The future is more than just tomorrow: Higher education, the economy and the longer term is published as part of the second strand of Universities UK’s From Recession to Recovery project, supported by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
The commentary, which has been written by Professor Geoffrey Crossick at the invitation of Universities UK, reflects on longer-term issues facing higher education in the context of recession and crisis in public finance.
Professor Crossick draws upon the findings of three mini-reports, recently commissioned by Universities UK to consider some of the key consequences of the current economic climate:
- Adapting business models in a changing environment
- Changes in student choices and graduate employment
- The global picture
September 2010 - Comments on the report
Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
‘Geoff Crossick has provided a robust and thought provoking analysis of the challenges facing higher education. As we await the outcome of the Browne review and the Government's spending review we must take steps to ensure that the process of change is managed with care and professionalism: we must not compromise on the quality of learning and teaching and the student experience; the excellence and international competitiveness of research; or the ability of universities and colleges to contribute to economic recovery and a just society. The wellbeing of students should be paramount as we face the difficult choices and decisions ahead.’
Susan Anderson, CBI Director of Public Services and Skills
'Business values the UK’s high-quality universities which will make a strong contribution to future economic growth and prosperity. CBI members draw on universities for research, innovation, workforce training and graduate talent, but also recognise they have an important role to play in developing course content and providing opportunities for students to experience the world of work. This commentary recognises that the HE sector is facing significant challenges, which is why the CBI has drawn on the expertise of business and university members in developing proposals to both address HE funding shortfalls and strengthen business-university collaboration in the future.'
Aaron Porter
NUS National President
'I feel honoured to have been asked to write a few words in response to new and important work from Universities UK on the theme Recession to Recovery. I wish I could say it was a pleasure to write them, but that is perhaps the wrong term to use, given the context and the scale of the challenges we face. The theme itself is undoubtedly the right one to address – we have to establish a strong and irrefutable case for higher education to be seen as a central and fundamental part of the journey back to sustained growth and all that implies for employment, public services and society at large.
I want to take this opportunity to pledge my support to the effort, and to reaffirm my view that is must be a joint effort by all those in our sector to succeed. The Browne Review of Higher Education Funding will soon be published, and I am sure that we will not see complete agreement about its recommendations. But there will be no disagreement on the core issue: universities should have the funding necessary to maintain the current levels of participation, provision and quality. That has to be the first priority as we move into the most difficult public spending environment for generations.
In the next few years, the change we will experience – indeed, the change we must lead – will go far beyond questions of funding. In his introductory essay, Geoff Crossick has set out what the key issues are likely to be. We have to establish far more flexible programmes, enabling student mobility across our sector and helping those students to get the courses they need, and in a way that access is easy. We need to be creative about the ways that universities teach and support their students to learn, and what it means to form coherent learning relationships and communities within – and indeed without – institutions.
We must re-examine what kind of research culture we want, right through the sector. We are obliged to consider how we account for higher education, both in terms of value for money but also in terms of its absolute value, in a rapidly changing society that is becoming more difficult for many to live in. Any of these remarks could have been made at any time in the last five, even ten years, but what is different now – which Geoff captures so well – is the immense pressure and sheer urgency of our present situation.
Nobody doubts that the road ahead will be bumpy and very difficult at times – but I suspect the final destination will be a very interesting place indeed.'