The former Education Secretary on the review of tertiary education funding floated today.
“It wasn’t anticipated that so many universities would have the same fee for their course. There hasn’t been as much variety as we would have wanted”.
In the first of two pieces on Higher Education, the former Universities Minister argues that the conventional account of how fees and funding works is mistaken.
The attack in Bristol was not lighthearted high spirits but a thoroughly unpleasant instance of intimidation. The university authorities must maintain free speech.
His tour of universities raises memories of another – that of by Keith Joseph, whose hundreth birthday would have fallen this week. It needs a modern equivalent.
Our Party is bringing new rigour to Higher Education, but we have much more to do to win the support of young people on education policy.
Yes, we need a resource shift to technical education. But the loss of the Tory majority last June will make it very slow going.
The Conservatives need to support genuine allies – such as savers, home owners, small businesses, and the armed forces.
His satire on the NUS is highly enjoyable, but as he himself recognises, the Conservatives are a long way from finding messages to reach younger voters.
The Universities Minister takes on Lord Adonis, and insists the new regulator will control pay by insisting on transparency and the right benchmarks.
Yet embracing change doesn’t mean blinkered acceptance. It is a core Conservative belief that robust rules are needed to ensure one person’s freedom doesn’t trample that of others.
The former minister upholds tuition fees, points out that these are good for the poor, and attacks academic resistance to competition.
The Chancellor needs to help deliver the sense of direction so strikingly absent in Manchester last month, and indeed since last June’s election.
Plus: the official measure of inflation should be changed; student funding requires reform; and the Chancellor must prepare for No Deal.
In his second piece on Higher Education, the former Universities Minister looks at how they might be tweaked – and why the alternatives are reactionary, expensive or both.