DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION
POLICY
97. A key issue raised by witnesses was the apparent
lack of coordination between the Department for Innovation, Universities
and Skills and the Welsh Assembly Government with regard to the
development of higher education policy, given that each has separately
initiated reviews of higher education policy this year. In November,
the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills published
nine contributions which it had received to date regarding different
aspects of its higher education review, most of which appeared
to relate to the UK rather than solely to England.[175]
Witnesses pointed out in particular the impact which the English
review might have on the Welsh higher education sector, and questioned
whether appropriate consultation mechanisms had been put in place
to consider possible impacts on Wales before making policy decisions.
Higher Education Wales stated that:
The result of a wholesale review of Higher Education
in England announced by the DIUS Secretary of State, John Denham,
in February 2008 will doubtless have a huge cross-border impact
on Welsh universities. With ten major strands of work covering
all aspects of HE, the DIUS review is both in-depth and wide ranging.
Without proper input from the devolved administrations there
is a danger that the DIUS review of HE in England may stray into
areas of UK competence.[176]
98. Professor Merfyn Jones, the then Chair of Higher
Education Wales, told us that his organisation would "certainly
be inputting into the discussion directly through Universities
UK" but that there would also need to be "an engagement
between the Welsh Assembly Government and DIUS".[177]
Ms Wilkinson, Director, Higher Education Wales told us in June
that her organisation was not aware of any specific engagement
between the Welsh Assembly Government and the Department for Innovation,
Universities and Skills and that it was not clear how the English
work might inform the Assembly Government's own review.[178]
The First Minister told us that he had asked for "a very
early sight of and a very early discussion on what you are thinking
of doing in England" because it could have a very significant
effect on "the viability of the Universities' cross-border
flows of students".[179]
99. The Minister of State at the Department for Innovation,
Universities and Skills, stated that part of the work of his Department's
review would be to look at the effect of the first three years
of variable tuition fees within England and that as part of that
the review team would want to look at the effect so far on the
devolved administrations. He commented that "What we need
to ensure is that each of us is aware of the decisions that the
other is taking and the impact of those".[180]
With regard to the Welsh Assembly Government's review of higher
education he stated that:
What the Welsh Assembly Government does with its
system is a matter for it. I am more than happy however, either
at ministerial level or at official level, to talk about our system
and the way that, frankly, since the introduction for example
of variable fees the system is working well …[181]
100. However, Professor Teresa Rees suggested that
merely seeking better communication between the reviews in Wales
and England was insufficient,[182]
and that what was really required was "more strategic thinking"[183]
and a coordinated UK approach:
I think it is a strange place to start to look at
the expansion of higher education in just one of the countries
…[184]
…there are responsibilities at UK level for
higher education and if you are making a decision about expanding
the sector then it is very strange to do that in just one country…
why not discuss the issue with the other ministers for higher
education and say should we do this at a UK level?[185]
101. The higher education sector in Wales is less
than a tenth the size of England's. According to Universities
UK, in August 2008 there were 12 higher education institutions
and 66,055 full-time undergraduate students in Wales compared
to 133 higher education institutions and 985,810 full-time undergraduates
in England.[186] Professor
Rees explained that given the relative sizes of the higher education
sectors in Wales and England, decisions in England inevitably
had a significant impact on the Welsh sector:
The cross-border flows are terribly sensitive and
if you have a policy on one side of the border —and it would
be England because it is so much bigger—that can have an
incredible effect in Wales … any tinkering with policies
can either bankrupt three Welsh institutions or make it very difficult
for access students in Wales to compete with very highly qualified
students coming across the border from England. I think, therefore,
that it is the responsibility of the ministers for education in
the four countries to think about these issues from a UK perspective.
