Goldsmiths College
University of London
Submission to the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (1996)
This response to the National Committee of Inquiry addresses the full range of questions but it is particularly directed at the need to foster diversity within the Higher Education system. Goldsmiths College is a specialist College of the University of London which has as its focus the study of creative, cultural and social processes, with a commitment to life-long learning, and it hopes that the Committee of Inquiry will recognise the value of sustaining institutions with a niche provision and those which seek to play a distinctive, specialist role in higher education.
Goldsmiths College contributes to the diversity of the HE system, in its subject mix; in its emphasis on the inter-relationship of theory and practice in the creative arts and in training teachers and community and social workers; in its commitment to life-long learning; and in its relationship with its local area. It urges the Committee of Inquiry to propose measures to preserve and strengthen this diversity.
Key responses are summarised below, followed by the full submission.
3.HE expansion through increased equality of opportunity and the recognition of non-standard qualifications and access routes is welcomed but resources must be increased to maintain quality in this expanded provision. The British HE system has a valuable international contribution to make provided that it maintains the reputation for quality on which its world- wide appeal rests.
4.The inter-relationship of theory and practice must be respected; flexible patterns of attendance must be encouraged and funded.
4.Transferable skills need to be reflected in the curriculum; practical components in arts programmes and in vocational provision foster generally applicable work skills.
6.The interaction between teaching and scholarship and between research (and/or innovative development work) and scholarship should remain a vital feature of the HE system.
9.New provision should be put in place to support research in the arts, humanities and the cultural industries, which are central to national economic and social well-being and international competitiveness.
10.Research Councils should determine and define the need for research, playing a strategic role in identifying and funding priority areas and locating institutional research capacity. R funding should not be focused on specific universities but concentrated on departments or units that have demonstrated high quality research.
11.Assured research funding through the HEFCE grant is the best way to ensure a solid and sustainable basis to plan and manage long-term research.
13.Participation in HE will be more spread throughout students careers, with modules taken as appropriate (full-time, part- time, by distance learning) and updating and conversion courses will also be more widely required and provided. Involvement in HE will need to grow if Britain is to compete effectively in world markets.
17.There should be a post-qualification undergraduate entrance system.
18.Diversity across the system should be encouraged and appropriately funded. By concentrating on a coherent range of disciplines, institutions can enhance interdisciplinary work, programme and employer-led provision can be targeted, as can recruitment, and clarity of purpose and direction for innovation can be maximised. Other institutions will choose to differentiate themselves in terms of mode of delivery, or intake, or of target area for recruitment and collaboration.
29.Widening access is being jeopardised by lack of suitable student support. A fair repayment system (through Tax or NI) over at least 20 years is needed. The sureness of a soundly- based system will provide both students and the HE system with the necessary certainty of income.
31.A single body should fund HEI teaching (grant and mandatory fees) to ensure that policies are coherent and properly implemented (eg encouraging diversity, widening access, facilitating part-time study and distance learning); funding through students cannot achieve this.
The Committee of Inquiry has suggested issues on which comment would be welcome: letters in margin refer to the Committee s Request for Evidence.
1.What should be the aims and purposes of higher education over the next twenty years?
The expansion of HE is welcomed, particularly that arising out of the provision of equality of opportunity and recognition of the validity of (previously) non-standard qualifications and access routes. The increased recruitment of mature students is particularly gratifying to an institution which has a long tradition of widening access to HE. However, failure to match increased student numbers with appropriate increases in resources is demonstrably damaging to the education being provided, and the weakening of academic salaries will inevitably reduce the quality of university teaching and research .
The British HE system has a valuable international contribution to make provided that it maintains the reputation for quality on which its world-wide appeal rests.
Goldsmiths shares the national commitment to life-long learning but regrets the fact that mechanisms for encouraging such a process, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, are not sufficiently built into the funding, quality and personal taxation systems. An effective national framework of credit accumulation and transfer is essential to the effective adoption of life-long learning policies.
2.What features are, or should be, distinctive of HE as opposed to other levels or forms of education or training?
a A clearer demarcation between HE (characterised by its commitment to a blend of high-quality research, scholarship and advanced level teaching) and further education would be helpful for funding purposes, and institutions should be asked to justify cross-sectoral provision, in terms of demand, of quality, and of mission. The distinction between HE and FE need not be rigid, but institutions should be expected to understand the basis for their own provision.
b Employer-led education and training is by definition demand driven: employers must be able to seek the best training available (which at HE level is geared towards promoting innovation and the adoption of best practice) and HEIs must be ready to respond to such demand. HEIs mount programmes connected to their on-going research and development, with each activity enhancing the quality and range of the other.
c Drawing distinctions between vocational and non-vocational HE is most unhelpful, particularly for an institution which is concerned with creativity, and with supporting, directly or indirectly, the cultural industries which are of considerable importance to the economy of the country.
