• About Us
    • About Wonkhe
    • Our subscriptions
    • People
    • Our partners
    • Pitch an article
    • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Latest
    • Explore the whole archive
    • Podcasts
    • Data
    • Wonkhe research
    • Long reads
    • Analysis
    • Comment
    • Wonk Corner
  • Jobs
    • Live jobs
    • Jobs posting & prices
  • Subscription
    • Our subscriptions
    • Wonkhe Pass
    • Wonkhe Mondays
    • Wonkhe Daily
    • Wonkhe SUs
    • Policy Update
  • SUs
    • SUs HOME
    • SUs LOGIN
    • ADD NEW SUs USER
    • COST OF LIVING HUB
    • BRIEFINGS INDEX
    • WEBINAR INDEX
    • LATEST SUs BLOGS
    • FREE SPEECH
    • SU STRATEGIES
  • icon-comments 5
  • About Us
    • About Wonkhe
    • Our subscriptions
    • People
    • Our partners
    • Pitch an article
    • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Latest
    • Explore the whole archive
    • Podcasts
    • Data
    • Wonkhe research
    • Long reads
    • Analysis
    • Comment
    • Wonk Corner
  • Jobs
    • Live jobs
    • Jobs posting & prices
  • Subscription
    • Our subscriptions
    • Wonkhe Pass
    • Wonkhe Mondays
    • Wonkhe Daily
    • Wonkhe SUs
    • Policy Update
  • SUs
    • SUs HOME
    • SUs LOGIN
    • ADD NEW SUs USER
    • COST OF LIVING HUB
    • BRIEFINGS INDEX
    • WEBINAR INDEX
    • LATEST SUs BLOGS
    • FREE SPEECH
    • SU STRATEGIES
This article is more than 3 years old
by Shân Wareing
Comment
27/01/20

Wicked problems: universities have lost public confidence – here’s how we get it back

Universities have failed to make the public case for higher education, argue Shân Wareing and Jonathan Grant. A new social compact between universities and society is what's needed.
This article is more than 3 years old
by Shân Wareing
Comment
27/01/20
scales-like-dislike
Image: Ikon
Shan-Wearing-Headshot_04282014_016LOW-RES 3
Shan-Wearing-Headshot_04282014_016LOW-RES 3

Shân Wareing

Pro Vice Chancellor, London South Bank University

by David Morris
staff
24/04/17

Shân Wareing is Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Northampton

grant_jonathan
grant_jonathan

Jonathan Grant

Contributing Editor, Wonkhe

by
staff
27/11/17

Jonathan Grant is director of Different Angles and a contributing editor of Wonkhe

Tags

  • Politics
  • public engagement
  • Value
  • Wicked Problems
Shân Wareing

Shân Wareing is Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Northampton

Tags

  • Politics
  • public engagement
  • Value
  • Wicked Problems

Jonathan Grant

Jonathan Grant is director of Different Angles and a contributing editor of Wonkhe

Five ways to reclaim universities’ influence and reputation in 2020

Shân Wareing, University of Northampton

“The challenge for universities is to maintain general respect and avoid sinking to a position where people see the value of their nearest university but question the value of higher education as a whole” said Nick Hillman in December 2019.

How to meet this challenge is an important question as we start 2020. The government’s spending review and Augar response, and Brexit, are waiting in the wings, with the possibility of reduced fee and research income, while universities struggle to contain the rising costs of pensions and face the prospect of increasingly being evaluated based on the earnings of their graduates.

The work universities do is so self-evidently of value to those who work within them in ways that include graduate salaries but go far beyond individuals’ earnings, that we seem to struggle to understand how we could be perceived less favourably by taxpayers, parents, employers and policymakers.

But pick up almost any newspaper on almost any day, and it will show that repeatedly in recent years we seem to have failed to make the case to our communities and our media. And occasionally, we’ve scored own goals by appearing insular, privileged and self-serving.

What will drive improved status and influence of the higher education sector in 2020? Collectively, we need to look outwards and focus more on our common agendas than what separates us. We should aim to develop holistic financial solutions to the challenges of post-compulsory education in the UK, brokering solutions to how to fund FE and HE, rather than robbing Peter to pay Paul, and exacerbating divisions.

When we lobby government and influencers, it needs to be about what we can do for them, not what they should do for us. Fortunately, what universities can do for government is a long and vibrant list.

First, we need to emphasise consistently that higher education is key to future economic growth and global competitiveness, to sustaining local economies and revitalising regions. We support start-ups, SMEs, public sector and large corporates; we need to prepare for meeting the needs of businesses facing different opportunities and challenges post-Brexit.

