The long-awaited analysis of the HE White Paper was published today. Its long gestation allowed authors John Thompson and Bahram Bekhradnia the time to cast their net very widely and speak to many colleagues across the sector and Government. This has enabled them to provide the most thorough analysis of the White Paper to date – it is also the most accurate reflection of what a substantial amount of people in the sector think about the consequences of the Government’s policies, having had the time to assess the effects on their own institutions.
HEPI support the now deeply felt belief in many parts of the sector that if implemented, the White Paper’s proposals will create a new binary divide. One group of institutions charging up to £9,000 and another group charging up to £7,5000. The binary divide then being noticed particularly at the point of teaching delivery, where the difference in unit of resource will be starkly felt by students. This view has had a foothold in the psyche of the sector since the White Paper’s publication. But the first response of many was to assume these were ‘unintended consequences’. However what has become abundantly clear is that these are a carefully thought-through set of polices whose consequences are very deliberate indeed.
Sometimes it’s easier to believe that the Government is merely incompetent. It can be a comfort, in fact. It’s time to understand that this Government is interested in radical reform of higher education, as they are in every part of life in the UK – I have written on the subject much over the past six months. And the question still remains; how do we respond?
You can download all of HEPI’s documents including supporting data on their website here.
