Chris's theme was 'How to Ruin the Best University System in the World.' He started with a summary of how the UK's university system developed from the 'Ancients' - Oxford & Cambridge - through the Mediaevals in Scotland & Ireland, the 'Redbricks' & the London colleges around 1900. Up to 1960, the proportion of school leavers who went on to university did not exceed 5%. But then came the explosion with the 'Plateglass' campuses of the '60's, followed by the homogenisation of the tertiary (post school) sector which finished in 1992, by which time all tertiary colleges had been rebranded as universities, what whatever their origins - Colleges of Advanced Technology (CATs), polytechnics or teacher training colleges. In 1997 Tony Blair announced his aspiration that 50% of school leavers would go to university.
Chris's contention was that the re-badging of all tertiary institutions as 'universities' and all their qualifications as 'degrees', and the cascade of appointments to 'Professor' of people without a publication to their name, devalued the currency and undermined the prestige of the sector. As part of an earlier government's austerity drive, universities were ranked (and funded) according to the quality of their research. Thus, the unspoken rank order, that roughly corresponded to the age of the institutions, was reinforced - with the polytechnics sitting firmly at the bottom. They had gained little from the rebadging, and lost much, including to a great extent their links with local industry.
The proportion of people attending university has now reached 47%, but to what benefit? The vast preponderance of new degree course places has been in vocational subjects, and may thus be better regarding as training than education. But, sadly, this has coincided with a slump in graduate recruitment, with a result that 35% of recent graduates who are in employment are in lower-skilled occupations. In addition, as a result of the failure to match intake with funding, the average graduate will emerge with debts of up to £50,000. Are they being sold a pup?
Chris gave the example of Reading College, which became a new university and which has now reverted to its former identity as a college. He praised it for doing so. Why get a degree with the associated debt and be unemployed? When instead you could go to college, learn a trade, and earn more from a position of little debt?
Chris also has an interest in Climate Change and energy use and he linked this to the university situation. He said that 'peak oil', the point at which cheap oil becomes a thing of the past, will be a game changer. We have arguably already passed this point, and all the talk of 'fracking' is the start of spending more and more effort getting less and less energy, as supplies deplete. What will happen, as energy becomes more expensive, is that it will not be economic to make use of low-wage economies overseas; we'll have to bring manufacturing back here. Having nearly 50% of the population with degrees will not be any use. What we will need is technicians and craftspeople, the very people our polytechnics and colleges of higher education used to turn out.
Clearly something has got seriously out of shape, and the discussion that followed was most an attempt to define exactly what, where it was all heading, and what to do about it. Is it elitist to value traditional academic subjects over vocational ones - astrophysics over golf course management? Is a degree course better regarded as education or training? Is a target of 50% university attendance simply too high? Should we revert to a more traditional distinction between degrees, diplomas and certificates? What will be the effect on the world standing of higher education in the UK that makes it so attractive to foreign students? Can we afford do without them? Is the German or Swiss technical education really so much better than the UK's, or is this a myth?
More questions than answers, but I don't think anybody came away unstimulated by a lively presentation and discussion. As always, feel free to add any comments below.
Chris's book 'University Shambles' is available from his website.
We take a break in December. But are back on Thursday 17th January at our new venue, The White Horse, 84 Newham Avenue, Bedford, MK41 9PX. Kevin McConway of The Open University will be talking about the use of statistics in the media. Full details HERE.
