What's the story behind the move into the DfE? I'd assumed it was just an awkward compromise to get Theresa May's reorganisation through. Are you saying that the HE sector actually pushed for it?
Replies
Yeah, the HE sector's leadership really wanted it, VCs have a passion for being in with schools, not in BIS or Science or whatever it is called this week.
sep 3, 2025, 11:56 am • 3 0 • view
Always creates terrible policies because they are never valued in the DfE, but university management loves to lobby for it.
sep 3, 2025, 11:56 am • 3 0 • view
Also I'd be curious to know which institutions you'd regard as 'genuine peers'. Surely we'd have to exclude much of continental Europe, as systems in which most teaching costs are directly paid by the state aren't a reasonable comparison.
sep 3, 2025, 11:57 am • 0 0 • view
I think one problem is that British universities are run by people who regard their peers as one another, regardless of what type of institution they are.
sep 3, 2025, 11:59 am • 3 0 • view
Now I'm wondering what the ideal policy solution is here
sep 3, 2025, 12:04 pm • 0 0 • view
Commit to either funding unis out of general taxation again (like large parts of Europe), perhaps with actual, unintimidating 'top-up' fee amounts (like 1998), or just fully commit to a market-system with uncapped numbers and fees.
sep 3, 2025, 1:41 pm • 1 0 • view
The half-way approach clearly doesn't work. Remember, the £9k fee cap was envisioned by ministers as hopefully ushering a range of institutional fee amounts. That never happened, everyone went to the maximum allowed on day one.
sep 3, 2025, 1:41 pm • 1 0 • view