Reino Unido: Top London universities under threat from Government reforms

Reino Unido/Enero de 2017/Fuente: Evening Standard

RESUMEN: Más de 180 destacados académicos de las principales instituciones de educación superior de Londres se unieron hoy para advertir que las reformas gubernamentales pueden socavar las grandes universidades de la capital. Los cambios en la forma en que se organizan y evalúan las universidades podrían dañar la estatura de Londres y disuadir a los estudiantes, especialmente a los extranjeros, de elegir estudiar aquí, afirman. El ataque se produce el día en que el proyecto de ley de educación superior e investigación, dirigido por el ministro Jo Johnson, entra en la etapa de comité en la Cámara de los Lores, donde se enfrenta a un duro paseo de sus compañeros. Unos 185 académicos de Londres de instituciones como Imperial College London, LSE, UCL y la Universidad de Kingston expusieron sus preocupaciones en una carta al Evening Standard, en la cual advirtieron: «El Bill corre el riesgo de socavar todo lo que hemos construido recientemente en Londres».

More than 180 top academics from London’s leading higher education institutions today united to warn that government reforms risk undermining the capital’s great universities.

Changes to the way universities are organised and assessed would damage London’s stature and deter students, particularly those from overseas, from choosing to study here, they claim.

The attack comes on the day the Higher Education and Research Bill, piloted by minister Jo Johnson, goes into committee stage in the House of Lords, where it faces a rough ride from peers.

Some 185 London academics from institutions including Imperial College London, the LSE, UCL and Kingston University set out their concerns in a letter to the Evening Standard, in which they warned: “The Bill risks undermining everything we have recently built up in London.”

London, they said, is a “global education powerhouse” with four of the world’s top 40 universities, earning £6 billion annually and supporting 150,000 jobs.

Among criticisms of the Bill are that it will threaten the ancient freedoms of existing universities and allow new institutions without long track records to award degrees.

Baroness Wolf, the Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of public sector management at King’s College London, said plans for a gold, silver and bronze award would be skewed against London because it would draw heavily on whether students were satisfied with their experience.

She said: “Any survey of the ‘student experience’ will find that large universities in big cities do less well than campus universities or small cosy colleges.

“Students have a mass of reasons to come to top London universities; but they won’t have the same student lifestyle, the tight year groups, the student societies on their doorsteps.

“London is expensive, students — and academics — are scattered. Other countries, like Holland, report the same thing — big city universities get lower ratings.”

Sean Wallis, an academic at UCL who helped to organise the letter, said: “If the UK higher education sector was in crisis, Jo Johnson’s Bill would have merit.

«On the contrary, it’s one of Britain’s few world-leading industries, mostly because governments of every stripe have recognised that universities flourish when they are free from political interference.

“The Government’s proposals would damage the entire sector and London in particular.”

A Department for Education spokesman said: “We want more young people to have the opportunity to access a high-quality university education, and the measures proposed in the Higher Education and Research Bill are critical to making this possible.

“The Bill will protect and enshrine the autonomy and academic freedom of Higher Education institutions in law. And it puts students at the heart of the system, with the Office for Students making universities rightly more accountable to their students so they get the best value for money.

“The new Teaching Excellence Framework will drive up the standards of teaching by assessing universities on key metrics including drop-out rates, progression to highly skilled employment and student feedback as well as an explicit criterion that rewards rigour and stretch in teaching. There is no quota on the number of universities that can be awarded the highest rating of Gold and almost all English universities, including those in the Russell Group, have confirmed that they intend to take part in the second year.

«Since the introduction of the Bill last May, we have been listening carefully to the views of students, universities, academics and parliamentarians and have tabled amendments to the Bill based on their feedback.‎»

Fuente: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/top-london-universities-under-threat-from-government-reforms-a3436076.html