Second, we need to focus on the contribution universities make to solving global “wicked” problems, such as how we drive progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, meet the challenges of sustainability and climate crisis, contribute to Industrial Revolution 4.0 including artificial intelligence, automation, big data, and communications technology, and finding solutions to the impact these will have on business models in industry and employment, including what follows from the effect they have on reducing entry-level jobs; we must show the scale and value of our contribution to all aspects of health provision through education and research.

Third, we have to be nimble in providing solutions to immediate PR problems, by being able to swiftly respond to prominent agendas in the news which put the government under pressure.

Fourth, we need to appreciate the “hidden agendas” of voting patterns. Political parties don’t talk publicly about the need to sustain and create future voters but that doesn’t mean it’s not a driver for policy decisions. For the Conservatives, this means an anxiety that voters educated to degree level and beyond are less likely to vote Conservative; this concern to create future voters needs to be understood and navigated by the sector.

Fifth, we need to design solutions for costs and budgets of UK post-compulsory education as a whole, FE, HE, and workplace training and development. We need others to speak for us: employer and industry leaders to celebrate our research for industrial competitiveness; SMEs to talk about the knowledge transfer benefits of working with universities, individuals telling their stories about how their university enabled them to fulfil their aspirations for career fulfilment and security for their families.

If we want to shape our future over the coming parliamentary term and advance our agendas of developing knowledge to address global problems and transforming lives and communities, then we need to set aside divergent interests to collaborate for our collective influence and viability.

It’s time to renew the social contract between universities and society

Jonathan Grant, King’s College, London

Universities have been friendless for some time and this has largely been deserved because, as a sector, we have lost sight of our purpose and values. It is not a coincidence that in the General Election the Conservative vote increased in areas with the lowest number of graduates. If the current government wants to keep these new voters, universities are likely to remain politically friendless unless they radically and rapidly renew their social contract to be relevant to all communities in the UK and beyond.

So how do we address this wicked problem?

First, there should be an unrelenting commitment to increase higher education participation rates, as Nick Hillman has suggested on a number of occasions, to 80 per cent. To achieve this increase, universities need to take on broader responsibility for systems of education in the same way they have for health through the Academic Health Science Centres. This will mean not only sponsoring primary and secondary schools but also partnering, and in some cases merging, with further education colleges.

Second, research that has a local impact needs to be incentivised and rewarded. Last summer, I did a small piece of analysis of the 2014 REF impact case studies to assess which universities had the highest local impact – top of this league table was the University of Huddersfield and the University of Bradford. With the greatest respect to these institutions, they typically do not sit at the top of any university rankings, which indicates how we undervalue the local research impact of universities.

Third, universities need to use their buying power to maximise their social value. This means buying locally, purchasing from and contracting social enterprises, and ensuring that all parts of their supply chain operate in a socially responsible way. A simple ambition would be for all universities in the UK to pay the Living Wage by the end of 2020. It is shameful that (as of August 2019) only 38 universities are currently accredited with the Living Wage Foundation, which means that over 100 universities are not.

Ultimately it is up to universities to seize this challenge, renew their social contract and make meaningful contributions to all communities in 2020.

Share

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • icon-comments 5
  • icon-share

Share

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

ai event side AI side ad

Wonkhe_Avalanche_HEAI_Website_Column_1000x1680
Wonkhe_Avalanche_HEAI_Website_Column_1000x1680

AI side ad

The avalanche is here
by Mark Leach
featured message
19/03/23

post list Latest articles

qwerty
Image: Midjourney

Elite access is as much about teachers as it is about students

by Hannah Rolley
Comment
30/03/23
Wonkhe-Postdoc-blackboard
Image: Shutterstock

We need to talk about postdoc career development

by James Howard
Comment
30/03/23
wonkhe-access-risk
Image: Shutterstock

OfS’ new approach to regulating access and participation

by Team Wonkhe
Policy Watch
29/03/23
Wonkhe-Black-Swan
Image: Shutterstock

Can universities be honest with OfS about external risks to access and participation?

by Jim Dickinson
Comment
29/03/23
Shutterstock_2111025026
Image: Shutterstock

Making investment zones work

by James Coe
Comment
29/03/23
Shutterstock_645507274
Image: Shutterstock

Ambitious recommendations for student mental health in Wales

by Michael Salmon
Policy Watch
29/03/23
Wonkhe-malign-influencers
Image: Shutterstock

