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UK universities likely to follow US model, says leading vice-chancellor
Professor Sir Keith O'Nions says the 'clarity of the stratified US system, in terms of teaching and research, has always had appeal'. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
British universities are likely to become far more similar to their American counterparts, a leading vice-chancellor predicted yesterday, with some institutions focusing solely on teaching rather than research.
As Lord Browne prepares to unveil his blueprint for universities, Professor Sir Keith O'Nions, rector of Imperial College London, urged the government to lift the cap on tuition fees, describing this as "the most forward-looking option".
Next week Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP, is expected to publish a review recommending that fees – currently capped at £3,290 a year – should be at least doubled. Shortly after the review is published the government will announce its comprehensive spending review, which will remove billions of pounds of Whitehall money from university coffers.
O'Nions, whose university is ranked 26th in the world, said the changes would mean our higher education system ends up "looking more like the US model".
The US has a highly stratified higher education system. Two-year colleges focus on teaching courses below degree level, four-year colleges offer degrees, while universities focus more on research and offer degree and postgraduate courses. Each of the three tiers is held in high esteem and acknowledged for the different role it plays within the system.
O'Nions said the "clarity of the stratified US system, in terms of teaching and research, has always had appeal" and its results "speak for themselves". All but three of the world's top 20 universities are in the US.
He said universities in the UK had, in recent years, recognised their different purposes – or "differentiated themselves" – and that this had been "to the benefit of higher education". He said that further differentiation in the future was likely in response to the funding climate.
This week the influential education charity the Sutton Trust warned that top universities – such as Imperial – would price out poorer students with a huge increase in tuition fees if ministers gave them free rein over what they could charge. One option being considered by Browne's review is to remove the cap on fees. Some courses could end up charging students as much as £20,000.
O'Nions said removing the cap was "a sustainable solution". But fees should only rise if there were generous bursaries available to help low-income students.
"We will need to position fees for UK students with real consideration as to the extent to which our ability to provide bursaries can offset those [fees]," he said. "That will be our aim."
O'Nions warned Browne and the government not to seek a short-term fix. "Universities have to pay the bills and costs of educating students, in particular in lab-intensive areas such as we have at Imperial. If we don't recover the proper costs … we will revert to the years of under-investment in the 1980s and much of the 1990s. The basic infrastructure will suffer."
Last week Cambridge University's new vice-chancellor said he wanted to move towards a US-style system of lavish bursaries so that students from the poorest homes were not deterred from studying for fear of debt.
Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said Cambridge should aspire to build up its endowment so that it was as close as possible to that of the Ivy League universities.
O'Nions said he hoped that in a decade or two Imperial would be able to "move into a position where we have bursaries that cover all fees".
Universities UK (UUK), the umbrella group for vice-chancellors, warned that the government planned to strip British higher education of between £4.1bn and £6.6bn by 2015.
UUK calculated the effect on higher education of cuts of between 25% and 40% to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The Treasury has asked government departments to model scenarios for cuts on this scale. UUK said this would mean universities suffered a dramatic loss of income.
In 2008-09 UK universities received an estimated £14bn from public sources in the UK and the European Union.
UK universities likely to follow US model, says leading vice-chancellor | Education | The Guardian
Professor Sir Keith O'Nions says the 'clarity of the stratified US system, in terms of teaching and research, has always had appeal'. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
British universities are likely to become far more similar to their American counterparts, a leading vice-chancellor predicted yesterday, with some institutions focusing solely on teaching rather than research.
As Lord Browne prepares to unveil his blueprint for universities, Professor Sir Keith O'Nions, rector of Imperial College London, urged the government to lift the cap on tuition fees, describing this as "the most forward-looking option".
Next week Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP, is expected to publish a review recommending that fees – currently capped at £3,290 a year – should be at least doubled. Shortly after the review is published the government will announce its comprehensive spending review, which will remove billions of pounds of Whitehall money from university coffers.
O'Nions, whose university is ranked 26th in the world, said the changes would mean our higher education system ends up "looking more like the US model".
The US has a highly stratified higher education system. Two-year colleges focus on teaching courses below degree level, four-year colleges offer degrees, while universities focus more on research and offer degree and postgraduate courses. Each of the three tiers is held in high esteem and acknowledged for the different role it plays within the system.
O'Nions said the "clarity of the stratified US system, in terms of teaching and research, has always had appeal" and its results "speak for themselves". All but three of the world's top 20 universities are in the US.
He said universities in the UK had, in recent years, recognised their different purposes – or "differentiated themselves" – and that this had been "to the benefit of higher education". He said that further differentiation in the future was likely in response to the funding climate.
This week the influential education charity the Sutton Trust warned that top universities – such as Imperial – would price out poorer students with a huge increase in tuition fees if ministers gave them free rein over what they could charge. One option being considered by Browne's review is to remove the cap on fees. Some courses could end up charging students as much as £20,000.
O'Nions said removing the cap was "a sustainable solution". But fees should only rise if there were generous bursaries available to help low-income students.
"We will need to position fees for UK students with real consideration as to the extent to which our ability to provide bursaries can offset those [fees]," he said. "That will be our aim."
O'Nions warned Browne and the government not to seek a short-term fix. "Universities have to pay the bills and costs of educating students, in particular in lab-intensive areas such as we have at Imperial. If we don't recover the proper costs … we will revert to the years of under-investment in the 1980s and much of the 1990s. The basic infrastructure will suffer."
Last week Cambridge University's new vice-chancellor said he wanted to move towards a US-style system of lavish bursaries so that students from the poorest homes were not deterred from studying for fear of debt.
Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said Cambridge should aspire to build up its endowment so that it was as close as possible to that of the Ivy League universities.
O'Nions said he hoped that in a decade or two Imperial would be able to "move into a position where we have bursaries that cover all fees".
Universities UK (UUK), the umbrella group for vice-chancellors, warned that the government planned to strip British higher education of between £4.1bn and £6.6bn by 2015.
UUK calculated the effect on higher education of cuts of between 25% and 40% to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The Treasury has asked government departments to model scenarios for cuts on this scale. UUK said this would mean universities suffered a dramatic loss of income.
In 2008-09 UK universities received an estimated £14bn from public sources in the UK and the European Union.
UK universities likely to follow US model, says leading vice-chancellor | Education | The Guardian
. We should with all due respect cut some slack to the education authorities and respect the fact that they are working on bringing constant changes. I wish to see Swat be on the same level of a American high schools. That would be an amazing day and one of my dreams come true. However, as of now, they are rapidly switching the tables around. The requirements to graduate are changing every few years to remain competitive. I studied in an American high school, I currently have an almost perfect GPA in college. So it depends on the student as well. There are hundreds of examples that I can give you of programs they have started to remain competitive with their counterparts in other parts of the world.
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