3.What forms of higher education provision will students need access to over the next 20 years?
Goldsmiths is committed to the provision of coherent programmes of study with, in many of its subjects, an emphasis on the inter-relationship of theory and practice. This high level of practical content is seen to be essential to secure a proper grounding (in the visual and performing arts, in design, and in media and communications), but it is, by necessity, expensive, and funding methods must take account of variations in programme content within subject categories. This also applies to the increasing need for technological content in all subjects, not only those with a practical or laboratory base.
Just as work patterns are changing so that there is an increasing emphasis on part-time work and portfolios of jobs, a similar process will be observed in HE. This is to be welcomed, as part-time study and students bring a particular strength to HE, not least in terms of cost-effectiveness. This strength will become increasingly important, assisted by the use of distance learning mechanisms using the internet.
In determining and monitoring changed modes of delivery the impact on quality and value for money must be assessed, and the outcomes evaluated in terms of accreditation. Equally, there should be equity in treatment between full-time, part- time and distance learning to ensure that students obtain quality provision whatever mode is appropriate to their needs.
4.What knowledge, skills and aptitudes will those leaving higher education need over the next 20 years and how can these best be delivered?
a Transferable, general skills (which can include skills in communication, foreign languages, environmental awareness, number, information technology, team-working, problem-solving and the self-management of learning) need to be reflected in the curriculum, but the provision of intensive, accredited, post-qualification courses also needs to be explored. There are significant funding implications in this development, but the validity of existing provision needs to be recognised: the high level of practical provision in Goldsmiths visual and performing arts programmes, in its work in the various branches of the media, and in placement training in social work and in education, have all proved valuable in providing generally applicable, adaptable work skills.
b Personal and cultural growth and development have always been an integral part of the learning experience at university: students need time and space, (and social, cultural and sporting facilities) to pursue their own interests and these are threatened by failure properly to resource the expansion of HE.
c&d The balance between the provision of a broad skills/knowledge base and highly specialised knowledge will increasingly be an element in the differentiation of programmes offered by institutions, which will also respond in differing ways to the curriculum content demands of students, teachers, employers, professional bodies, etc.
e Project-based work placements (rather than generalised attachment) will increasingly be needed to prepare students for employment, and to demonstrate the need for graduate employment in small companies. Preparation for self employment/partnerships in the developing cultural industries is particularly needed .
f Care must be exercised in developing special relationships and in creating tailor-made courses for employers and professional bodies - graduates need qualities of flexibility and adaptability rather than being tied to the particular requirements of the moment (or more likely, of the past few years).
5.How can effective teaching and learning be identified and how should they be encouraged?
Experience has shown the validity of student feedback, when properly surveyed, and of appraisal/performance review and peer support in identifying effective teaching and staff development needs and opportunities. There is a balance to be drawn between the traditional, voluntary approach to staff development and the institution s need to maximise the impact of its teaching. Internal and external quality assurance procedures should regard staff development (of all categories of staff) and professional updating as indicators of teaching quality.
6What is the place of scholarship (as opposed to teaching and research) in higher education?
A distinction is often made between teaching on the one hand and scholarship and research on the other. More equity between the teaching and research functions can be achieved by attaching scholarship to both functions, emphasising the twin tracks of the profession of scholarship and research and scholarship and teaching . This should be an integral part of the quality assurance and enhancement systems in HE.
The link between teaching, scholarship and research is essential to the development of each element. In particular, in the creative and literary arts, the concept of scholarship should be broadened to include creative practice to inform both teaching and research.
7How can the standards of degrees and other higher education qualifications be assured and maintained?
a There is concern that standards of degrees have changed, particularly at the level of franchising and in non-university institutions. National standards should be established and would be helpful provided that they do not determine curriculum content or prescribe modes of delivery. A more formalised external examiner system tied more closely to the national quality assurance mechanisms should be considered. Professional bodies (and employer representatives) could be involved where appropriate.
d There is no evidence that standards have declined as a direct result of the move from an elite towards a mass system of HE, although the accompanying reduction in the unit of resource has been harmful.
e Universities are autonomous institutions and should be responsible, in liaison with professional bodies, funding authorities, employers and other interested parties, for assuring their own standards within an agreed national framework, this framework to be determined by all the stakeholders in HE.
