Facing the challenges of a rapidly changing world
By Barry Sheerman MP, Labour and Co-operative member of Parliament for Huddersfield
The last enquiry my Education and Skills Select Committee undertook on Higher Education was one that attempted to evaluate the international market in the sector and the UK’s ability to remain a leading global player in an increasingly competitive environment. We concluded that our universities were robustly competitive and widely respected and admired, but that there was no room for complacency in a fast developing situation.
Imprinted on my memory is a conversation with a senior Chinese Academic who had worked in Britain. He was deeply envious of the breadth and depth of our university system and what he called our “higher education culture”. He asked me what I thought would be the impact if overnight our universities ceased to exist. A nightmare scenario indeed, but one, which forced our Committee to think very seriously about the increasingly vital strategic role of the sector in 21st Century Britain.
How essential are our universities to our towns, cities and regions and to our country? The stats take us a little way towards the answer, 133 universities, 170,000 directly employed staff and an expenditure of £25billion. This however tells us very little about the huge impact these institutions have on the communities in which they sit. They are frequently, as in my own constituency, the single largest employer in the town and their spend in the local area and in the wider region is significant indeed.
So here we are with universities central not only to understanding a changing world economy but also operating in an environment where power and influence is shifting before our eyes from West to East.
Direct and indirect employment is substantial, but we should not underrate the high skills of university staff and the impact this has on the local economy and social fabric of the community. Some aspects of the influence of a university may be less easy to calibrate, but it is clear that well led institutions are major players in the economic and social affairs of the region and are often relied upon not only for information, knowledge and wisdom, but also for strategic leadership and much more.
To set this wider role in context we must see the HE sector in the light of the rapidly changing world we live in. Globally the fruits of innovation, technology, information and communication have meant a dramatic decline in the numbers employed in manufacturing. The UK remains a wealthy country, with the sixth largest economy measured by GDP, seventh by purchasing power parity and has the third biggest economy in Europe. However like most of our competitors automation has meant we require far fewer people to produce the goods we need. The job opportunities still exist in manufacturing but the demand is increasingly for those with very high levels of skills. The role of universities is critical in providing the high quality personnel vital to the success of major employers as well as the increasingly important emerging small and medium start¬up businesses.
As the economy develops and rapidly transforms itself we look increasingly to the universities to help us understand these changes, what exactly is happening? What challenges do we now face? How do we overcome them? In the health sector alone the changing demographic, longer life and new treatments and technologies demand the highest of medical management and technical skills. In the broader educational sphere we need highly trained professionals at every stage from early years through to school, college and beyond. Health and education are traditionally viewed as part of a broad public sector and the turbulence in the manufacturing sector is replicated here too. The lines between public and private are in flux and it is to the university that we will look to provide the expertise we need.
So here we are with universities central not only to understanding a changing world economy but also operating in an environment where power and influence is shifting before our eyes from West to East. This is a world threatened by international financial instability, global warming and climate change and by unprecedented global population mobility. Our university community now has a clear responsibility not only to help us understand the problems but also to find the appropriate levels of response.
These challenges are what we have to live with. They are not remote from our communities and regions and they will shape our lives increasingly urgently. Without the help of our universities we have no hope of surviving and thriving. To tackle the ghastly regional imbalance of our country where London and the South East increasingly resemble a different more affluent country we need high quality research to inform our politicians. In order to identify the relevant skills required to support green shoot industry, to give support to SME’s that struggle to grow and to identify and support entrepreneurs we need our universities more than ever.
At the same time we rely on these same universities to ensure that we educate our people to be fully-fledged responsible citizens fit to play an active part in a mature democracy. Much has been made in recent months of the concept of localism and the Big Society.
Without a leading role for our universities I see little chance of achieving a meaningful realisation of these goals, or for the good and just society we might also aspire to.
The big question then remains. Is the sector too complacent, and is it fit for purpose? Like all systems some elements of Higher Education, are better than others and we would be foolish to deny it. Some are reluctant to commit wholeheartedly to the active strategic leadership role that I believe their communities and their regions deserve and must do better. The sector as a whole is indeed robustly competitive but there remains a clear imperative for more creative partnerships, strategic thinking and relentless effort.
Barry Sheerman MP is the Labour and Co¬operative member of Parliament for Huddersfield. He currently Chairs the Skills Commission, has extensive experience in educational issues and played a key role in education policy and debates.
