“With the UK’s higher education (HE) system facing tough choices posed by recession and competition from abroad, business must do even more than it does to work with universities and the government to help maintain the UK’s international competitiveness.” So says the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in a new report published last week. The report, the culmination of a year’s work by the CBI Higher Education Task Force (a group drawn from both business and the universities) also says that the rapid rise in student numbers, coupled with a severe strain on public finances, makes current public funding levels unsustainable.
The report pays lip service to the “excellence” of the UK’s HE system and acknowledges that universities are a “vital public good”, but it wastes no time getting to the nub of the issue. Quite simply, the proportion of UK graduates taking science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) degrees has declined by 20 per cent since 1999-2000, and the CBI is anxious to see more young people continuing with these subjects after the age of 16. Sam Laidlaw, chairman of the CBI HE Task Force and chief executive of Centrica, spelled it out.
"The UK has a world-class higher education sector. But it faces some urgent challenges, including the changing needs of business, intensifying international competition, and constrained public sector funding. Universities and government cannot deliver a world class service alone. Effective collaboration between the higher education sector, business and government will be critical to the UK’s economic recovery and sustainable international competitiveness. Business must also make a sustained effort in supporting higher education. To this end, I am pleased that as a Task Force we have made a strong commitment to provide the support needed to help students build the employability and technical skills that are so important."
The report proposes that more businesses should work with universities to sponsor students studying subjects relevant to business, such as science and technology, a point emphasised by CBI director general, Richard Lambert. "Business should engage more with universities, both financially and intellectually,” he says. "In return for this extra investment of time and money, business will want to see more emphasis given to certain subjects, such as science, technology, engineering and maths. Languages are also seen to be important, and the Task Force argues that more should be done to prepare students for the world of work, and teach them the generic skills that will help smooth their pathway into employment."
Mr Lambert adds: "The economic downturn makes cuts to public funding for HE inevitable, so new sources of funding have to be found. Universities and business must work together to preserve the quality of teaching and research, waste in the HE system must be cut, with universities sharing more of their services and consolidating to make efficiencies.”
University think tank, million+ had mixed feelings about the CBI report. While welcoming the recognition that business must take responsibility to engage with universities, the report’s recommendation that government should drop its target to encourage 50% of people between the ages of 18 and 30 to study at university was misguided, according to million+ chief executive, Pam Tatlow. She believes it is the wrong approach in a recession, which has already caused one million young people to be unemployed.
“The CBI’s approach contrasts very sharply with that in Sweden and in the United States where President Obama has backed the growth of higher education with additional funding,” she says. “It is also disappointing that business leaders want less places but students to pay more.”
Professor Steve Smith, president of Universities UK whose members are the executive heads of universities in this country, welcomed the report as a “positive and constructive contribution to the debate about the future of higher education”.
“We share the Task Force’s analysis of the funding pressures facing universities, and their recognition of the fact that the UK spends less than the OECD average on higher education as a proportion of GDP,” he said. “In particular, we welcome the leadership shown by the business members of the Task Force in committing to do more to support universities, and by encouraging other business to take practical steps such as increasing opportunities for work-experience and placements, and by offering financial support to students and graduates in the form of scholarships, bursaries and sign-on bonuses.”
The University and College Union (UCU) said the CBI report might call for new thinking with regards to HE funding, but merely lists a number of ways to make UK students pick up the bill for their education. According to the UCU, the “tired business rhetoric” of the report added nothing new to the debate on university funding, and called on all the political parties to seize the initiative and ensure a proper debate ahead of next year's general election.
“The silence on the future of higher education from the main political parties is allowing tired business rhetoric to be viewed as a real contribution to the debate,” says UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt. “The proposals in the CBI report offer absolutely nothing new and merely list the obvious ways to increase student debt. To suggest that a rise in tuition fees is inevitable because the CBI favours that approach is quite incredible, particularly with the country in recession.
“We need a fair system where every potential student has the opportunity to maximise their potential. Increasing fees, or the other financial barriers that so many students and parents come up against when considering university, is certainly not the way to deliver that system. The political parties need to come out and make it quite clear where they stand on the future of university funding so the electorate can make an informed choice at the ballot box next year.”
Les Hunt
Editor