UCLan we try to engage employers where possible—our
Department for Journalism for example, has recently joined forces
with Johnson Press PLC to undertake innovative research into emerging
digital technology. Meanwhile, the university has been granted
£4.5 million to develop the The Centre for Employability
Through the Humanities which aims to link employers, Culture and
Creative Industry organisations and the local community to our
teaching and students.
17. The Government, and society more generally,
should be looking to universities to provide a wide range of services
which encompass all of those outlined by the Committee in its
terms of reference. UCLan is already responding to the expectations
of the higher education sector by:
Internationally-competitive research:
UCLan has recently announced a £10 million
investment into research excellence to create 10 international
research areas in subject areas such as Advanced Digital Manufacturing
Technology; Disaster and Emergency Planning; Philosophy; Diversity
and Mental Health; Nuclear Science; Criminology and Criminal Justice;
Deaf Studies; Human Remains Identification; Business; "UCLanSport".
In 2005, we also acquired the Westlakes Research Institute to
accelerate growth in areas such as nuclear decommissioning and
environmental science.
Graduates appropriate for a high-skill economy:
UCLan has a reputation for producing graduates
with the skills demanded by employers—this was highlighted
in 2005 through the award of a £4.5 million grant from the
Higher Education and Funding Council to improve the employment
prospects of humanities students. Over 93% of UCLan graduates
are in employment or further study within six months of graduating.
Widening participation, contribution to social
mobility:
UCLan is widely recognised as a university which
consistently performs above the benchmark in its recruitment of
students who would not traditionally go to university. This is
evidenced through our above national average "Ones to Watch
Scholarship", worth £1,000 per year for students who
come from homes where the principal earner's gross salary is less
than £60,000 per year.
A greater level of engagement with schools:
2005 saw UCLan increase its school liaison activities
with a focused strategy to identify the "top 100" schools
within its major catchment area. We are currently working with
13-16 year olds, primarily in Cumbria and Lancashire, to nurture
progression in schools with lower progression levels.
Engagement in society and democratic debate, and
producing active citizens:
2005 saw UCLan celebrate the launch of a new
facility for the Centre for Volunteering and Community Action.
The Centre supports young people who want to make a difference
in their communities. 2005 also saw UCLan reach the finals of
the Times Higher Awards for it support of international students
in volunteering projects. Meanwhile in 2006, UCLan beat four other
institutions to win the Times Higher Award for "Outstanding
support of overseas students".
18. The Government should also expect universities
to act as custodians of civil liberties and civic values and protectors
of freedom of speech and minority views; committed to the development,
furtherance and protection of knowledge, supportive of democratic
values and the rule of law; and sources for protecting and transmitting
cultural values.
University funding
19. Despite criticisms, the current funding
system has helped deliver sustained growth, widened participation
and increases in the research base. It has also delivered a degree
of stability and certainty alongside providing flexibility for
institutional differentiation. A wise university should not rely
on one form of income, however, and should instead spread its
sources. It should be pointed out that where there are circumstances
of institutions with financial difficulties, it is usually the
case of mismanagement at a local level as opposed to problems
with the funding system.
20. Equity is the key principle on which
university funding should be based. A student studying on an approved
course should receive the same level of central government funding
irrespective of where the course is delivered. The funding system
should also encourage certainty, transparency, stability, and
responsiveness to market forces.
21. It is too early to assess whether the
cap on student fees should be lifted after 2009. This is predominately
based on the fact that there has not yet been enough time to collate
an evidence base around the impact of student fees, introduced
in 2006, on participation levels. If and when the Government decides
to look at raising the cap, consideration must be given to a)
whether deferred fees will be raised on the basis of inflation
only or real rates of interest—and whether this would be
sustainable on the public expenditure and, b) how the position
of students, who currently qualify for maximum financial assistance
towards fees, would be protected if fees were to rise—would
the Treasury in this context be prepared to cover the additional
cost to the present system?
The Government must also take into account:
— The affect on participation levels
broken down by ethnicity, gender, region and age;
— The affect on student choice of course
or institution;
— Protection for poorer students; and
— Level of government intervention
versus a move towards a stronger market.
22. Given limited public resources, the
Government's funding for higher education probably strikes the
right balance with the vast majority of funds going to undergraduate
higher education and more limited support to part-time and postgraduate
studies. The approach to block grants through a semi-independent
body such as HEFCE is also correct.
23. There is some inevitability that significant
public funding will come with strings attached, as is the case
in the higher education sector. Despite this, funding should not
be subject to short-term shifts owing to fluctuating government
policy, but instead should be based on a consensus between the
major political parties.
24. Notwithstanding criticism, the Research
Assessment Exercise (RAE) undertaken by HEFCE has the support
of the higher education sector evidenced primarily by the fact
that the sector cannot agree on an alternative! I would argue,
though, that it is too selective in terms of allocating research
funding. This tends to be at a detriment to institutions such
as UCLan, which have a good research trajectory but which may
not have obtained high thresholds of funding in the past.
25. It can be argued that it will always
be difficult for UK universities to reach international levels
of funding for research, particularly those seen at ivy-league
institutions in the US, based on the fact that we do not have
anywhere near the same level of endowments, nor are we supported
by a tax regime as favourable. Given that government, charitable
or business funding for research is unlikely to increase drastically
in the near future, UK universities will have to rely on the growth
of their own commercial income.
26. With universities being required to
increasingly operate in a market situation, and secure more money
from non-governmental sources, then it is of little surprise that
universities engage in international student recruitment. It is
entirely plausible that over the next 20 years, some universities
may become even more geographically mobile than is currently the
case, earning more from international rather that UK based activities.
This will undoubtedly pose a series of challenges to public policy
which have not yet been thought through and challenge the current
perception that the higher education sector is funded by the UK
Government, meets the needs of the UK market, and sits within
a UK based panoply of financial and other regulatory rules and
procedures.
The structure of the HE sector
27. The future structure of the higher education
sector depends on the Government's preference to intervene, versus
reliance on the role of market forces. The Government currently
sends mixed messages about its preferred method, sometimes emphasising
the role of the market, anticipating that market forces will lead
to a restructuring of the sector, while on the other hand claiming
it wants a planned system of higher education in which the Government
intervenes ie to protect so called "shortage subjects"
such as chemistry.
28. If the Government is committed to market
forces, then the sector should anticipate further liberalisation
of the fee regime, a move from state contribution to individuals
and a greater strengthening of competition between institutions.
The Government must be prepared, however, to also face the "political"
consequences of the market, namely closures and mergers.
December 2006
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