Higher Education

HC Deb 06 May 1986 vol 97 cc1-4

1. Mr. Andrew F. Bennett

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what discussions he has had in the last month with the National Advisory Body and the University Grants Committee about the future development of higher education.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science (Mr. George Walden)

My right hon. Friend has written one letter jointly to the chairmen of the University Grants Committee, National Advisory Body and the Welsh Advisory Body about student numbers in 1987–88. He is meeting the chairman of the UGC tomorrow, Wednesday 7 May.

Mr. Bennett

When the Secretary of State meets the chairman of the UGC, perhaps he will come up with the farewell message that cuts in higher education are off. Will the Government stop hiding behing the UGC and NAB planning exercise, come clean and make it clear that they are demanding cuts in the number of students going into higher education or in the resources per student? Why is Britain the only country that is cutting higher education? If we want an economic future, we should surely be investing in, not cutting, higher education

Mr. Walden

It is grossly irresponsible of the hon. Gentleman to stir up unjustified alarm among students, parents and institutions about access to higher education. The Government have been enormously successful in expanding access to higher education, and it is not our policy to curtail it now.

Mr. Michael Forsyth

When my right hon. Friend meets the chairman of the UGC, will he seek his assurance that there is no question mark over the future of Stirling university? Will he also put it to him that there should be a question mark over the UGG, and that it would be far better to allocate funds to universities and colleges of higher education on the basis of student demand, with resoures allocated according to student preference rather than by bureaucratic methods?

Mr. Walden

My hon. Friends asks a complicated question. I know that the UGC is concerned about financial trends. However, there have been no formal recommendations to the Government about closures, and the Government are monitoring closely any evidence of financial difficulty.

Mr. Freud

Does the Minister accept that there is a subsequential question mark over his Department's competence in dealing with higher education? Will he reverse the trend of trying to cram ever more students into polytechnics without making adequate provision for their funding?

Mr. Walden

I am sorry to hear the hon. Gentleman speak in that derogatory way about the success of public sector higher education in accommodating many new students. To be precise, there has been an increase of one third in the student population. I am sorry that he should take such a primitive economic attitude and believe that the success of the public sector in efficiently accommodating many new students is not a matter on which it should be congratulated.

Mr. Stokes

Is my hon. Friend aware that the cuts proposed in the courses run by the Stourbridge college of art and technology, which is pre-eminent in the glass industry throughout the country, have caused alarm and despondency in my constituency? I look to the Government to put the matter right.

Mr. Walden

I hope that my hon. Friend will look carefully at the source of any speculation about cuts. I imagine he will find that, as is so often the case, that source is not the Government.

Mr. Merlyn Rees

As I have no wish to be irresponsible or complicated, how should I reply to those in Leeds who write to tell me that the fine arts department at Leeds polytechnic is being considered for closure? Should I write and tell them that no such possiblity arises?

Mr. Walden

The right hon. Gentleman should ask his colleagues at Leeds polytechnic carefully to reread the letter that they received from the secretariat of the National Advisory Body. I believe that that was the source of the rumours. His colleagues will then note that the proposals in that letter are not endorsed by the Government.

Mr. Squire

Has my hon. Friend had an opportunity today to read the devastating indictment of Opposition, policies set out in the Opposition's house newspaper, The Guardian, by Hugo Young? If so, does he agree that it exposes the emptiness of the Opposition's promises on higher education, as on so many other issues?

Mr. Walden

My hon. Friend has made an extremely good point. In higher education one is dealing with a rather highly educated class of person. I do not for one moment believe that such a person will be impressed by the Opposition scattering Mickey Mouse money in front of him for higher education, just as they have scattered it in front of every other topic debated in the Chamber.

3. Mr. Dubs

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has had in the last month from the higher education unions about the number of students entering higher education in 1987–88.

Mr. Walden

None, Sir.

Mr. Dubs

Does the Minister agree that there is great uncertainty and anxiety about the future of higher education in this country, which has been directly caused by the Government's attempt to cut the number of resources going to all categories of higher education? Is it not time that the Government realised that Britain's future depends on the skill, training and education of our people? Why do the Government say that they must cut higher education? Such cuts would damage the country's future.

Mr. Walden

I am intrigued that the hon. Gentleman should complain about uncertainty in higher education and at the same time deliberately fuel it by referring to nonexistent plans for cuts. I wish that he and other Opposition Members would stop doing down Britain's achievements by making international comparisons. They are a notorious minefield, and Opposition Members frequently step on rather obvious mines. The hon. Gentleman alluded to international comparisons, but the best bases for them are degrees and higher level diplomas. On that basis, the United Kingdom is on a par with West Germany and above others in western Europe.

Mr. Peter Bruinvels

If and when my hon. Friend receives any representations from the higher education authorities, will he bear in mind that many of the numbers will represent people who may not even be properly qualified to go to university? Does he agree that those who have the privilege of going on to further education and who have the best grants in Europe available to them should aim to have a career to go to at the end of their three years of study? It is a privilege to go on to further education, and someone has to pick up the tab for that.

Mr. Walden

My hon. Friend has made many worthy points, and he will not expect us to dissent from them. I refer, in particular, to the notion that the vocational element of higher education should be stressed.

Mr. Radice

Will there be any cuts in 1987–88 in the number of resources going into higher education?

Mr. Walden

In the normal way, decisions on the funds that will be allocated to the public sector for higher education are calculated in the routine way, at the time when funds going to local authorities are calculated.