HC Deb 28 October 1999 vol 336 cc1085-7
7. Mr. Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston)

What action he has taken to secure high standards of teaching and research in higher education. [94255]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Malcolm Wicks)

We expect high standards in both teaching and research in our universities. We have supported the work of the Quality Assurance Agency and the Institute for Learning and Teaching, and we expect new teachers in higher education to be trained on programmes accredited by the institute.

Mr. Miller

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his well-deserved appointment to the Front Bench. Has he considered the proposal by the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) to empower universities to set their own fees? Does my hon. Friend think that such a proposal would damage our attempts to open access to universities—especially those universities that are regarded as more prestigious—to all people?

Mr. Wicks

I noted the comments by the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) with some sadness, because at the end of the 20th century, when we are looking forward to new higher education challenges in the 21st century, we do not want to return to an elitist 19th century university system. We have introduced measures that will prevent that from happening. Access to any of our universities should be based on academic ability, not socio-economic status.

Mr. Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough)

I welcome the Minister to his position and thank him for his excellent work as Chairman of the Education Sub-Committee.

The Bett committee recommended a 2.5 per cent. increase in university budgets to allow universities to meet their statutory obligations regarding equal pay. The effect of not granting that increase would be reduced teaching and research standards. Given the Bett committee's clear recommendation and the fact that the Government have said that they will not respond to the committee's findings, what advice will the Minister give to vice-chancellors? Should they go for statutory equal pay or reduce teaching and research standards?

Mr. Wicks

We support equal pay across all spheres. We are grateful for the work of the Bett committee, but pay rates for university academics are a matter for their employers—the universities—and those who represent the sector. I must point out that we have provided an extra £776 million to universities over two years.

Mr. David Chaytor (Bury, North)

I welcome my hon. Friend the Minister's commitment to continuing to widen access to our universities. However, is he aware of the experience of one of my constituents who applied earlier this year to study for an economics degree? This young man, whose academic performance has been outstanding, is in a wheelchair; his application was rejected by one of Britain's leading universities explicitly on the ground that the university could not cope with his access problems. Another university later accepted him.

I am sure that my hon. Friend will agree that his rejection was unacceptable and illegal. Will he take up the matter directly with the vice-chancellor of that university to ensure that it does not happen again, either at that university or any other in the United Kingdom?

Mr. Wicks

I am sorry to hear about that distressing situation. If my hon. Friend will give me details, I will personally write to the vice-chancellor of the university. Such a practice belongs to the past, not the future.

The disability task force is specifically considering these issues. We want to see every able young man and woman in a British university, regardless of any circumstance and certainly regardless of disability.

Mr. Tim Boswell (Daventry)

I welcome the Minister to his new position. It is evident from earlier exchanges that, bizarrely, the Prime Minister is able to countenance the soliciting of top-up contributions by maintained schools to continue their activities, but the Minister rules out top-up fees for universities.

In view of what the Minister has said about the quality of the university experience and his commitment to that, will he explain why Health Ministers are, rightly, seeking to end the lottery of prescribing by postcode, but Education Ministers are letting it be known that they would favour the incorporation of an element of postcode discrimination into selection for places in higher education? Does he realise that that would call into doubt the credibility of the individual student and, certainly, the quality of the university itself?

Mr. Wicks

It is appropriate to find suitable statistical mechanisms for targeting resources so as to achieve our goal of enabling every young person with ability to go to university. However, I repeat that we are totally against top-up fees because, by definition, they would favour only young people from richer families and would discriminate against those from poorer families. We do not want social class to be the gateway to university; we want ability in the class to be that gateway.

Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge)

I add my best wishes to my hon. Friend for his future career on the Front Bench, which is wholly deserved. As an MA Cantab., I understand that this honorary title may in future be refused to others, unless they undertake a course of postgraduate study. Will my hon. Friend take on board the fact that many of us feel that the title is not wholly deserved? May I encourage him to continue to press for a consistently high quality throughout the postgraduate sector?

Mr. Wicks

It has been remiss of me not to thank those who have offered their congratulations, but I have been so anxious to spot the hand grenade rolling across that I may have been impolite. I now thank everyone for their congratulations.

The awarding of MAs and other qualifications is essentially a matter for the university, but the public have a right to expect that throughout British universities a BA, a BSc or an MA has meaning. In my earlier career, I taught postgraduate students at two excellent British universities, and I knew that when they got their master's degrees they had studied very hard for them and earned them.