Augar: 50 per cent HE target yielding to ‘age of everyone’

English post-18 education is at a “turning point” and on the verge of moving “from the age of 50 per cent to the age of everyone”, according to the former chair of the government’s review of the sector.

Sir Philip Augar invoked former Labour prime minister Tony Blair’s target for 50 per cent of young people to enter higher education when he spoke at an event held by the Lifelong Education Commission, set up by the ResPublica thinktank and chaired by former universities minister Chris Skidmore.

The Augar review of post-18 education reported in May 2019, calling for a shift in the balance towards further education. The government’s much-delayed final response is scheduled to come at the spending review after an imminent consultation expected to cover a proposal to lower the tuition fee cap.

“I feel we are at a turning point,” Sir Philip told the event.

The Blair target, the abolition of student number controls and the trebling of fees had been previous turning points, he continued.

But “somehow further education and skills got a bit neglected – it wasn’t intentional; it reflected the underlying mores in our society”, he said.

“I do feel that for various reasons now we are moving into a different age. We are moving out of the age of the 50 per cent and perhaps into the age of everyone.”

Factors included Brexit and transformations in the workplace, Sir Philip said.

The government has outlined plans for a lifelong learning entitlement in the Post-16 Education and Skills Bill, a shift recommended by the Augar review. Sir Philip said a shift to lifelong learning “can’t simply be handed down by government”, but must be “principally driven” by employers and locally directed by business, universities and colleges.

Universities must “seize the opportunity” in lifelong learning as well as further education colleges, he continued. “The potential to offer modules at levels 4 and 5 and then to build them up [to full degrees] is potentially absolutely enormous. There’s already an explosion in undergraduate growth; there could be real…capacity pressures [in universities] if this works properly.”

The two “big obstacles” on lifelong loans, he said, were: “Will the funding be there?…Can we identify the local actors to make this work?”

Diana Beech, chief executive of London Higher, asked about concerns that the government might prevent students from accessing lifelong loans to study for a non-STEM qualification at equivalent or lower level to one they already have, which she said could have a damaging impact on the creative industries. The Treasury, seeking to cut spending in the wake of the Covid crisis, fears the potential cost of the lifelong loans.

Sir Philip said: “I think we need to be quite careful not to dash off on to new strategies in response to the Covid circumstances.”

He added it was “too early” before the Covid “bounce-back” to make judgements about graduate unemployment and non-graduate unemployment.

“The big movements taking place within the economy, I think, are towards technology and AI-based employment, of which the creative industries are a good example,” he added.

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com