University of Leicester

Submission to the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (1996)

Our Ref: KJRE/SH/c.11nov.dearing

11 November 1996

Ms C Matterson

Policy Adviser

National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education

Newcombe House

45 Nottingham Hill Gate

LONDON

W11 3JB

National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education: Dearing Review

General

The National Inquiry has a 20-year horizon, by which time developments in the application of new technologies, especially in information and communication, and the creation of a global, competitive market will have emphasised even more the vital importance of the UK having a very well educated and trained population able to innovate and add value in its industries in order to maintain a successful economy and a high quality of life for its citizens. Higher education will, itself, be one of those important industries, and, more fundamentally, will be the essential basis for all the others. A successful higher education system will be one which produces an appropriate national balance as a system (although not necessarily within any individual institution) between initial higher education, lifelong learning, research and scholarship. Higher education will contribute not only to successful economic development, but also to a well adjusted and cohesive society and to the personal development of individual members of that society.

Teaching and Learning

  • The demand for undergraduate programmes will rise again, both from 18 and 19 year olds and from adults, and the higher education system should be able to respond to this demand.

continued . . .

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11 November 1996

Ms C Matterson

  • The experience which students gain from undergraduate courses should, in addition to providing them with intellectual knowledge and skills, equip them with the following:

-skills of self-learning for a lifetime of learning

-personal, core skills such as communication and team-working skills

-ability to manage the flood of information to which an information age will subject them.

  • These demands emphasise the importance of interaction between teacher and student and also between student and student.
  • New information technologies, increasingly in multimedia form, will greatly enhance the learning experience, but their successful use will depend on the continuation of personal contact between teacher and student.
  • The funding for undergraduate education must be sufficient to enable the maintenance of this personal contact, while also taking advantage of new technologies by allowing investment in hardware, software and training.
  • Higher Education should increasingly collaborate with Further Education to encourage access.
  • Higher Education institutions will also increasingly collaborate with one another to make more effective use of resources (both people and equipment) and to allow transfer of students between institutions.
  • Undergraduate education will remain an important public investment and public good, and must be funded largely by Government.
  • Postgraduate education will expand rapidly, but is likely to be funded largely from private sources (students and employers).
  • Postgraduate education will merge into lifelong learning, especially in the field of continuing vocational and professional education.
  • Much postgraduate study will be part-time or through distance learning or a combination of the two.
  • There is a very large potential international market for British postgraduate education.

continued . . .

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11 November 1996

Ms C Matterson

Research

  • The maintenance of research (particularly basic and strategic) in universities is essential:

-the universities are currently major contributors to the national research effort

-the universities are vital in training researchers and potential researchers.

-university-based fundamental research underpins industrial research leading to the development of commercial products.

  • The continuation of the contribution by the universities to the national research effort will depend on adequate funding from the Funding Councils and Research Councils, particularly for equipment and infrastructure in general.
  • Selective funding of research according to the achievements of subject groups is inevitable and in subjects where research requires expensive facilities or the creation of large multidisciplinary teams, concentration of resources must occur.
  • Funding mechanisms should encourage multidisciplinary research and facilitate collaboration between institutions.
  • Links with industry will need to be encouraged and technology foresight should be seen as having value as a process rather than an outcome in identifying target areas.
  • Applied research in universities will be funded largely through links with industry and through specific government initiatives.

Scholarship

  • Good scholarship is an essential activity in universities.
  • Teaching must be accompanied and underpinned by scholarship in the form of a continuing, critical assessment of knowledge in the relevant subject area.
  • Research must be underpinned by scholarship in the form of a continuing, critical assessment of new research findings and methods in the relevant area.
  • Research and teaching interact synergistically and it is vital that this interaction is maintained in at least a substantial part of higher education.

continued . . .

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11 November 1996

Ms C Matterson

Funding

  • Public funding per student for teaching must be maintained at least at the 1994/95 level, if not improved.
  • Additional funds will be necessary to enhance the quality of education and if the national political decision is that this cannot be obtained from the public purse but must come from students, any scheme introduced must be fair, not deter students from entering higher education, and must provide for payment only when the beneficiaries can afford it. An appropriate model is the Australian Higher Education Contribution Schemes, in which the most important features are:

(1)Access to higher education does not demand up-front payment;

(ii)Repayment rates are dependent on current income; and

(iii)The repayment mechanism is efficient.

Yours sincerely