tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/he-white-paper-2016-27533/articlesHE white paper 2016 – The Conversation2016-06-09T10:19:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/600312016-06-09T10:19:13Z2016-06-09T10:19:13ZPower to the students: how the nature of higher education is changing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125740/original/image-20160608-3509-718bty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Kneschke/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A large majority of UK undergraduates are satisfied with their university course, according to the results of an annual survey of 15,000 full-time students. But the <a href="http://www.hepi.ac.uk/2016/06/09/students-demand-better-value-money-nine-10-students-not-want-higher-fees/">2016 student academic experience survey</a> found perceptions of “good value for money” are in decline, indicating that students are becoming more demanding. </p>
<p>This year, only 37% of students felt they get value for money at their university, compared to 53% in 2012. And 86% do not want to see higher student fees, even where an excellent experience can be demonstrated.</p>
<p>Measuring the student experience is a central theme in the Conservative government’s new higher education <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523546/bis-16-265-success-as-a-knowledge-economy-web.pdf">white paper</a>, where students are regarded as consumers. The proposed reforms include the creation of a new industry regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), with a remit to act in the interests of students by ensuring competition and choice as well as assessing quality and standards across higher education. </p>
<p>But the reforms go much deeper than merely rebranding a sector agency – they involve several serious measures designed to give students, as consumers, much greater control.</p>
<h2>Putting excellence into practice</h2>
<p>This can be seen in the creation of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/teaching-excellence-framework">Teaching Excellence Framework</a> (TEF), which will give more power to consumers by helping applicants make a more informed choice. The TEF results seek to provide comparable information on the quality of teaching at different universities, which has not been available in the past. </p>
<p>Asking universities to report on the quality of their teaching, the support they offer students and the employability of their graduates not only provides information for consumers, it also encourages universities to make performing well on these issues a much higher priority. </p>
<p>Following consultation on a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-teaching-excellence-framework-will-work-50323">green paper</a>, the full TEF has been moved back one year to allow lessons to be learned from a pilot year. Allowing universities to make additional above-inflation increases in undergraduate fees based on TEF results has been moved even further into the future. This means large variations in fees between universities won’t emerge for several years.</p>
<p>New metrics are being developed for later years of the TEF, including a new dataset using tax records to show actual <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-your-choice-of-degree-means-for-your-future-earnings-57760">graduate earnings</a>. Pilots within certain disciplines will be undertaken to help the TEF drill down to the level of individual subjects. </p>
<h2>Fast tracking</h2>
<p>The white paper is accompanied by two technical consultations. The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/teaching-excellence-framework-year-2-technical-consultation">first</a> deals with the details of the TEF, explaining how it will eventually be extended to taught postgraduate courses, for example. The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/accelerated-courses-and-switching-university-or-degree-call-for-evidence">second</a> explores the viability of two other schemes to increase student choice: accelerated courses and switching universities.</p>
<p>Accelerated or <a href="http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/choosing-university/fast-track-degree-programs">fast-track</a> courses are typically <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/university-challenge-does-a-two-year-degree-make-more-economic-sense-2037887.html">two-year degrees</a>, where a traditional three-year degree is completed in two years by attending over the summer. The government wants the higher education sector to offer more flexibility and appreciate that all students may not want the standard three-year undergraduate experience.</p>
<p>Since <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/student/into-university/applying/are-two-year-degrees-the-future-796034.html">their introduction</a>, the demand for two-year degrees has remained relatively small; although this may be because the current choice of courses available is quite limited. Accelerated learning <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/aug/03/vince-cable-two-year-degrees">has been criticised</a> and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2010.520698">questioned</a> by those who argue it means fewer opportunities for reflection that fosters a better understanding of a subject. Two-year degrees have been condemned by <a href="https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/3722/UCU-policy-briefing-Two-year-degrees-Feb-10/doc/ucupolicybrief_2yrdegrees_feb10.doc">campus trade unions</a> who describe them as “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10195353">sweatshops</a>” for university teachers.</p>
