Dear Colleague,
Following the last big publication - the HE Green Paper in November - the sector and parliament alike were treated to a whole host of documents last week, including the White Paper “Success as a Knowledge Economy: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice”, the Teaching Excellence Framework Year 2 – Technical Consultation, the Accelerated Courses and Switching University or Degree – Call for Evidence, the outcome of the Wakeham and Shadbolt reviews, and of course the Higher Education and Research Bill. So there is a lot to digest ahead of Second Reading (date to be confirmed), with the main areas for discussion seeming to be the case for market entry of new providers, the new Office for Students and UK Research and Innovation, Widening Participation and the TEF, including the link to fees.
Of course the sector and parliamentarians will also need to keep an eye on other legislation announced during the Queen’s Speech, the Extremism Bill where we might see the debate on freedom of speech on campuses, ‘no-platforming’, safe spaces et al emerge. We will need to consider the NHS (Overseas Visitors Charging Bill) and how this might affect international students who wish to study here. And of course the Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the Local Growth and Jobs Bills. It’s not clear how skills policy fits into these two bills, but alongside the powers being devolved to elected mayors on infrastructure investment we will see some devolution of skills funding. If purse-strings are increasingly held at local or regional levels, the sector will need to make sure that it’s part of the solution – fulfilling the skills needs of local economies.
And finally, with universities being among the largest producers and consumers of intellectual property, any tinkering of protection or access through the Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Bill and a new Digital Economy Bill may well be deserving of attention – perhaps particularly from innovation and commercialisation departments.
There is much for members of the APPG to work together on over the next parliamentary session!
Roberta Blackman-Woods MP
Chair, All-Party Parliamentary University Group