It’s easy to forget ministers are not all cut from the same cloth. Take the wonkish David Willetts (2010-14). He mapped out a massive university reform programme in opposition to bust open the HE market which crystallised in office around the Browne Review. Or Jo Johnson (2015-18), who oversaw a second wave of market and regulatory reform. He wanted to leave a legacy of systemic change which can’t be unpicked easily – taking Willetts’ policies to their logical end. And Sam Gyimah?
Frankly, there are questions about his engagement, knowledge and, frankly, his interest in HE.
On the one hand, unlike both his predecessors, he doesn’t have Green Papers, White Papers or significant Bills to front. The post-18 review is ongoing. OfS and UKRI are being set up. The heavy lifting is done and he has no new policy to flog.
On the other-hand, Gyimah sees this job as a stepping stone into Cabinet. He sees himself, potentially, as a future Prime Minister. So, like dozens of other ministers, his strategy is to furnish his CV for the next reshuffle post-Brexit (indeed, a new administration) in spring or early summer 2019 – to wit: his speech recently on “reinvigorating capitalism” to the right-wing Centre for Policy Studies.
So Gyimah’s #SamOnCampus tour is built to win brownie points with Tory powers-that-be, showing him listening to young people, particularly on mental health, while taking the fight to Labour on its own turf.
It’s smart positioning to be a self-styled consumer champion, what with “the winds of change” blowing through HE; this being the “The Age of the Student”; and branding himself “The Minister for Students” – all memorable lines so far.
And it is useful to be seen taking on vested interests by telling universities to stop sulking over Brexit or slamming unconditional offers, grade inflation, senior pay or courses with low graduate salaries.
Gyimah may have told vice chancellors he “loved” universities and degrees “are worth it” in his speech to UUK this month but the truth is that he has never sought leaders’, academics’ or students’ approval. Brexit, onwards and upwards, appears to be what’s on his mind.