HL Deb 10 March 2003 vol 645 cc1106-7

2.50 p.m.

Baroness Sharp of Guildford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What criteria would need to be satisfied for university departments to gain the 6* status proposed in paragraph 2.15 of the White Paper The future of higher education (Cm 5735).

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)

My Lords, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has announced that it will allocate £20 million next year to university research departments that achieved a 5* rating in both the 1996 and 2001 research assessment exercises. HEFCE will consider how to reward the very best performers in future years.

Baroness Sharp of Guildford

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. I welcome the extra money that is being put into the science budget. However, she did not answer my Question. I declare an interest: for the past 20 years of my academic career I have worked in the Science Policy Research Unit and I continue to be a visiting fellow in that unit. Is the Minister aware that already 75 per cent of science funding is concentrated in the hands of 25 per cent of universities? That is a higher proportion than in any other country, including the United States. Is she also aware of research that was undertaken in the early 1990s at the Science Policy Research Unit that indicated that there was little or no evidence of any economies of scale in scientific research other than in departments that share large pieces of equipment, such as CERN? Is she worried that the further concentration of funding in large departments will stifle innovative research from smaller departments, and particularly from young, new researchers?

Baroness Ashton of Upholland

My Lords, I believe that I answered the Question posed by the noble Baroness on the criteria. The criteria used by HEFCE are the 1996 and 2001 research assessment exercises. I accept the noble Baroness's point about how research moneys are currently distributed. That is one reason why we have created a capability fund of £18 million. We want to look at distributing more moneys to departments that are rated 3A and 3B in seven identified emerging areas. It is important that universities are able to pursue excellence in research. We recognise emerging excellence departments, those areas of research where we need greater capability and, as is mentioned in the White Paper, the need to focus on teaching and on knowledge transfer.

Baroness Blatch

My Lords, can the Government defend their cuts in the teaching programme that inevitably will have an effect on research programmes in our universities, particularly at Oxford?

Baroness Ashton of Upholland

My Lords, I do not have details of the specific issues raised by the noble Baroness in relation to Oxford. We believe that the settlement for universities and higher education is a good settlement. Within that we believe that we are able to support universities in the pursuit of their teaching programmes, in the pursuit of research and in the pursuit of knowledge transfer—the three strands within the White Paper.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

My Lords, does the Minister accept that it is possible to have too many new initiatives for the higher education sector and that this may be one too many? I declare an interest: I was a member of one department for the first RAE exercise and a member of a different department at a different university for the second RAE exercise. I believe that the whole 6* status is historically flawed in all kinds of intellectual and financial ways. Can the Minister explain whether there is any intellectual rationale for this odd proposal?

Baroness Ashton of Upholland

My Lords, I am sure that the noble Lord will appreciate that I do not consider it to be an odd proposal. In a global economy, in which we compete with institutions and departments across the world, we must ensure that in our education system we are always in pursuit of excellence. I believe that this is part of that pursuit of excellence. It is a recognition of the enormous amount of work and the fantastic amount of research of an extremely high quality that takes place in our universities.