<p>The government also wants to see how the <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-it-be-easier-for-students-to-switch-university-mid-degree-59714">process of switching</a> universities could be made easier. The TEF results may be useful for applicants who are yet to make their choice, but they aren’t useful for students already studying whose personal circumstances <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/11390399/University-students-facing-unlawful-course-changes.html">or course</a> may have changed if they cannot easily “vote with their feet” and go elsewhere.</p>
<h2>Power to switch</h2>
<p>The government wants a system where the money follows the student, enabling students to switch universities rather than being locked into one place. To make this work, they envision a “credit transfer market” where students can take credit from their existing university to another that better fits their current needs.</p>
<p>Even if the number of transferring students was small, a credit transfer market would increase the power of students as consumer by challenging the entrenched idea that university choice is a “one-off purchase”. Another reason the government wants to do this is because it foresees a situation in the new marketplace where some providers may close down. Ensuring the stranded students affected can complete their degrees elsewhere needs to be considered.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125744/original/image-20160608-3492-16dlm03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125744/original/image-20160608-3492-16dlm03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125744/original/image-20160608-3492-16dlm03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125744/original/image-20160608-3492-16dlm03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125744/original/image-20160608-3492-16dlm03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125744/original/image-20160608-3492-16dlm03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125744/original/image-20160608-3492-16dlm03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the US, switching course is common.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shawncalhoun/11360545156/sizes/l">shawncalhoun/flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the US, <a href="http://www.collegetransfer.net">student transfers</a> are the norm, and the numbers are on the rise. A <a href="http://nscresearchcenter.org/signaturereport9/">recent report</a> found that over one third of students who began their studies in 2008 transferred to a different institution at least once. Out of these students, almost half changed their institution more than once. But the US context is quite different to English higher education. For example, the Wisconsin system of community colleges and universities is one entity where credit has common currency and students move from associate to bachelor degrees. </p>
<p>Yet Australian higher education, which is more comparable, shows how it is possible to make transfers between universities easier by having <a href="http://www.aqf.edu.au/aqf/about/what-is-the-aqf/">a national framework</a> and more visible and straightforward policies within each institution. </p>
<p>The reforms show the government’s resolute determination to achieve greater competition and choice in higher education. These are reforms that seek to shift the balance of power to ensure the higher education sector delivers what students wish to receive, rather than what universities wish to offer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Gunn receives funding from Worldwide Universities Network, the British Council (administering the Newton Fund), the UK Higher Education Academy, the United Kingdom Political Studies Association, the New Zealand Political Studies Association and the UK Quality Assurance Agency. Andrew Gunn concurrently holds visiting academic positions internationally. </span></em></p>What students want is becoming more important than what univerisites want to teach them.Andrew Gunn, Researcher in Higher Education Policy, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/597142016-05-23T09:39:42Z2016-05-23T09:39:42ZShould it be easier for students to switch university mid degree?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123355/original/image-20160520-27853-17yd3nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lightspring/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-competitive-landscape-for-higher-education-confirmed-in-white-paper-59494">raft of reforms</a> to the way universities in England are run, the government is looking at whether it should be easier for students to switch between courses at different universities. Alongside <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523396/bis-16-265-success-as-a-knowledge-economy.pdf">a white paper</a> on higher education, and the publication of a new Higher Education and Research Bill, it has launched <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/accelerated-courses-and-switching-university-or-degree-call-for-evidence">a consultation</a> on demand for accelerated degree courses – shorter than the average three years – and whether students want the flexibility to change where they study. </p>
<p>This idea is not new. <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13596749900200053">In 1993, the Flowers Report</a> saw an attempt to introduce into UK higher education a longer undergraduate year, flexibility and accelerated degrees. Some institutions did <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/summer-semester-trials/99633.article">develop two-year degrees</a> but most of them faded away. Buckingham University is currently the only UK university with a wide range of two-year degrees, though others still offer a few of them. </p>