It does not mean that higher education should not be devolved,
but you cannot have one country making a decision, particularly
England, and saying "You can do what you like in the other
countries" because that decision affects the other countries
and in particular Wales.[187]
Higher Education Wales agreed, stating that:
Because we are part of a UK system of higher education,
and that is the way … we are perceived globally, if there
are major changes … either in policy or in funding in England,
then that will have a profound impact on our competitive position
in Wales.[188]
102. Professor Charlie Jeffrey, University of Edinburgh,
when describing some of the findings of his research programme
on devolution and constitutional change, observed that the UK
had a structure of devolution which was "unusually open to
far-reaching policy variation and lacks the mechanisms employed
elsewhere to balance divergent territorial preferences with overarching
state-wide concerns".[189]
With regard to mechanisms for cross-border coordination, he concluded
that:
The UK's system of post-devolution intergovernmental
relations is extraordinarily underdeveloped. It would be difficult
to assess it as fit for purpose. The UK does have codified arrangements—but
these in most cases are not used. Intergovernmental relations
instead work typically through ad hoc, case-by-case interactions
among different and changing groups of officials.[190]
Universities UK came to a similar view:
The UK government's policymaking process often considers
devolved concerns late, or not at all and liaison remains undeveloped.
Greater clarity in the UK Government about devolved and non-devolved
matters is needed, with more systematic liaison and recognition
of the impact of the financial systems and the anomalies they
can create.[191]
103. Higher Education Wales noted that although the
three higher education funding councils met regularly and frequently,
it was unaware of formal regular and frequent meetings of senior
higher education officials in the Department for Innovation, Universities
and Skills, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Scottish Government
at which emerging policy developments in the three home nations
could be systematically discussed.[192]
Higher Education Wales suggested that "Direct discussion
between the four Higher Education Ministers is … a key priority
to ensure a basic level of policy coordination" and suggested
that the coordination of higher education policy across the UK
should be a top priority for the Joint Ministerial Committee over
the next 18 months.[193]
104. The Minister of State at the Department for
Innovation, Universities and Skills, told us that there was already
"a good deal of communication" between officials in
his Department and those in the devolved administrations.[194]
However, he agreed that there might be scope for more formalised
Ministerial discussions and stated that he was considering the
possibility of establishing formal bi-annual meetings with counterparts
in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to discuss aspects of
further education, higher education and research policy.[195]
He conceded that:
… in addition to official level contacts, I
agree that there may be scope for more formalised Ministerial
discussions. I suggested in my oral evidence that I should add
formal bi-annual meetings with the Welsh Assembly Government to
existing contacts. I can see a benefit in also exploring this
idea with counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and will
put a proposal to them after the recess. I believe a targeted
ministerial meeting covering aspects of FE, HE and Research Policy
would be a more appropriate mechanism than using the Joint Ministerial
Committee, which I do not believe is the appropriate forum for
seeing consensus or making agreements on policies.[196]
The Minister also accepted that greater transparency
about meetings being held between the devolved administrations
and UK ministers, and the subject matter of those meetings, could
be beneficial, provided that it did not inhibit more ad hoc
liaison.[197] In
order to encourage better joint working, we suggest a greater
use of secondments between the two government departments as well
as between funding bodies on both sides of the border.
105. Some
of the responsibilities of the Department for Innovation, Universities
and Skills are UK-wide and others relate only to England. Our
evidence suggests that this situation has given rise to confusion,
both within and outside the Department. Welsh interests are not
being adequately taken into account when formulating UK policy,
and UK policies are overly based on English interests. We recommend
that the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills establishes
processes to ensure that the territorial extent of any policy
is clearly identified and communicated by officials before any
developments to it are proposed and that this should be done in
consultation with the Wales Office and the Welsh Assembly Government.
106. With regard
to the development of higher education policy, we were told that
there are a number of opportunities for officials of all administrations
to meet and share information, but there appears to be no framework
to ensure that future strategy is developed with due regard to
the interdependencies of the higher education sectors of the four
nations. We saw no evidence of any clear process for considering
the implications for the devolved administrations before decisions
about policies for England were made. Because of its relative
size, changes to the higher education sector in England will inevitably
have an impact throughout the rest of the UK. Policy decisions
must be taken in the knowledge of the likely consequences on both
sides of the border. We recommend that the Department ensures
that the devolved administrations are fully consulted before any
further decisions are made with regard to future higher education
policy in England, and that any future reviews routinely include
this type of consultation as a matter of course. We look to the
Wales Office to ensure that this happens.
107. Occasional
and ad hoc meetings serve a useful purpose in
exchanging information about current issues, but there is also
a need to establish better protocols and relationships to ensure
that the Government's policymaking process routinely considers
devolved interests at an early stage. We recommend that until
any alternative structure is put in place, the coordination of
higher education policy should be a top priority for the Joint
Ministerial Committee, and that information about its discussions
is made publicly available.
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