The Guardian, The green paper is coming – get ready for another numbers game
‘The green paper is coming…and Universities are bracing themselves for some of the most disruptive changes to higher education for more than 20 years’! Many of us in the HE sector have our ears glued to the ground waiting for a tremor signing the news of change. What quangos will be buried? How will we fund research? Who will our new competitors be? There are endless questions, and plenty of uncertainties.
Are we, ironically, as hubs of innovation, research and vision, scared of change? Are we the old fossils, too inflexible, to cope with necessary change to sustain relevance in the 21st century? The Guardian’s article is interesting because it asks one simple question: what are we (or they?) trying to fix? And who is responsible of fixing it? What, in short, is the change for?
Another article published today is from Julie Vassilatos of Chicago, and presents a view which might indirectly answer whether we are scared of change, or not. She mentions change coming to schools, ‘…from people who may not know the least little thing about education, or pedagogy, or teachers, or children, but who bring expertise in disruption, cost-cutting, and complex financial deals…’ Perhaps those of us in HE are concerned that these structural and institutional changes are driven by financial concerns, rather than informed decisions that have the sector’s health, capability and efficiency at heart. Jo Johnson suggesting that those who are resistant to change are those that want to retain some sort of privileged comfort blanket, simultaneously disregards those resistant to change because they want to retain some sort of HE values and principles.
Yesterday we saw thousands of students are supporters on the streets of London standing up for their belief in free education. While most services in a market-based economy need to generate financial sustenance, there are some – such as HE – which need to ensure profit is not their primary objective. Higher Education is for the public good, but also contributes incredibly to the UK society and economy. Perhaps the HE community – rather than being resistant to change – is resistant to these principles being forgotten in the writings of change.