Lib Dems: hold university funding review ‘in next parliament’

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to hold a review of higher education finance and remove international students from wider migration numbers as part of their UK general election manifesto.

Publishing the document ahead of its larger rivals this week, the party – which won 11 seats at the 2019 election but finished the parliament with 15 following a series of by-election wins – sought to distance itself from the higher education policy of the current Conservative government with a pledge to “safeguard the future of our world-leading universities and the wellbeing of every student”.

Responding to the financial crisis in the UK sector, the party said that, if in government, it would establish a review of higher education finance in the next parliament to “consider any necessary reforms in the light of the latest evidence of the impact of the existing financing system on access, participation and quality”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has also returned to the issue of university funding on the campaign trail, telling The Guardian that the current system “doesn’t work for students or universities”. “I think we should change the whole approach,” he said, without providing further detail.

In their manifesto, the Liberal Democrats also left much of the heavy lifting to its proposed review, with a lack of any policy on whether to raise, reduce or scrap tuition fees a notable absence.

They did, however, outline several other policy commitments affecting universities including:

• Reinstating maintenance grants for disadvantaged students “immediately”
• Returning the UK to the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme
• Requiring all universities to “be transparent about selection criteria”.

The party also committed to introducing a “statutory duty of care” for universities over their students; a key demand of a group of bereaved parents whose children died from suicide while at university and have argued that more could have been done to protect them.

A statutory “student mental health charter” would also be introduced, “requiring universities to make mental health services accessible to their students”.

Student mental health has become a key concern for institutions in recent years, particularly post-pandemic, but services have complained of a lack funding and difficulties joining up with the NHS to provide wider support.

On international student policy, the Liberal Democrats said they would transfer responsibility for work visas and overseas students from the Home Office to “other departments” and report student numbers separately to wider migration figures.

This has long been a demand of universities, which have faced repeated attempts by the current government to change visa rules as part of efforts to bring down legal migration, which sectors leaders have said has damaged the UK’s reputation as one of the top destinations for overseas students.

The Liberal Democrat policy comes in contrast to the Conservatives, whose own campaigning this week signalled a willingness to again raise the fees international students pay to use the NHS while in the country, that were already increased from £470 to £776 earlier this year.

Outlining plans to fund 8,000 new police officers, the party said it would pay for the increase partly by removing the student discount on the health surcharge, which would mean students would pay £1,035 per year.

Almost all the Liberal Democrat target seats in the election are two-way fights between the party and the Tories, such as South Cambridgeshire, a constituency home to many academics who work in the nearby University of Cambridge, and where the Conservatives hold a 1,498-vote majority.

Hopes of overturning a 1,108 Labour majority in Sheffield Hallam, once held by former leader Sir Nick Clegg, are likely to be scuppered by Labour’s popularity nationwide, while other university seats such as Cambridge itself also appear out of reach for the party.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com