<p>In 2006, the Higher Education Funding Council for England <a href="https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/pathfinder_2011_aw_2_281111_1614.pdf">initiated a pilot study</a> on flexible learning. This too faded away. </p>
<p>Accelerated degrees tend to appeal to mature, part-time students, an important group but not the young, full-time students that the new white paper is thinking of, who may struggle with intensive learning without breaks for paid work and recreation. </p>
<p>The principles of credit-transfer, however, are firmly embedded in the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/higher-education/bologna-process_en.htm">Bologna process</a> of harmonisation of Europe’s higher education systems through the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/education/ects/ects_en.htm">European Credit Transfer and Accumulation system</a>. Yet, credit-transfer across countries <a href="http://www.ehea.info/Uploads/SubmitedFiles/5_2015/132824.pdf">has not happened</a> to the degree that the original Bologna signatories envisaged. The US higher education system also has a credit-transfer system in place, though it doesn’t mean you can easily move from a community college to Harvard or Princeton and its accelerated programmes are mainly aimed at adult learners.</p>
<p>The language the white paper uses about public universities – described as “incumbents” as though they are unwanted lodgers – suggests that it is mostly “new providers” and probably for-profit institutions that would be expected to innovate by providing more flexible patterns of study. </p>
<p>The late higher education scholar David Watson <a href="http://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Only-Connect-WEB-clean.pdf">argued</a> that flexibility did not happen in the established universities because of “protectionism” – a term more redolent of the manufacturing industry than higher education. Yet, at masters level, credit-transfer has been successful in the UK for some time, for example in departments such as education. </p>
<p>Credit-transfer between universities also works well in part-time undergraduate study. But full-time degrees offer more challenges in relation to flexibility, especially in a system where many undergraduate students move away from home. It also affects data on how they progress from first to second year and so on. The white paper suggests that unlike now, students who change institutions won’t be categorised as not completing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123357/original/image-20160520-4475-pmcc1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123357/original/image-20160520-4475-pmcc1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123357/original/image-20160520-4475-pmcc1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123357/original/image-20160520-4475-pmcc1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123357/original/image-20160520-4475-pmcc1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123357/original/image-20160520-4475-pmcc1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123357/original/image-20160520-4475-pmcc1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Switch it up?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/134017849@N04/19515799760/sizes/l">QMULsed/flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ways to introduce flexibility</h2>
<p>There are a few ways it could be possible to create more flexibility in the way students move between institutions. </p>
<p>One, would be to make moving from full-time to part-time study and from face-to-face to distance learning and back, simpler everywhere. This is common in some other countries, such as Australia. </p>
<p>An <a href="http://wonkhe.com/blogs/credit-worthy/">article</a> by analyst Ant Bagshaw on the website WonkHE, suggests a second UCAS transfer-round for first-year undergraduates so that they could go elsewhere at that point. But this could be very destabilising for students who are from disadvantaged backgrounds because socially and culturally they will have to start all over again with peers who have already been in their next university for a year. Bagshaw also suggests an alternative “pick and mix” system where students could choose modules from anywhere but one university would validate their end degree. Coherence and lack of overlap would be issues in such a system. </p>
<p>It might also be possible to introduce more collaborative programmes between universities, but the landscape for this is not encouraging, given a renewed emphasis on competition between universities. Alternatively, study based on free <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/massive-open-online-courses">massive open online courses</a> could lead to flexible accredited study, perhaps through a body such as <a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/">FutureLearn</a>. An overall validating institution would still be needed.</p>
<h2>What this might mean for universities</h2>
<p>Introducing more flexibility into full-time undergraduate study would undoubtedly be destabilising for universities if lots of undergraduates started moving around the system mid-degree. Changing your university isn’t the same as changing your bank and far from “driving up” standards it may actually drive them down. </p>
