Cambridge V-C Warns MPs of Future Decline in Quality of UK Graduates. (July 5, 2007)

Photo: Daily Mail

 Cambridge University's vice-chancellor, Alison Richard, yesterday told the British House of Commons cross-party education and skills select committee that the quality of education and research in the UK must not be compromised by the drive to increase student numbers.  For example there was a "real concern" that since 1980 the UK has seen a drop in PhD programmes.

Perhaps when you're vice-chancellor of one of the world's top five research universities you can afford to be blunt.  If "this very small island" is to remain a world leader in higher education, she told the committee, there needs to be more investment in universities from both the Government and private donors.

"We have got maybe a decade to consolidate and position the system to retain its competitive edge. Having come from 30 years in a very big country, how does this very small island keep its significance in the world? We have to operate at the very high end of quality. The risk, I see, to the UK system is that with the under-funding of our educational activities historically, the temptation will be to go for volume rather than quality."

She warned, "The UK is competing globally for talent. At the graduate and postdoctoral level, the UK has been slow to recognise this. If you have very bright graduates they will not necessarily stay on to do a PhD. It is now very difficult to find a British student studying subjects like engineering and economics at postgraduate level."

A "historic under-funding of the UK university system" is partly responsible for the falling number of postgraduate students, she said. Competition from overseas universities and from industry offering better salaries and career opportunities entice the best students away. "We will have to price education competitively, particularly postgraduate education, as international competition for postgraduates is rising," if the trend is to be reversed.

But Professor Richard also said  that, on the whole, the UK system for funding research works well, and she particularly singled out the government's "hands-off" approach, and said UK universities have been encouraged to raise their game through competing against each other for public funding for research.

The Guardian also reported:

The rector of the University of Vienna, Prof Georg Winckler, also giving evidence to the committee, said allowing young researchers more independence to carry out their own projects at an earlier stage in their careers would also help encourage the best talent to stay in academia.

"Early stage researchers must have independence so they can conduct their own studies," he said, adding: "The UK has a competitive funding system which other countries in Europe are now trying to emulate."

While the BBC noted:

Prof Richard also cautioned against the trend for British universities to see foreign students as "cash cows", saying this was dangerous. International students pay higher tuition fees than British and EU undergraduates, whose fees are capped at £3,000 per year.

But Prof Richard gave a warning that overseas students were not necessarily the best students. The trend to recruit more foreign students to plug funding gaps could create "a downward spiral" and undermine the quality of universities in the UK, she said. "That's not happening but that would be the worry if there is not sufficient investment."