Students and Universities - Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee Contents


Examination of Witnesses (Questions 60 - 63)

MONDAY 23 MARCH 2009

PROFESSOR GERALD PILLAY, PROFESSOR MICHAEL BROWN AND PROFESSOR JON SAUNDERS

  Q60  Mr Marsden: Professor Brown and Professor Pillay, what is your attitude on those other non-A level routes into university?

  Professor Brown: There are two parts to the question. The first is whether we reach in, and the answer is I think all three of us reach in. It goes beyond the age range that you mentioned. You are raising aspirations and perceptions, and we all do that. There are two areas that I thought you might find interesting by way of evidence of how to reach different groups. One is the National Schools' Observatory which Liverpool John Moores University runs. We have our own robotically controlled telescopes up a mountain in La Palma, and it is a very efficient telescope so we have some spare capacity so 10 per cent of the observing time goes to amateur groups and 5 per cent goes to the National Schools' Observatory, and 1,000 schools at primary level as well as secondary—that is why I thought I would mention it to you—and the children in those schools can drive the telescope from their own classroom and deal with real observations. We made our 10,000th observation in a school last month, and of course they discover the new supernova and can name them, and all the rest of it. The whole idea is to excite young people into science and technology through the stars and astronomy, which is a good route through. The other one is using IT, which could be as simple as a mobile phone camera to get people who tend to be a little bit disconnected from society, young males in particular in deprived areas and travelling people, into thinking that. HE,

   ( Higher Education) is for them as well. They can use new technology to make their own films and we can then get them into traditional education. That has been a very successful route. In terms of your final question, the rule that we use to recruit students to John Moores University, is are those people prepared adequately with the right background and the right attitudes to benefit, with hard work, from our programmes? What the qualification is, frankly, does not matter to us, provided we are convinced that the syllabus and their preparation fits an assessment of the course. We will look at any qualification and make quite sure it matches, and we can be very versatile.

  Q61  Mr Marsden: Professor Pillay I must bring you in, albeit briefly.

  Professor Pillay: For our institution it is very important to say that anyone with potential, anyone who can be successful, can come to university; I admit it. However, it has also been important to raise the bar because we are setting up a lot of people to fail simply because it is thought that getting them to university has been the only route for them to live meaningful lives or even have careers. I think there is a range of options. There is confusion coming out of the system because in the same week that the Government announced the new diplomas they also announced the International Baccalaureate so there is a lot of confusion about what in the end will greet us in 2010-11 or 2011-12. Be that as it may, this Government is trying to make a difference and I think our institutions are in step with the Government's objectives, and that is to ensure that nobody with the potential is left out. Certainly my university is keen to do that.

  Q62  Mr Marsden: Would it help if all universities signed up to the UCAS points system in that respect?

  Professor Pillay: I think there is a whole range of people that come to us when they do not come through UCAS. Many people on the HND come to us and do a very good job and end up doing post-graduate work with us.

  Q63  Chairman: On that note, can I thank you all. You have been an absolutely splendid panel and you have been as robust in your answers as hopefully we have been in our questions. Thank you very much, Professor Pillay, Professor Brown and Professor Saunders.

  Professor Pillay: Before I go could I also record all three universities' thanks to the panel. I think it is the first time that we have had MPs come on our campuses and talk to us and enquire from us. I really applaud that and I think I speak for my colleagues as well.

  Professor Brown: Can I also say that my Chairman of Governors, Sir Malcolm Thornton, as a former Chairman of the Select Committee on Education and Science was delighted to know that you were on the road again, which is what he did some years ago.







 
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