<p>Teaching jobs could become even less secure if student numbers declined in existing institutions. The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills clearly sees academics as lazy people with long summer vacations (forgetting research and postgraduate supervision) who should just teach undergraduates all year round. </p>
<p>The government’s attitude to existing public universities in the white paper is extraordinary: they are positioned as spoilt children. Yet, it is those same universities who are responsible for the UK’s strong global reputation and high international research rankings. Something that starts off as a reasonable proposition – let’s make all degree studies more flexible – could end up as a way of weakening and undermining the whole system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59714/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosemary Deem does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Government plans to introduce more flexibility could be destabilising for universities.Rosemary Deem, Vice Principal (Education) and Dean of Doctoral School, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/592712016-05-18T13:41:12Z2016-05-18T13:41:12ZWhat metrics don’t tell us about the way students learn<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122869/original/image-20160517-9509-ehug69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/loughboroughuniversitylibrary/3256108502/sizes/l">Loughborough University/www.flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A big push is under way in higher education to measure how students are learning and how good lecturers are at teaching them. Universities can track how much time a student spent on a learning module or how often they accessed a journal article or online book. <a href="https://theconversation.com/snooping-professor-or-friendly-don-the-ethics-of-university-learning-analytics-23636">Some universities</a> are starting to use these “learning analytics” to study how students are accessing data. But that is currently all they can do – because of the limits of using this kind of “big data” to measure the effectiveness of teaching and learning.</p>
<p>In the UK, the government has <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-competitive-landscape-for-higher-education-confirmed-in-white-paper-59494">confirmed plans</a> to measure teaching excellence at universities in England via a new Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). The Queen’s Speech <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/524040/Queen_s_Speech_2016_background_notes_.pdf">revealed</a> that a new Higher Education and Research Bill will be introduced to take forward regulation around the ideas set out in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523396/bis-16-265-success-as-a-knowledge-economy.pdf">higher education white paper</a>. </p>
<p>Currently, the TEF plans to align teaching excellence to university’s scores on the <a href="http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/">National Student Survey</a>, data on how many students finish their course from the <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/">Higher Education Statistics Agency</a>, and on the proportion of graduates in employment using a survey of students <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/stats-dlhe">conducted six months</a> after they leave university. </p>
<p>Universities will also be able to submit qualitative and quantitative evidence of up to 15 pages to explain and contextualise their metrics. This is where it gets sticky: will the people with the highest quality teaching and learning shine through or will the people with the best stories and prettiest data win in the end? </p>
<p>The fluidity of metrics allows for more wiggle room than the government thinks and that wiggle room will allow for gaming the new system, no matter what the white paper claims. For example, there is the possibility of <a href="https://www.hobsons.com/emea/resources/entry/learning-analytics-more-than-just-weather-forecasting">linking data</a> that measures what has happened with events that may or may not be related – such as tracking a student’s participation in online discussions and their ratings of the way their lecturers use technology.</p>
<h2>What metrics miss out</h2>
<p>Yet teaching and learning are more than just analytics. It is not possible to measure good teaching by simply looking at lecture attendance or examining how many pages a student read on an e-text. </p>
<p>Current practices in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/05/09/big-data-was-supposed-to-fix-education-it-didnt-its-time-for-small-data/">learning analytics are focused on exploring big data</a>, something that students produce <em>en masse</em>. One example of this is keeping track of attendance at lectures, correlating that with the number of hours spent reading an e-textbook, and using that data to predict success on a specific assessment. This can’t be linked to employability, nor can it be linked to the relative excellence of the instructor. Likewise, teaching intensity cannot be linked to a specific number of hours or type of teaching style. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123022/original/image-20160518-13487-113lhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123022/original/image-20160518-13487-113lhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123022/original/image-20160518-13487-113lhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123022/original/image-20160518-13487-113lhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123022/original/image-20160518-13487-113lhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123022/original/image-20160518-13487-113lhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123022/original/image-20160518-13487-113lhg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What makes a great teacher?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matej Kastelic/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research into learning analytics is growing <a href="http://lak16.solaresearch.org">apace</a> but is still nascent – so it is a problem that politicians have decided to use it as a promised messiah to define and measure excellence. </p>
