Commons select committee turns spotlight on HE sector

The Commons select committee on education is likely to launch what could be its first inquiry into higher education.

"One of the scandals about Parliament is that the select committee on education - which I now have the privilege to chair - has not held an inquiry into higher education, either ever or for many, many years," Malcolm Wicks told a gathering of the Southern Universities Management Services last week. "I would not count on that remaining the case."

Mr Wicks identified several issues worthy of focus: the quality of teaching; the balance between teaching and research; short-term research contracts; and the provision of lifelong learning.

"We have tuition fees," he said. "If I was a student today being asked to finance my higher education, I might be a more critical consumer of the product. So I think we are going to become more interested in the quality of teaching."

Mr Wicks also said that he was unhappy with the status of teaching compared with research: "For too long, teaching in universities has been the poor relation to research."

Nevertheless, the state of research funding was also identified as a concern. "In terms of research funding and effectiveness, are we moving too much towards project funding?" Mr Wicks asked. "I am sure we are in social science - too many highly skilled academics chasing research funds on nine-month or one-year contracts."

He also referred to the role that universities and colleges could play in lifelong learning. "One would ask whether it makes sense for so many weeks of the year, in terms of teaching, to have our universities empty of students and turning themselves into conference centres?" Mr Wicks's comments were echoed by Lord Dearing. "People in work who need to be involved (in lifelong learning) want to be using your facilities on Saturdays and Sundays and at nights," he said.

Lord Dearing pointed to the global market for higher education. "We are talking about a new mass market for lifelong learning provided by institutions without walls, institutions looking for a world market, looking for the economies of scale that come from mass collaboration in producing, maintaining and revising world-class learning materials," he said.