EmailThe government must hold a debate on the future of higher education in the UK before it moves any further towards an Americanised elitist system, the House of Lords has heard.
Addressing the National Conference of University Professors in the House of Lords last night, Lady Margaret Sharp, the Liberal Democrats education spokesperson, said the government's moves to raise the cap on student fees and effectively create an elitist system were "interesting". But she bemoaned the government "pushing us in this direction without any debate".
Lady Sharp warned that privatising the UK HE sector along the lines of the US higher education model would not mean an end to the public funding of universities, and the system would inevitably be hierarchical.
"But it's not just ivy league universities in the US. There are vast numbers of universities that range in size and quality."
The "willy nilly" route the government is pushing would increase diversity but the system would inevitably become hierarchical, she said.
"This has happened in America. If we look around the world in many senses the best system is the American one. They do fantastic research and have a flexible system for all students that meets the needs of the individual much better than the UK. The downside of it is that at the top end it's marvellous but we should be aware of the fact that only 2% of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds go to Harvard and Yale. Oxford and Cambridge are models by ivy league standards."
Baroness Sharp said there was pressure to lift the cap on student top up fees to allow universities to charge "what they will".
"That's fine but I think we should be aware of the route that this is taking British universities. In effect, we are moving into the American model of universities. If we take the cap off we will have some universities charging £15,000 or more a year and hopefully they will be able to raise funds for other (less well-off) students.
"US states subsidise colleges and if we move down this model we will still have the state paying for colleges," she said. "We may find ourselves confronted by the worst of all systems if the government doesn't keep its nit-picking fingers out. The great danger is we will get this [privatised] elitist model and the government will still be telling us what we should be doing. It's essential that the government changes its stance and trusts academics to get on with it.
"We need to discuss and be clearer about where we are going," she said. "It seems to me that the key issue that dominates what's happening is this issue of globalisation and as a country we can no longer live by brawn and have to live by brain."