<p>This is not to say that learning analytics are not useful – they are very good at doing specific things that can possibly improve the student experience. For example, metrics can identify students who do not access the class materials or attend the lectures. These students can be taken aside and asked if they need additional support. </p>
<p>But here is the conundrum: there is no empirical data that says that all students who display these behaviours need additional support. Learning analytics are increasingly being seen as a universal panacea <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/universities-should-set-targets-recruiting-male-students">for anything that may ail education</a>. But this has not proven true in the last ten years: we have terabytes of big data on student learning but very little empirical research on its actual impact. Outputs and outcomes in terms of lectures attended are not measures of impact on the individual lives of university students. </p>
<p>The introduction of learning analytics as a measure of teaching excellence will have one definitive outcome: spurious correlations. Lest we forget, <a href="https://xkcd.com/552/">correlation does not equal causation</a> and the best that learning analytics can currently do is correlate that more years of completed education correlate to a higher graduate earning potential. That is not enough to undermine the years of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2011.598505#.VzthNatHOKI">educational research</a> that stresses the importance of relationships and presence of teachers in the classroom. </p>
<h2>Game on</h2>
<p>Suggesting that universities use solely qualitative measures to examine teaching and learning is not practical, but there needs to be a balance between what the statistics may reveal and the actual teaching and learning experience. </p>
<p>The government has charged the Higher Education Funding Council for England – now to be subsumed into <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-competitive-landscape-for-higher-education-confirmed-in-white-paper-59494">a new body </a> called UK Research and Innovation – with the task of developing a system of checks and balances to measure teaching excellence so that universities do not try and game the system. These measures are slated to go live in year three of the TEF roll out. </p>
<p>The next three years are likely to see a rash of university policy and practice that will not encourage collegiality – nor will it help to build bridges between innovative teaching practice and quality learning. Instead it may produce the same <a href="https://theconversation.com/game-playing-of-the-ref-makes-it-an-incomplete-census-35707">wheeling and dealing</a> that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/research-excellence-framework">Research Excellence Framework</a> does, except this will be much more frequent. The game has officially changed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dana Ruggiero does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Plans to reward universities for excellent teaching could see a bigger role for metrics that track how students spend their time.Dana Ruggiero, Senior Lecturer in Learning Technology, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/594942016-05-17T10:27:17Z2016-05-17T10:27:17ZNew competitive landscape for higher education confirmed in white paper<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122823/original/image-20160517-9501-12b9yet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nottinghamtrentuni/5689846734/sizes/o/">Nottingham Trent University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The government has published detail of sweeping changes to the architecture of higher education and research in the UK in a new white paper. The document, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523396/bis-16-265-success-as-a-knowledge-economy.pdf">Succeeding as a Knowledge Economy</a>, takes forward most of the ideas already found in a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/higher-education-teaching-excellence-social-mobility-and-student-choice">green paper</a> published in November 2015. Legislation is likely to follow to enact a number of the proposed changes, not least to the regulatory oversight of the sector.</p>
<p>Plans for a <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/teaching-excellence-framework">Teaching Excellence Framework</a> (TEF), which will reward universities for good teaching with the ability to raise tuition fees above £9,000 a year, have now been slightly rejigged. More time will be allowed to fine tune how it will work and there will be a trial year in 2017-18. </p>
<p>There will be a simpler link permitting tuition fee rises in line with the retail price index for those universities doing well in the first parts of the scheme. This will extend gradually over a number of higher levels – rated “meets expectations, excellent and outstanding” – but the main incentive for universities to get a better rating will be to gain a reputational advantage, rather than a financial one. </p>
<h2>Out with the old?</h2>
