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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