Birkbeck President champions part-time study in House of Lords debate
Baroness Bakewell calls Government’s Higher Education and Research Bill ‘woefully limited’
The President of Birkbeck, Baroness Bakewell, has said that failure to support part-time study means the Government is badly ‘missing out’ on a sector that has ‘huge growth potential and value to society’.
Baroness Bakewell made her remarks in the House of Lords yesterday during a marathon 7-hour debate over the Government’s proposed Higher Education & Research Bill, which seeks to regulate aspects of the higher education sector and make it easier to establish new universities.
Baroness Bakewell said that, as President of Birkbeck, she considered the Bill to be “woefully limited” in its vision of the future and its potential to transform the lives of everyone. She said:
“Birkbeck, which has been going for almost 200 years, was created to bring higher education to working people – people who are doing jobs while studying – and it is still doing that.
“The 2011 White Paper by the [then] Department for Business, Innovation and Skills noted that part-time study provided an important route for opening up access to higher education for students who may not come from traditional backgrounds, and who may be disadvantaged in ways that part-time study could help. But the Green Paper said nothing about part-time study, and nor does the Bill. So Birkbeck has a message for government: it is missing out badly on a sector that has huge growth potential and value to society but which right now needs positive support.”
She added: “I want to emphasise…that part-time study is not an add-on to the more traditional formula; it offers a new way to address people’s needs that should be encouraged every bit as much as for-profit private institutions. Yet an unintended consequence of the major funding changes made in 2011 is that numbers of entrants have fallen drastically.
“… part-time study and lifelong learning address issues that will become increasingly important in society: changing demographics, the career portfolios of working people, the need constantly to upskill the workforce, and the rewarding and fulfilment of all generations as they enjoy higher education throughout their lives. These considerations receive short shrift in the Bill.”
Baroness Bakewell’s concerns were echoed by other Peers including Baroness Blackstone, a former Master of Birkbeck, who said: “Were the Government serious about the White Paper’s commitment [to increasing access to universities from low-income groups], the Bill would have specified a duty on the Office for Students to promote adult part-time and life-long learning, which helps disadvantaged groups. There is nothing in the Bill about this, which is a great shame.”
Members of the House of Lords who spoke on all aspects of the Bill included senior political figures including Peter Mandelson, Chris Patten and former universities minister David Willetts. Many university Chancellors and eminent academics now in the House of Lords also contributed to the lengthy debate, including former Birkbeck Master Baroness Blackstone.
Birkbeck, University of London, has welcomed the Higher Education and Research Bill in principle but has voiced concerns over the lack of specific support for mature and part-time learners, the role of the proposed Office for Students, and the implementation of the new Teaching Excellence Framework. The Bill will be debated in detail in the House of Lords in the coming weeks.
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