Higher education minister Michelle Donelan says the UK has an ‘obsession’ with pupils going to university – and reveals she is ‘personally’ calling vice-chancellors and ordering them to return to face-to-face teaching
- Michelle Donelan said state advice on further education should base on the pupil
- She says she has been ‘very clear’ to universities to return to in-person teaching
- There have been record levels of complaints from students with 2,763 in last year
The UK has had an ‘obsession’ with all pupils going to university for decades, the further education minister has said.
Speaking to the Commons’ education select committee, Michelle Donelan said that instead of pushing all pupils to university and believing that it is the answer to everything, the state ought to base their further education advice on the individual.
‘The state shouldn’t be telling people what’s best for their lives, it should be opening the doors, creating those opportunities,’ she said.
The further education minister added that both apprenticeships and degrees are both ‘high-quality’ options and that the government wants pupils to start being more informed about choices, other than university, which is available to them.
In response to The Times Education Commission’s suggestion of a broader vocational and academic ‘British baccalaureate’ to replace A-levels, Ms Donelan said: ‘What we really need to be careful of is that we don’t confuse things further.
‘As a Government, what we’re trying to do is simplify the options available so that students and also employers know exactly what qualifications mean, the level that they’re at, the value that they can bring to the workplace.’
The minister, who is an MP for Chippenham, also revealed that she has been ‘very clear’ it is unacceptable for universities not to return to pre-pandemic in-person teaching.
The UK has had an ‘obsession’ with all pupils going to university for decades, further education minister Michelle Donelan (pictured in April at a Cabinet meeting at Downing Street) has said at the Commons’ education select committee
She said she has be personally calling vice-chancellors after receiving complaints from students and parents.
Only a ‘stubborn minority’ are refusing to return to face-to-face teaching, she said, branding their stance ‘illogical’.
Ms Donelan commented on social mobility adviser Katharine Birbalsingh’s statement last week that society should develop a broader understanding of social mobility than the rags-to-riches tale of working class pupils getting into Oxbridge.
Tsar Ms Birbalsingh criticised Britain’s obsession with a ‘Dick Whittington model’ of seeing people rise from poverty to great riches in a generation, saying some people should set their sights lower.
She believes policy makers have been too preoccupied with ‘the person who is born into a family in social housing and becomes a banker or CEO’.
It has meant creating an ‘elite pathway for the few’ rather than creating a broader system that allows more people not suited for higher education to improve their lives, but in ‘smaller steps’.
Miss Birbalsingh, who chairs the Social Mobility Commission, said modest achievements – such as a ‘postman’s son becoming a branch manager’ – should also receive attention.
Minister Donelan said of the tsar’s comments: ‘She was saying there is no one definition of social mobility in terms of outcome; so if you get into Oxbridge and you’re the first in your family to do it that’s an absolutely incredible achievement and everybody should be reaching for the stars and going after their goals.
‘Equally, if you’re the first in your family to go and get an apprenticeship, that’s just as good, and so I think she was trying to say, “Let’s not say one form of social mobility is better than another,” because actually what it’s about is people achieving, progressing in life, succeeding in their own personal goals.’
Ms Donelan commented on social mobility adviser Katharine Birbalsingh’s statement last week that society should develop a broader understanding of social mobility than the rags-to-riches tale of working class pupils getting into Oxbridge. Oxford University is pictured (file photo)
Ms Donelan also said that the government is tackling the issue of student complaints in university ‘head on’ through ‘boots on the ground’ investigations by the Office for Students.
There have been record levels of complaints from students, with 2,763 in The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education’s annual report in May.
She said sometimes the complaints about teaching concerned one ‘rogue faculty’ rather than the whole institution.
Ms Donelan also told of how policies such as minimum entry requirements for student loans – with a proposed threshold of two Es at A-level or a pass in English and Maths GCSE – would prevent ‘lazy social mobility’ where pupils are pushed on to university courses they are not academically ready for.
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