In recent years, there has been a disconnect between the story universities tell about their value to the country and how political figures respond.
Many of the arguments the sector has made, most strikingly on its financial stability, seem to be falling on deaf ears. We wanted to gain a fuller understanding of this disconnect. UCL Policy Lab, over the last year, has held a series of conversations with stakeholders in higher education as well as those in policy and politics. We’ve compiled these findings in a new report released today.
So often, it is tempting to look solely at how influential individuals are shaping policy. In contrast, we sought to understand how the tectonic plates shaping our politics are in turn shaping the policy direction on universities. Our report found three key explanations as to what is driving political apathy towards universities.
The new working class
The first is around how well universities serve and represent what Claire Ainsley, who contributed to the report, calls the “new working class”. Critically, this group is less likely to have attended universities and more likely to be distrustful of them. They are also, as has been well documented, the voters who have decided the last two general elections.
The fact that political attention has shifted towards these voters, who do not feel that universities have benefited them, drives much of the conversation about universities. It is perhaps the biggest political challenge universities face. The increased political salience of widening participation can be seen through this lens, as can concern about immigration and international students.
There is also a wider point about how higher education shapes politics, which is more central in the minds of politicians than is often acknowledged. A higher education system which draws around half of young people into metropolitan university life while leaving the rest in more rooted communities is seen as a reason for our increased sense of national division.
The fact that universities are, often inadvertently, seen as participants in the culture wars, can therefore further hurt their traction with those in politics.
Where money is spent
The second cause of the fall in universities’ public standing is increasing levels of doubt about how well universities are delivering value for students.
A host of high-profile issues have dented the reputation of universities in this area, but the watershed moment seems to have been the introduction of £9,000 fees in 2012. This has led to the value for money of a degree no longer being taken for granted. Wider concerns around student wellbeing have added to this sense, as has the recent focus on student debt. Looking to the future, these concerns play out in the context of an evolving labour market starting to be shaped by AI. Leading to questions on the purpose of higher education, which universities are not seen to have answered.
We can see this playing out politically at the moment with the rise in popularity of the Green Party, which has been garnering increased support from students and recent graduates. It suggests that where politicians do focus on higher education, it will likely be around supporting the finances of students or easing graduate debt – as illustrated by the government’s recent announcement on capping loan interest rates.
The final issue for the sector to reckon with is that higher education funding and reform is not seen as one of the most pressing priorities by policymakers. Every sector of the economy will be hard-pressed to receive government funds given the constrained public finances, but universities, we were told, are nowhere near the front of the queue.
Within DfE, schools will most often be the priority. More broadly, a convincing economic case must be made for public investment – an argument that universities have not yet landed. More striking, however, is how the financial plight of universities is seen to pale in comparison to that faced by local government or the justice system. In this context, one policymaker said to us that they have a “small violin” for the financial challenges facing universities.
The value of institutions
It is worth setting out these political headwinds, not to discourage advocacy for the value of universities, but to suggest that it may need a step change. These concerns are part of a wider political mood: one that no longer accepts the former political consensus on the value of many institutions, and that is demanding change. Universities are certainly not alone in facing increased scepticism. While many of our findings will be familiar to regular Wonkhe readers or followers of politics, we felt they are helpful to lay out in black and white as universities assess how to best engage with them.
In reflecting on these challenges, many of those we spoke to draw a clear conclusion that governments of any stripe are unlikely to aid universities in the way they would hope without seeing the sector set out a vision for change and show a willingness to deliver it. Waiting for help to arrive is unlikely to be fruitful. Universities, it was argued, would be better placed than government to lead this change, given both the complexity of higher education institutions and the importance of preserving autonomy.
On a positive note, this willingness to confront the need for change was reflected by Universities UK chief executive Vivienne Stern when she outlined the need for a “shared vision”, using key lessons drawn from the recent experience of US universities. The launch of UUK’s Future Universities campaign shows that perhaps the sector is ready to rise to the challenge.
