AS A county with many people employed in the higher education sector, many households should be concerned about the Higher Education and Research Bill.

This bill pre-dates the leave vote in the EU referendum. Apart from the potential cuts in EU-origin research funding that should be exercising our new government, there is the problem of how many students from the EU will decide to study in places other than the UK, given widely publicised increases in racism here and the strong possibility of larger tuition fees which are a part of the Higher Education and Research Bill.

I am worried about the impact which further marketisation of higher education will have on the quality of our universities and colleges. I don’t feel that encouraging more private, forprofit providers and raising tuition fees are the best ways to drive up quality; in fact, I believe that these will deliver worse outcomes and value for students, employers and taxpayers. Oxford Brookes is guaranteeing no rise in fees for EU students in the immediate future, but under a government unsympathetic to broad access of people to HE it is possible the government may push up tuition fees, excluding poorer groups.

Although the government’s focus in the bill on teaching quality is welcome, the measures proposed in the bill and white paper will not improve quality unless action is taken to ensure that staff are secure and well-supported in their jobs. If the government does not commit more public funds to our universities, then the many skills shortages this country already has will get worse and we will lose a considerable number of jobs at all levels in the higher education sector.

STEVE DAWE
County Press Officer
Oxfordshire Green Party