Getting it wrong on higher education
Adam Creighton 3:45pm
Dynamic New Labour always talks about the so-called "skills crisis"; the "need" for more funding for higher education. But we mustn’t forget that blunt spending increases for higher education may encourage an ever-larger proportion of the population to stagnate in courses that will neither teach them anything particularly useful nor improve their chances of finding employment. Worse, there may already be a tendency - even without government subsidy – for people to get too much education. I look at these concerns in a US context in a piece for the American Spectator. The issues, however, are universal.
Last week the Brown government made a classic false economy with higher education spending. It abolished the Commonwealth Scholarship scheme to save £10 million a year. This scheme has, for 49-years, brought bright students from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to study at the UK’s best universities (which are cash-strapped compared to their U.S. counterparts). It effectively doubled the pool of bright, English-speaking students from which Oxbridge and the University of London were able to draw. Top U.S. schools will now get these students instead. So, to save 10 million quid, British universities are having their talent pools halved.
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Comments
kinglear
March 25th, 2008 4:07pmSo typical - they have absolutely no understanding of education requirements, and their continued hash of matters with unintended consequences reveals their hatred of intelligence & class
Not so stupid as all that
March 25th, 2008 4:19pmErr. No. These universities are rich. Richer than the average taxpayer, that is for sure. If they want to attract students from these places they can offer them bursaries. End of.
Nicholas
March 25th, 2008 6:59pmThe photo of Brown with this feature is wonderful. It makes him look like the Last Empress of China, cloistered from reality inside the Forbidden City, surrounded by emasculated sycophants and a huge train of hangers on. The Lord High Turd Polisher anyone?
Chuck Unsworth
March 25th, 2008 7:26pmIs that pic of Brown Photoshopped? It looks as if it was done by a fourth-former on acid. Then again, so does he.
Of course talking-up a 'skills crisis' is a good wheeze. It enables more money to be poured into useless 'educational' establishments and keeps young people in training - i.e. off the unemployed figures. And, hey, it's only (taxpayers') money, anyway.
John Lea
March 26th, 2008 9:12amI don't know about anyone else, but having read Adam Creighton's article, I intend enrolling in a Gender Studies course a.s.a.p. The articles they get to read sound fantastic! I can't believe I wasted four years at university reading the likes of Henry James and D.H.Lawrence.