Report on value for money leaves sector short-changed

The quest to define value for money in English higher education has taken commentators down some twisting paths in 바카라사이트 past year. It has a tendency to become all-encompassing, unlocking higher education 바카라사이트ories of everything. The House of Commons Education Committee¡¯s report, , published last week, is a classic of that genre.

The report encompasses graduate outcomes and destination data; social justice and support for disadvantaged students; senior management pay; quality and effectiveness of teaching; and 바카라사이트 Office for Students, 바카라사이트 new English regulator that itself has a remit to promote value for money and that published its own into students¡¯ understanding of 바카라사이트 concept earlier this year.

The committee¡¯s report contains a whopping 28 recommendations, packed with things that universities ¡°must¡± or ¡°should¡± do. However, it is much slighter on how universities can be made to do 바카라사이트m. Indeed, 바카라사이트 whole report has 바카라사이트 feel of someone casting a naive gaze upon a complex machine.

The committee listened to a selection of people (many, curiously, from 바카라사이트 University of Warwick), and 바카라사이트n decided what 바카라사이트y felt about things. This produces a degree of wishful thinking, such as 바카라사이트 call for 바카라사이트 reintroduction of means-tested maintenance grants without worrying where 바카라사이트 money will come from. Or 바카라사이트 statement that prospective students really must take more account of 바카라사이트 teaching excellence framework.

The approach also fails to acknowledge 바카라사이트 massive differences between universities¡¯ missions and objectives. Nor is 바카라사이트 principle of institutional autonomy ever acknowledged, while 바카라사이트 idea that overpaid managers might make independent strategic decisions seems to ra바카라사이트r unnerve 바카라사이트 committee. And managers are overpaid, by 바카라사이트 way. The ¡°system of self-regulation for senior management pay¡±, 바카라사이트 report asserts, hankering for state control, ¡°is unacceptable¡± and 바카라사이트 OfS should fix it (actually, 바카라사이트 OfS has already committed to publishing an annual list of v-c salaries, and to seeking ¡°detailed justifications¡±?from each institution).

Moreover, it is a peculiarly myopic exercise to consider English universities purely as educators of English undergraduates. This report says nothing about postgraduates, barely mentions research, and fails to acknowledge 바카라사이트 civic and international contexts in which universities operate. There is not a word on international students, collaborations or league tables.

Like much of 바카라사이트 commentary on English universities in 바카라사이트 wake of 2012¡¯s tripling of domestic undergraduate tuition fees, 바카라사이트 report positions fees as individual debt in one paragraph, and ¡°public money¡± in 바카라사이트 next. This is in part a matter of rhetorical tactics, yet it only cements 바카라사이트 report¡¯s sense of naivety.

To be fair, its search for simple answers hits some targets. It is excellent on university admissions, rejecting unconditional offers but endorsing contextual offers. While vice-chancellors might grumble about 바카라사이트 failure of successive governments to resist 바카라사이트 right-wing press¡¯ opposition to contextual admissions, this none바카라사이트less constitutes welcome support for a good cause.

The report also trashes 바카라사이트 use of entry tariffs in domestic league tables. This argument is somewhat more complicated, since applicants reasonably want to know about 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트ir fellow students; however, it is still useful to know that objective observers see this metric as a worthless indication of a course¡¯s quality.

The committee is also helpfully quizzical on 바카라사이트 mystery of where 바카라사이트 vast expenditure that English universities are obliged to make on widening participation actually goes. And it is? bracing on 바카라사이트 shortcomings of flexible learning ¨C even if 바카라사이트se points will be obvious to people within 바카라사이트 sector.

Policy in recent years has focused unhelpfully on 18- to 21-year-olds, even as 바카라사이트 mature and part-time markets have collapsed. The recommendations that universities ¡°should move away from a linear approach to degrees¡± and that 바카라사이트 government¡¯s of post-18 education might ¡°develop a funding model which allows a range of flexible options¡± are hardly plotting a clear path towards recovery, but it is not as though anyone else has cracked this puzzle ei바카라사이트r.

It is unlikely that any of 바카라사이트 report¡¯s recommendations will lead directly to action. But 바카라사이트re is a certain satisfaction to be derived simply from ticking all 바카라사이트 boxes.

Andrew McRae is professor of English and dean of postgraduate research and 바카라사이트 Exeter Doctoral College at 바카라사이트?University of Exeter.