Dear all:If you are not sympathetic to the concerns of the Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU), please read no further. If you are, please read the following message and attachments, prepared by CDBU (and forwarded to me by Prof D Midgley (St Johns))...
Yours, Jeremy Butterfield, Trinity College -------British universities are currently facing two major threats. The well-known one is the prospect of Brexit, the other is the Higher Education and Research Bill, which was introduced to parliament in May and is due to receive its Second Reading in the House of Lords next Tuesday, 6 December.
In anticipation of that debate, the Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) has sent a brief statement to members of the Lords highlighting some of its main concerns about the effects the Bill will have if it passes into law unchanged. You will find that statement at the end of this message.
For those of you who share CDBUs interest in specific amendments that could be made to the Bill in order to mitigate its most drastic effects, I attach two documents which CDBU is also distributing to members of the Lords. One is a fuller briefing document that explains why certain amendments are called for and how they might be incorporated into the Bill. The other is a short paper by Prof Julia Black of the LSE, which argues for including in the Bill provisions for the adequate protection of academic freedom.
CDBU is a non-political association, which was established in 2012 solely for the purpose of�defending�academic values and the institutional arrangements best suited to fostering them. Further information about CDBU and its activities, together with its e-mail address for enquiries, can be found at http://cdbu.org.uk.
----- _We write to you as academics from leading Universities, concerned about the implications of the Higher Education and Research Bill. We worry in particular that it will reduce the quality of what is a world-leading sector for our economy and society.___ _The Government claims that this Bill is necessary to ensure that university courses provide students with "value for money", but we disagree for the following reasons:___ _ ___ _1. The Bill would transform the higher education system into one that is largely determined by market forces at the expense of quality. By weakening the conditions to be met by new "providers" in order to acquire degree awarding powers and university title, the Bill seeks to expand the number of competitors within the UK Higher Education market place to include new one-subject, teaching-only, "for-profit" organisations. As has happened in other countries, this is bound to lead to a reduction in quality. This risks putting off international students from attending what they currently view as high quality institutions in the UK and it also risks British students questioning the value of their degrees._ _ _ _2. The regulatory body it creates for teaching (the Office for Students) would carry so many responsibilities that they will conflict with each other, e.g. control of university income through limiting fees, maintaining teaching standards, validation of new HE providers, and widening participation. We fear such an unwieldy organisation will be unable to focus on what is most important: the quality of teaching and research. We believe that, in order to ensure quality of teaching in universities, the responsibility for quality assurance and the validation of courses should be transferred to an independent body separate from the Office for Students. ___ _ ___ _3. By replacing the Privy Councils role, the Bill gives the Government powers to override the Royal Charter status of universities and Research Councils, and powers to undermine academic freedom and the autonomy of individual universities directly. Universities and the Higher Education Sector collectively are running an internationally respected system. Such sweeping changes make no sense. The Government argues that they would never intervene in ways that would restrict freedom. So why do they insist on such powers? ___ _ ____4. The system of rating universities established in the Bill which will automatically create the impression that a proportion of
Universities are failing regardless of actual performance - will jeopardise the excellent international reputation of British higher education as a whole. International students will be put off from applying to apparently failing institutions and British students will question whether their degree is going to be worth anything to potential future employers. ___ _ ___ _We do not write to you lightly. We believe this Bill could have seriously damaging effects on the quality of teaching and research in our Universities. We urge you to take a close look at this Bill as it comes to the House of Lords for a Second Reading on 6th December and to Committee Stage. ___ _ ___
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