8What proportion of higher education resources is it reasonable to use to verify standards of awards and the quality of provision?
Institutions must be allowed to determine their own allocation of resources for the various aspects of their provision, but national quality assurance measures must be effective and should be reviewed by an agreed system of quality assurance.
9How should research carried out in higher education institutions fit with the wider spectrum of research undertaken in the UK?
The existing pattern of mixed funding of research in HE assures the most flexibility and the best fit with research carried out elsewhere. The existing profile is supported, including the R element of HEFCE grant, specific grants via the research council, and individual contracts with industry. New provision should be put in place to support research in the arts, humanities and the cultural industries, which are central to national economic and social well-being and international competitiveness. In this connection, there must be recognition of the validity of practitioner research within the creative arts.
10How should public funding for research in higher education institutions be distributed?
a The research councils are the appropriate bodies to determine and define the need for research in their specific domains. They should be encouraged to adopt a strategic role in relation to the identification and funding of priority area and in relation to the identification of institutional research capacity. Research councils should also collaborate with other funders in developing combined funding for strategic priorities. Individual scholarship should continue to be funded through the flexible sources currently available. The significance of research in the cultural studies, the arts and design for manufacturing industry and for national economic competitiveness should be recognised and adequately funded through these means.
b Research funding should not be focused on specific research universities. It should be concentrated on departments or units that have demonstrated high quality research.
Recognition should be given to the increasingly important task of undertaking research and developmental work in support of local business, particularly in small and medium sized enterprises. This vital area of British business requires its local HEIs to be able to undertake output-orientated research, and funding must be available.
d The capacity of the Research Assessment Exercise to promote high quality research needs to be rigorously evaluated, and procedures and criteria refined to ensure that these exercises encourage medium and long term development of high quality research rather than short term target achievement.
e Research Councils should be encouraged to follow the lead of the ESRC in developing strategic priorities and in seeking to develop a more collaborative and capacity-building relationship with institutions.
f Technology Foresight should recognise that major economic contributions are made by research in the social sciences, the humanities and the visual and performing arts.
11How should the organisation of research activity be developed over the next twenty years?
Assured research funding through the HEFCE grant is the best way to ensure a solid and sustainable basis on which universities and colleges can plan and manage long-term research. The insfrastructural requirements of research should be recognised and supported through this grant. All research funders, not only research councils and including charities, should be encouraged to provide an element within their grants to ensure the supply and reproduction of the basic research infrastructure. The existing mixed economy of research funding is most likely to secure interdisciplinary research, collaboration, international standards of research excellence and links with users.
12How can the quality of research in higher education be maintained and enhanced?
a Research councils have a strategic role in providing funding for research studentships to produce successive cohorts of researchers, and increased funds should be devoted to this objective.
b The concordat recently agreed by the CVCP and others should be implemented to ensure career progression and training of contract research staff.
13 What should be the participation rate for higher education in the context of changes in society, the economy and the labour market over the next 20 years?
The concept of participation rates will become less useful as universities increasingly offer updating and conversion courses and as undergraduate and postgraduate degrees are taken in modules throughout people s careers. Involvement in HE will need to grow if Britain is to compete effectively in world markets.
14What factors should determine the appropriate level of participation in higher education?
Student demand should be the main determinant of the appropriate level of participation in HE (moderated by effective quality procedures) but this will depend on the ability of institutions to match their provision to the requirements, to differentiate themselves in catering for particular areas of demand, and to sell themselves to encourage potential students, who will increasingly be mature students, often with previous student experience, to apply.
Employers, professional bodies and government all have a role to play in stimulating demand and facilitating provision but, inevitably, student demand must be paramount, whether at initial or at continuing stages, and policy should be directed to removal of obstacles to participation.
15How do you expect the student body over the next 20 years to differ from today.
The main difference to be taken account of will be that many students will be more committed, and therefore more demanding than today (and the increasing requirement that they support themselves will accentuate this); their study careers may be broken up into shorter, and possibly more intensive sections; they will have more diverse reasons for studying, a wider range of personal circumstances to be taken into account, and a more varied background to be utilised in the learning experience. Many will have already studied at HE or FE level, and may be less concerned with simply securing qualifications than in acquiring particular knowledge, skills or understanding. There will be an increase in more flexible forms of study, especially part-time study, and it is essential that the sector should be funded to provide this: the changes will impose considerable pressures on institutions to match provision to demand and to justify claims of excellence made.