Influencers’ views can have a detrimental impact on higher education culture

by Gemma McCall
Comment
28/03/23
Wonkhe-Not-Fitting-In-Jigsaw
Image: Shutterstock

Why an identity clash means practitioners can struggle as academics

by Jacqueline Baxter
Comment
28/03/23
Wonkhe-tiny-cars
Image: Shutterstock

Regulatory burden could clog the lifelong learning revolution

by Rachel Sandby-Thomas
Comment
27/03/23
Wonkhe-Train-Viaduct
Image: Shutterstock

Is everyone onboard the journey to a million?

by David Kernohan
Comment
27/03/23

5 responses to “Wicked problems: universities have lost public confidence – here’s how we get it back”

  1. Kim says:
    Jan 27 2020 at 9:00 am

    Great articles by Shan and Jonathan today stressing the need for action in articulating our value as a sector #letstalkvalue #purpose beyond financial #socialcapital #humancapital #intellectualcapital

    Reply
  2. Steve says:
    Jan 27 2020 at 10:11 am

    We can’t leave grade inflation out of this. Some universities are doubling or even near trebling the proportion of Firsts that they award, in the space of less than a decade. Much of that rise is “unexplained”, as the Office for Students puts it. How can the public have confidence in Higher Education Providers if a fundamental measure of HE provision is badly broken?

    As of last year, the data about classification of degree awarded at graduation has been removed from the unistats dataset. When I asked OfS why that data has been removed, I was told that it was in part because publishing it might encourage HEPs to behave in a way that is “undesirable”. Presumably that means getting a bit giddy with the number of Firsts and 2:1s they hand out.

    It is hard to see how public trust in universities is going to be repaired while the OfS thinks that the data about grades is so unreliable and/or inflammatory as to need to be hidden from public view.

    Reply
  3. Paul Woodgates says:
    Jan 28 2020 at 9:17 am

    “When we lobby government and influencers, it needs to be about what we can do for them, not what they should do for us. Fortunately, what universities can do for government is a long and vibrant list.”

    Absolutely! Too often universities have been perceived either as pleading for favourable treatment in public funding (when, in the public consciousness, others have a better claim) or as defending their past record and achievements. Both risk coming across as defensive and self-serving. We need to create a sector narrative that is about the future and sets out the critical and unique role that universities can play in societal change, solving the big challenges of our age, and fulfilment of potential.

    Reply
  4. Sarah Cowley says:
    Jan 28 2020 at 12:16 pm

    Shan and Jonathan allude to the need for universities to embrace collaboration in new ways. Gone are the days when universities will win the arguments by standing apart as an elite. Whilst as institutions, there is a long tradition of working with others, successful collaborations today which address our wicked problems may come from the unlikeliest of alliances. We need to seek out new partners; ways of engaging and collaborating, breaking down the traditional barriers, in particular those which embed us in the social fabric of society.

    Reply
  5. Pingback: Universidades e a confiança pública • Metricas.edu

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Related articles

Shutterstock_1222975951
Image: Shutterstock

Bye Bye BEIS

by James Coe
Comment
7/02/23
Where,Is,My,Money.,Closeup,Portrait,Of,Shocked,,Surprised,,Speechless
Image: Shutterstock

The public supports universities and students more than we think

by Jim Dickinson
Comment
2/02/23
Shutterstock_1466867492
Image: Shutterstock

The great north run away

by Charlie Jeffery
Comment
31/01/23
building-head
Image: Ikon

Why Labour should prioritise tertiary reform over tuition fees

by Andy Westwood
Comment
23/01/23

Podcast: Drugs, year ahead, study tour

by Team Wonkhe
Podcasts
13/01/23
Water cooler
Image: Shutterstock

Conversations on campus – what higher education will be talking about in 2023

by Team Wonkhe
Comment
9/01/23
shutterstock_154997081
Image: Shutterstock

Graduate tax gets floated, and shot down again, all in one morning

by Jim Dickinson
Comment
13/12/22
Wonkhe-Willow-Pattern-broken
Image: Shutterstock

Still the China question

by Jo Johnson
Comment
28/11/22

Copyright © 2023 Wonkhe Ltd.

Company Number: 08784934

Wonkhe Ltd, Lower Third Floor Evelyn Suite, Quantum House,

22-24 Red Lion Court, London, United Kingdom, EC4A 3EB

  • Moderation policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Moderation policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Wonkhe Mondays

By submitting you agree to our terms and conditions

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.