Wonkhe’s Mark Leach has published the weekly Monday Brief highlighting what appears to be certainties to expect from the awaited Green Paper and Comprehensive Spending Review. These certainties confirm concerns that many within the HE sector have been speculating, and will alter the HE landscape as we know it. The Government’s aim to simplify the HE system, make it more transparent and more accessible, make universities more accountable, and also open up the system further, all point to the increasing marketisation of Higher Education. With the inevitable on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how HEIs respond to their changing role within the market system.
As for what to expect, Wonkhe states that existing quangos and research bodies will be amalgamated into two new bodies, one to act as an HE regulator and the other a research funder. How these new centres will disrupt the current relational and power dynamics within the sector is unsettling, as the Government’s critical mass strategy of creating larger bodies responsible for more tasks, met with less financial support, will place further pressure on already existing financial concerns the HE sector is facing.
Also, the Teaching Excellence Framework will be revealed, however the exact understanding of how it will function and work will have to wait, as it will continue to undergo consultation and pilot tests during its implementation. The relationship between teaching excellence and raising fees continues to be a contentious issue.
Both the slashing of HE quangos and the introduction of the TEF are enough to rattle the HE landscape, however speculation suggests that the Green Paper will have plenty of other changes that we have yet to hear about.
The proposed changes will require primary legislation, so we can expect variations in what the Government intends to implement versus what actually materialises.