<p>If there is anything resembling a new policy in the white paper (at least in comparison with the green paper) it is the invitation to both old and new institutions to choose their operating model and forms of government support. They may decide to become a private company, some form of corporation, or maybe simply renounce charitable status. This raises possibilities about mergers across the so-called dividing line between the two categories of “existing” and “alternative providers”. </p>
<p>The government clearly believes in and welcomes the possibility that some of the new upstarts will seek to take over or at least merge with those established providers that begin to wilt in the new competitive environment. </p>
<p>The white paper regards “exits” by incumbents from the sector as a healthy outcome in markets reflecting informed consumer choice. But it’s possible that some elite research universities might also look at this proposition and wonder if the best route to raise their undergraduate fee levels above the price of inflation is to go properly private – rather than rely on the small incremental moves permitted as part of the TEF. </p>
<h2>Future of the dual-funding system</h2>
<p>Although the green paper was relatively light on research policy, it did raise important questions, particularly on how research would be funded in the future. A key question was the future of the dual-funding system of research, through which grants are made to scholars by the research councils on the one hand, with additional government funding allocated to universities by the <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/">Higher Education Council for England</a> (HEFCE) following an assessment of the quality of their research – the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/research-excellence-framework">Research Excellence Framework</a> process. </p>
<p>The white paper confirmed that HEFCE will be abolished – and a new unified entity, UK Research and Innovation, is to be established. This followed recommendations <a href="https://theconversation.com/research-funding-big-changes-on-the-horizon-leave-scientists-nervous-51057">made in a review of research</a> by <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nurse-review-of-research-councils-recommendations">Paul Nurse</a> that the seven research councils be amalgamated. It is this body that will take over HEFCE’s research funding responsibilities.</p>
<p>This is a little strange. Although the government professes to be strengthening the dual support system for research, rolling it all into one body nonetheless continues the questions about dual funding’s longer-term future.</p>
<p>UK Research and Innovation will also have to consider other important matters once it gets going, not just the future of the dual support system. For example, whether charities and private bodies will become eligible for public research funds as part of the government’s intention in the white paper to create incentives for multidisciplinary work and commercial collaboration. It’s possible this may have a knock-on effect on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-impact-of-impact-on-the-ref-35636">“impact” of research</a>, making definitions less academic and more related to “real world” applications.</p>
<h2>Easier entry for newcomers</h2>
<p>As expected, new or alternative providers should find life a little easier. They will be allowed probationary degree-awarding powers from the get go, as opposed to the current wait of up to six years for full powers. Or, at least, “high quality” organisations will – however that is later defined. Smaller specialist institutions will have more incentive to consider aiming for university designation now that institutions no longer have to reach a fixed number of students to be considered.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122822/original/image-20160517-9487-vmv422.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Battle for better teaching.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ioelondon/6143379343/sizes/l">UCL IOE</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether the possibility of gaining “degree powers light” will help unfreeze the current icy path to validation experienced by new entrants remains to be seen. At the moment, existing universities understandably regard new providers as fresh competition, and so partnerships between old and new are designated as risky forms of collaboration by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.</p>
<p>Injecting more market competition into the sector could actually make the chill much worse as new entrants are now fully incentivised to become “challenger” institutions.</p>
<p>Although evidence is needed, new providers, because of resources and status constraints, can be quite conservative in their teaching approaches and to the subjects offered – despite the white paper’s claim that they provide much needed “innovation”. Yet, speaking from my experience as the chair of governors of a new provider, they do appear to reach aspirant sections of the population that do not make it to the existing “old” institutions. So access and social mobility should be enhanced by these moves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59494/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger King is chair of governors of UKCBC, a private new HE college, and is a member of the Higher Education Commission.</span></em></p>Universities deemed excellent at teaching will be allowed to raise their fees in line with inflation.Roger King, Visiting Professor, School of Management, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.