Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
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David Willetts’s keynote speech on international higher education
In a keynote speech to the Goldman Sachs-Stanford University Global Education Conference, Universities and Science Minister David Willetts said: "Across the world more and more people aspire to higher education. It is a growth sector in mature economies and developing countries. The questions we all wrestle with are how we pay for it and how we deliver it.
"In the UK, we are expecting graduates to contribute
more than in the past to the costs of their education but
crucially no one has to pay upfront. There are publicly-financed
loans that do not have to be repaid until the graduate finds
reasonably paid employment, as well as grants and scholarships for
those from poorer households. But today I wish to set what we are
doing in the UK within the wider international debate.
"Many people are sceptical about enabling more
people to attend university. But the evidence on the benefits of
higher education is overwhelming. It is good for the individual,
good for the economy and good for society.
"That list of benefits is a crucial clue that helps
us answer the question of how to pay. It has to be a mixed model.
We in Britain have developed what I think is one of most balanced
models. In fact, OECD figures suggest our reforms shift from
having 60 per cent of the costs covered by the taxpayer and 40 per
cent by the graduate to 40 per cent by the taxpayer and 60 per
cent by the graduate. The Dearing report and the Browne report
both recommended this sort of approach and all three of our
political parties have come to income-contingent loans when faced
with dilemma of how to pay for higher education. It remains
controversial but it is here to stay. Indeed, models like ours are
beginning to be floated here in California.
"It is no accident that our student finance reforms
are happening at a time of fiscal restraint. But they are not
just, or even primarily about, saving money. They also deliver
wider reform. Substantial public finance is delivered via the
student rather than the funding agency. So we can liberate
universities from the hidden regulation that comes with the power
of the purse and instead have more limited but explicit
regulations. In many key ways, our institutions are freer than
those here in US, where state power can determine admission
arrangements or the mission of an individual college, as it does
here in California.
"As part of this approach, we are liberalising
student number controls. This year, universities can recruit as
many students as they wish who achieve AAB in their A-Levels. Next
year, it will be ABB. That means one-third of entry places are no
longer subject to distribution from the centre.
"The objective of all our changes is a better
academic experience for students. Our world-class research base
has long benefitted from intense managed competition but sharper
incentives are overdue to improve student teaching.
"We are serious about supply-side reform. Those who
are churlish about this forget that many of our universities
started as alternative providers challenging Oxbridge dominance by
offering something different often with support from local
councils and local businesses. Those alternative providers were
dismissed at the time - the new University College London was
denounced when it was set up as a "mere
lecture-bazaar" and now it is one do the world's
great universities. Now we are once more opening up our system to
a wider range of providers that can take on students with public
loan support.
"There are many ways an alternative provider can
enter our system. We welcome new start ups, and international
institutions with experience abroad. Or an existing university
might set up a commercial subsidiary aimed for example at the
overseas market. The current transformation of the College of Law
is another example of what can be done provided of course
charitable funds are protected. I envisage a wider range of
providers with a particular focus on teaching, or concentrating on
the efficient delivery of licences to practise, or focussing on
distance learning.
"So far, this issue has been approached largely as a
domestic issue but higher education is at the early stages of
globalisation. There are middle income nations such as Indonesia,
Turkey or Brazil with a surge in the number of young people. They
are looking to a massive and rapid expansion of higher education.
Educating citizens to a higher level is the crucial challenge for
any nation that wishes to modernise. British higher education can
work with them to achieve this. This is an opportunity we must
take. It contributes to the growth of education abroad and is a
great British export industry.
”We have excellent universities. We have a regulatory system
with the QAA which gives confidence in our academic standards. And
of course there is the advantage of teaching in English.
"Our higher education sector is becoming more
international in four ways. It applies to institutions and to
people. And it involves movement in and out of Britain. So first
there is the increasing presence of international providers in UK.
Secondly, British institutions are planting deep roots overseas.
Thirdly, there are growing numbers of overseas students who choose
to study in the UK. And fourthly more British students opt to go
and study abroad. All these trends are evidence that higher
education is going global. And that is a good thing as students
broaden their experience and successful institutions move away
from the confines of a single campus.
"As the Government focuses on growth there are few
sectors of our economy with the capacity to grow and generate
export earnings as great as higher education. Every overseas
student on average pays fees of about £10,000 a year and spends
almost as much whilst they are here. That means 400,000 overseas
students bring in almost £8 billion a year. They make a big
contribution to the economies of cities like Bradford or Exeter or
Manchester as well as London of course, one of the
world's great centres for international education. It is
because we recognise their importance that there is no cap on the
number of legitimate overseas students coming to study in Britain.
"Our universities are internationally-recognised:
they are a great British brand. We can do more to take advantage
of our position. Our universities are well-financed for what they
do but under-financed for big expansion. I want to see investors
from Britain and abroad helping our universities access these big
overseas markets. I know that companies like Goldman Sachs who
have organised this conference today are keen to investigate this possibility.
"Overseas students travelling to the UK to study is
just one way we can grow. Last year 400,000 overseas students came
to the UK to study. But for the first time this was exceeded by
the record 500,000 people who benefitted from British higher
education whilst living abroad. They can do this in many ways.
They might study at an overseas campus of a British university.
The degrees of British institutions, most notably the University
of London, are taught in local colleges all over the world -
Nelson Mandela took his London degree whilst imprisoned on Robben
Island. And of course there is distance learning too through
institutions like the Open University. Here in the US this week I
have been struck by the surge of activity in distance learning.
Professor Agarwal President of Edx, a not for profit set up
jointly by Harvard and MIT, told me of his ambition to getting a
billion students across the world studying online. Here on the
West Coast social enterprises like Coursera spun off from Stanford
are similarly ambitious. We may be at a tipping point in distance
learning as technology offers more efficient and more effective
ways of learning than ever before. British higher education must
not be left behind.
"We are fortunate to have a world-class higher
education sector. It is deeply worthwhile in its own right. It
transforms the lives and life chances of British students. But in
these tough economic times we should also recognise it is one of
our great export industries too. The bold new steps we are taking
on student finance and opening up to alternative providers brings
together two of this Government's key objectives -
education reform and our growth strategy.”
Notes to editors 1. The Government's economic
policy objective is to achieve 'strong, sustainable and
balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and
between industries.' It set four ambitions in the ‘Plan
for Growth’ (PDF 1.7MB), published at Budget 2011:
To create the most competitive tax system in the G20;To make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business;To encourage investment and exports as a route to a more balanced economy;To create a more educated workforce that is the most flexible in Europe
Work is underway across Government to achieve these ambitions,
including progress on more than 250 measures as part of the Growth
Review. Developing an Industrial Strategy gives new impetus to
this work by providing businesses, investors and the public with
more clarity about the long-term direction in which the Government
wants the economy to travel.
2. BIS's online newsroom contains the latest press
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also features an up to date list of BIS press office contacts. See
http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom
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Contacts:
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