Debate about the new Higher Education and Research Bill continues along predictably fraught lines. On one side are the free marketeers who see deregulated competition as the main tool for invigoration and improvement. 'The student is clearly a customer', they assert. On the other side are the public good folks who see institutional autonomy as the way to preserve diversity and richness. 'The student is clearly a student', they retort.
Both see the University as a route to fulfilment for our young people and we all want more of the value that this brings. We want more learning. Every student wants to be the best they can be. And what's good for them is good for our society too. The two sides differ only in the way they would like Joe Johnson to catalyse this with his new bill.
I wonder how much the bill can or will support this fundamental joint intention. It will certainly be disruptive for civil servants and University administrators. We can and should debate the structure and processes of our system. However, what we cannot stop and what we ignore at our peril is the inevitable march of digitalisation. This is having a greater, more immediate and far reaching impact than any procedural tweaks to the way the money flows.
So what do we need to create a fertile context in which the student can learn in cyberspace? Three ingredients must be there:
- Encouragement of curiosity - an environment that encourages questioning, exploration and challenge.
- Powerfully aspirational examples - the personal stories and role models of excellence that provide a glimpse of what can be.
- Opportunity and accessibility - access to massive online communities of learning, inspirational teachers, rich media resources, signposted pathways and challenges to overcome.
This is all possible, Joe. What should we be doing to make it happen?
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