Jo Johnson is a new entrant this year having been propelled into the limelight as Universities and Science Minister after last year’s General Election. On his appointment, the sector was initially pleased that a well-connected and wonkish politician was chosen to represent them in government. Johnson is a former journalist and spent much of the Cameron years in the No. 10 policy unit. However, few anticipated the zeal to which he would take forward a series of reforms to universities that are still now only in their early stages. University leaders were hoping (and lobbying) for some regulatory reform and the government to tie up the loose ends from the Coalition. What they got was a root and branch review of the system, including the introduction of the paradigm-shifting TEF (and it’s much maligned link to tuition fees) which has been dominating the policy debate since the Green Paper landed a year ago.
Clearly ambitious, but now cutting a slightly lonelier figure in Whitehall having to divide his time between two departments and having been stripped of his own Special Adviser in the reshuffle, his legacy will take many years to adequately assess. In the mean-time, he will be judged on his ability to resist Theresa May and Amber Rudd’s mindless assault on universities’ ability to recruit international students and to ensure the government delivers the best possible deal for universities and science in the Brexit negotiations.