Happy Brave New World

So Scrooge and Jacob Marley Vince Cable and David Willetts have informed HEFCE of a 6% cut in funding for next year in their annual Merry Xmas message to the HE sector.  This comes before any increase in Fees can trickle down to Universities' budgets.


A hard 2011 lies ahead then, many will have already have put the wheels in motion for rationalisation, reorganisation and plain old job cuts in the coming months.  The Unions will no doubt spring into action, with the students on their side.

As one joker online has already said: "Nick Clegg: not much point making any New Year's resolutions is there?"

Revolutions

I can't be alone amongst University Administrators in silently admiring those student that have chosen to show the Coalition Government exactly what they think of their proposals for the funding of HE. 

Not the one that decided to drop a fire extinguisher off the roof of Millbank (ARU must be so proud) or those that broke the windows though (far better to have just demanded membership forms for everyone outside).  The Socialist Worker Party and its ilk, adherents and loose affiliates eagerly turn up at any protest believing it to be the start of the Glorious Revolution and no doubt thought this one had more weight as the middle classes were involved.

The students that get my admiration are those that are vocalising and putting into action a heartfelt belief that HE should be free to all, funded by the state.  Unfortunately, it looks like that tenet of UK society was lost when Labour got to power in 1997 and abandoned it when faced with the balance sheets and the risk involved with raising taxes for the rich.  They were the ones that introduced fees and shifted the responsibility for funding HE from Government to "customers".

What this government is proposing to do is the logical conclusion of that process, Arts and Humanities are to be funded entirely by the students studying them, with Sciences only getting some basic funding (even though Browne has said that wasn't what he intended).  The illogical twist is that Universities will still be beholden to the Government, even for those courses it no longer funds.

All eyes are on the Commons now and the vote on 9 December.  Will there be revolt amongst LibDem Cabinet Ministers?  Will the coalition suffer a defeat, its first?  Or will this all lead to a revolution in private provision of HE in the UK?

Top Fee or Not Top Fee?

So, Browne paved the way and then the Government announced a new cap of £6k, a new cap in "exceptional circumstances" of £9k and a rise in the earning threshold to £21k before it needs paying back.

So, what are "exceptional circumstances".  David Willetts' statement to the house goes on to talk about instiutions charging above 6k basically having to agree a programme of widening participation and scholarships with the Office for Fair Access.  Is everyone exceptional then?  Isn't this just a carrot to say, if you want to charge the full amount, just put some of the money towards schemes to encourage social mobility, thus hoping to keep the headline amount the 6k (which most papers ignored).  Given large numbers of institutions already have well developed programmes, will there be a national standard?

So, will this be a repeat of when fees rose from 1 to 3k, when a few held fire for a year, until it appeared to be more damaging not to increase to the full amount?  The Russell Group have been bullish in their support of Browne and also the Government proposals. So it appear they will jump to 9k.  Will others just follow to avoid being considered second rate?  Crucial to this will be how it affects applications.

We'll no doubt see a boost in UCAS applications for 2011 to avoid the new fees, as we did when fees were introduced.  But what then?  Will those from less privileged backgrounds gravitate towards those only at 6k?  Will it make no impact at all?  Will they just drop out of the market entirely?

And will universities decide to raise the fees universally, or create an internal market with Law and Medicine at 9k and Philosophy at 6k?  It would seem more justifiable in terms of incentive to the student to sign up for a higher costing course if the expected increase in wage post-qualification is directly connected to the degree subject.  But what does that mean to the university? VIP areas in the library for those whose course funded them?  Some facilities are for all and centrally run functions often work on the basis of even contributions from all admissions. 

Will universities look to ditch those courses that can't attract the more financially-minded applicants?  what future for a 4 year course with a year abroad in the culture being studied or a year in industry?  Will that be worth an extra 6 to 9k?  Pressure is on the Arts subjects and maybe a reduced fee will keep them alive.


That old Chinese curse about interesting times is on a few lips.

B Day Approaches

Well, it's October and the Government are due to tell everyone where the budget cuts will fall and Lord Browne will deliver his report on fees.  Are you sitting uncomfortably?

The whole funding issue brings to mind landlords.  I've had a number in my time, from agencies for student houses to private landlords dealing with me direct.  Either they ignore you and leave you to it (which is annoying when the heating doesn't work) or they spring to attention to keep their property up to scratch and you're having to change your plans at the weekend to be in when they inspect or rip out the cooker.

Surprising, the interventionalist Labour goverment left well alone, apart from bringing in the Fees already promised and then bumping them slightly.  Not that we didn't feel neglected, or think that nothing was being done about the long term future.

Now the coalition is about to contact us for the first time.  I suspect the rent's about to go up and a new tenancy agreement forced on us.

What I Did On My Summer Holidays

Inevitably, each year, I get asked by someone what I did with my huge summer holiday.  Now, I have friends who work in primary and secondary schools and even they don't have the whole 6 weeks sat in their back garden drinking Pimms.  Instead they try and convince you that they work jolly hard for at least some of those days, working out lesson plans for the coming year.

When you ask the holiday question of University Administrators, there is usually a pained smile that comes across their faces.  The degree of pain depends on whether they work centrally, with the day to day of current students or admissions.  The first bunch will tell you that there are no slack periods left anymore; the second will tell you they spent time finishing off records for the outgoing bunch, grabbed a week or two and then returned to prepare for the new lot; the third lot will reach for a nearby sharp instrument, whilst muttering something about A-levels and UCAS.

