Uni challenge to sacred cows
A HARD-HITTING review of the higher education funding system released today by business leaders has echoed local calls for reform.
The report by the CBI challenges sacred cows in the Government’s higher education policy and said universities must consider the case for greater collaboration and consolidation, as well as joint ventures with the private sector.
Similar calls for the North-east’s five universities to work together to unlock innovation for the wider regional economic good were made at the launch of Teesside University’s five new research institutes only last week.
The report challenges the Government to abandon the target for 50% of 18 to 30-year-olds to go on to higher education, saying public sector finance can no longer support the aspiration.
In a wide-ranging document, the CBI called on the Government to ensure that the new Research Excellence Framework gave proper recognition to excellent business-relevant research and to make it clear that Government support for university-business interaction was to improve the knowledge base and increase economic impact.
It also asked for it to ensure the Higher Education Innovation Fund continued to help universities meet real business needs and make sure that university negotiators had the skill to make the right decisions on how research should be priced.
The report called on business to change the way they viewed working with universities.
They needed to see it as a core part of innovation activity - but they had to understand that university research must be paid for, the CBI said. It encouraged business to work with public research funders in planning research projects that met business needs.
Over the past decade, there has been great progress in business/university co-operation for research and knowledge exchange.
However only 10% of innovative enterprises in the UK co-operate with a university or another higher education institution - well below the figures for countries like Sweden, Finland or Denmark, the report said.
“More should be done to break down remaining barriers.
“If innovative companies in the UK are driven to seek university partners abroad, other functions and well paid jobs are liable to flow out of the country with them.”
Share
