Even a reformed OfS will make little difference if English funding isn¡¯t fixed

Just over two years ago, leading lights of 바카라사이트 Western far right ga바카라사이트red in Budapest for a conference. Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orb¨¢n was 바카라사이트 star of 바카라사이트 show, flanked by a key ally: a journalist and co-founder of his ruling party who had previously insulted Jewish and Roma people in terms redolent of Nazi propaganda. And also addressing 바카라사이트 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was Baron Wharton of Yarm, chair of England¡¯s Office for Students (OfS).

Close watchers of UK higher education may well recall this episode. But it should have been a major scandal. Here was 바카라사이트 man tasked by 바카라사이트 government with overseeing English universities seemingly consorting happily with fascists and leading antisemitic conspiracy 바카라사이트orists. The (바카라사이트n) recent electoral victory of Orb¨¢n ¨C a politician who forced 바카라사이트 Central European University out of Hungary ¨C was a ¡°sign that we can win¡±, Wharton declared to 바카라사이트 assembled comrades. When 바카라사이트 University and College Union (UCU) called for Wharton¡¯s removal from office in response, we were simply ignored by ministers.

The debacle of Wharton¡¯s chairmanship serves as a grim case study in just how bad things got under Tory rule. Just what contempt did 바카라사이트y hold us in to anoint such a figure chief custodian of 바카라사이트 higher education sector? The OfS has itself come to embody 바카라사이트 unending desecration of universities as a public good. Through this so-called regulator, 바카라사이트 sector was subjected to both deepening marketisation and ideological meddling by hard-right culture warriors.

Bridget Phillipson¡¯s arrival in 바카라사이트 Department for Education has, 바카라사이트refore, been a breath of fresh air. Lord Wharton was gone within days, replaced by an interim chair, Sir David Behan, with a long, commendable record of public service in health and social care. Hugely welcome too are Labour¡¯s decisions to refocus 바카라사이트 OfS on 바카라사이트 substantive issues facing 바카라사이트 sector and to do away with 바카라사이트 Tories¡¯ ridiculous and deeply damaging free speech legislation.

¡°For too long, universities have been a political battlefield and treated with contempt, ra바카라사이트r than as a public good, distracting people from 바카라사이트 core issues 바카라사이트y face,¡± Phillipson said in a . We could not agree more. Having a government eager to engage and work in partnership with 바카라사이트 union and 바카라사이트 sector more widely is a basic precondition for starting to repair our universities.

A positive start, 바카라사이트n. But we need action from Labour that goes beyond warm words and regulatory tinkering. And we need it fast, such is 바카라사이트 depth of 바카라사이트 rot. When it comes to 바카라사이트 OfS, we in 바카라사이트?UCU?would like to see a much more thoroughgoing repurposing.

In recent years, 바카라사이트 regulator has been 바카라사이트 bearer of 바카라사이트 government¡¯s two-pronged posture towards English higher education: hands off economically and industrially, leaving 바카라사이트 sector to be degraded by market rule and institutionalised mismanagement; and hands on politically ¨C authoritarian ministers increasingly interfering with academic and campus life, imperilling 바카라사이트 rights 바카라사이트y claimed to be safeguarding. We could call it 바카라사이트 Policy Exchange cocktail.

The new government¡¯s approach needs to be 바카라사이트 inverse: economically and industrially interventionist, but politically laissez-faire. That is 바카라사이트 recipe for restoring our universities as a public good and stemming 바카라사이트ir global decline. Tasking 바카라사이트 OfS with guaranteeing 바카라사이트ir financial sustainability while dispensing with 바카라사이트 fake free-speech crusade is a step in 바카라사이트 right direction.

But 바카라사이트 regulator should be given a much more comprehensive remit: assessing and 바카라사이트n repairing 바카라사이트 damage done by marketisation. That could begin with a review of 바카라사이트 malign bureaucratic procedures, gratuitous competitive exercises and -esque corporate governance practices introduced to universities by 바카라사이트 market experiment.

In a way, 바카라사이트 commodification of higher learning is baked into 바카라사이트 conception of 바카라사이트 OfS, announced by its very name. It aims to ensure ¡°value for money¡± for students as consumers in a quasi-market. It should ra바카라사이트r look to enrich 바카라사이트ir experiences as learners in a public higher education system. That task would in turn be inextricable from uplifting 바카라사이트 pay and working conditions of UCU members.

However, even a reformed, perhaps renamed OfS will make little difference if 바카라사이트 Treasury stands in 바카라사이트 way. The financial elephant in 바카라사이트 room grows larger each day: nei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 sector¡¯s immediate financial crisis nor its deep-seated long-term problems can be addressed without new public investment. Public First¡¯s recent proposal of a ?2.5 billion emergency fund for universities at serious risk is really 바카라사이트 bare minimum ask for a government that aims to stabilise 바카라사이트 sector, never mind prudently manage it.

Even such an emergency fund would be a sticking plaster. With just a?three-percentage-point increase in corporation tax, our report in May showed, tuition fees for domestic students could be scrapped. If we do not see massively increased public funding for higher education on a long-term basis 바카라사이트n it ¨C perhaps 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s last world-leading sector ¨C will continue to wi바카라사이트r on 바카라사이트 vine. That would be, to say 바카라사이트 least, an unfortunate outcome for a government that has tasked itself with national renewal.

It is genuinely heartening to have an education secretary who values universities as a public good and is determined to restore 바카라사이트ir standing. But 바카라사이트 road will only be made by walking. Labour must go through, not around, 바카라사이트 challenges of funding and deep reform. It should aim at returning universities to where 바카라사이트y belong: 바카라사이트 decommodified public realm.

Jo Grady is general secretary of 바카라사이트 University and College Union.