All of which brings me to the Government's plans to cut the budgets of virtually all departments and its insistance that some of this will be achieved by trimming the fat, greater efficiency, etc.  The public sector may not operate fully under the commercial pressure of the private sector, but the management speak and organisational practices of that sector are already well know to it.  Most Universities will have undergone some restructuring, reorganisation or attempts to get rid of the dead wood over the last few years.  We don't operate in a Never Never Land, where everyone gets 6 weeks to catch up on their novel reading, watercolours or tan.*  We work through such periods to provide value for the tax payers and fee payers' money and, as with other sectors, the cuts can only come at the expense of services.

*Nor do Academics, before you get all cynical on me.  They spend the 6 weeks briefly recuperating, before delving into that world class research.  From home.  There can be no other explanation for the half empty carpark.

Is Privatization the Future?

On 26 July, BPP, a private college providing mainly legal and business courses, was given University College status. (BPP's press release)  This makes it only the second private University in the UK and the first since 1976. Much was made in the press about the Unions response to this news (particularly concerns overs standards) and the goivernment's stance on private sector involvement in HE  - it wants more according to David Willetts.  BPP and Buckingham (that 1976 university - Cabinet Minister for Education at the time? One Margaret Hilda Thatcher) won't be Government funded and therefore not answerable to HEFCE.

In a lot of ways, BPP is an answer to the Government's woes over HE.  Any increase in UK student numbers means the Treasury having to reach into their pockets to give the students a loan for fees.  Any increase in fees, although meaning they can plausibly be justified in cutting central funding, means having to reach deeper.  Creating a private university means they don't have to pay out a bean.  Of all the suggestions the Browne Report may contain, private universities would be one of the cheapest to implement.

The Unions' worries seem to be two-fold: that unlike Buckingham, which is a non profit making business, BPP will look to profit margins and shareholders ahead of all else and that without HEFCE enforcing audits and collecting data, standards will be allowed to slip, bringing the reputation of  UK HE intitutions into disrepute. (UCU article on BPP)

The Union concerns have some merit, but if BPP is the thin edge of the wedge, Buckingham shows the wedge to be a bloody long one.  BBP offers mainly professional qualifications, for which people expect to pay a fair fee in return for the directly applicable letters after their name and increased salary it means.  Branching into degrees has so far been limited professional areas, where the degree has a similar effect.  Whether this heralds the arrival of new private universities depends on the level of fees the market will take and the amount the universities will need to charge to keep afloat.

We might be entering into a new era if the fee cap is hiked up or removed entirely.  If the proportion of money recieved directly from the Treasury shrinks to negligable, how soon before someone works out it's cheaper to charge higher fees and go private and not have to complete all those pesky returns to HEFCE or risk fines on recruitment?  Those at Cranfield may be experiencing a squeeky bum moment as it might well be considering its potential standing in a private market, given its excellent reputation.

What does all this mean for the lowly administrator?  Well, I'm sure we'd all like to throw a party at never having to see the Auditors again, but surely if that wedge starts to widen, some form of independent accreditation body can't be too far away to keep critics at bay?  Cue a few years of establishment of rules, measures, revisions and chaos in terms of what actual data is needed.

But will it all happen?  We await Browne, obviously, to see what will happen with fees, but we also wait to see what the banks might offer in terms of student loans.  The one consequence of going private is that the Student Loans Company is out of the equation, and how much are banks going to be willing to loan, and indeed, charge for that BSc in Aquatic Exploration with Organic Crafts?

When is bringing more money into the UK economy a Bad Thing? When immigration and students are involved.

So, the number of students from non-EU countries coming into the UK has risen 33% in a year. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10834526 Rather than view this as a splendid example of the education sector bucking the international trend of doom and gloom or as a statement on the strength of UKHE as a brand, the government instead says it's "undertaking a thorough evaluation of the student system over the coming weeks and months and ... will introduce new measures to minimise abuse and tighten the system further."

Of course the figures need to be understood against the background of the chaos and upset that the introduction of UKBA's Tier 4 points based immigration system brought in much of the first of the two years being compared here. Those of us who kept an eye on JISCmail messages could see the way that the scheme was being implemented subjectively according to country, with different branches interpretting the rules in different ways.

It was almost as if the Labour politicians that came up with the idea of restricting student immigration to those with actual places, having dreamt up the concept, then buggered off, leaving it to Civil Servants to work out the details. Oh, and could they do it before a potential next General Election came around? It bore all the marks of a rush job.

So, given a year, HE administrators finally having gotten their heads around which hoops students need to jump through (and tills to pass by, lets not forget each of these new students is paying HMG for the privilige of *applying* to study here), we've managed to soften the harsh edges of a government scheme and make it more friendly to attract them and their wallets, I mean, their brains and skills as students adding to the rich tapestry of knowledge. And our reward? A review to tighten things further.

It remains to be seen how the LibDems will respond, given the mosre relaxed attitude they were putting forward before May.

Welcome All

Welcome to my occasional blog on the challenges of being a University Administrator in the UK. We live in interesting times, unfortunately, and I thought it might be useful to put some of my musings on the current state of HE, and what it all means for us lowly administrative staff out there in the ether.
Given the coalition's mixture of outlooks on the future of HE funding, The Browne Review might prove an intersting first challenge to their flawless united front (although Clegg and Hague appear to be doing their best to give the media the end of the honeymoon they've wanted since the Government was formed). More on that in my next post...