Higgins suggests more funding for top universities

The University’s Vice Chancellor, Chris Higgins, has been discussing alternative methods of distributing funds to the Higher Education sector since the announcement of government spending cuts.

As reported in the last edition of Palatinate, Lord Mandelson recently announced cuts to the Higher Education budget. However, questions have now been raised as to whether the sector can survive and uphold its integrity for teaching if such dramatic cuts are made, affecting even the most esteemed universities.

Several voices have spoken out about the recent events, including Professor Higgins, who suggests an alternative solution to the focus on finance, He commented “we need to cut off the weak end otherwise we will spread everything very thinly and we will end up with a poor education where no student gets what they deserve”.

In an interview with Palatinate, Prof Higgins claimed that “higher education is not equal”. He stressed the need to identify differences in quality between establishments as he believes “there is a pretence at the moment that all universities are the same”.

He continued to say that “money that goes to universities for research and teaching should be used for excellence. The question is how to best configure the sector to deliver the best possible research and the best possible education for the money available”.

Many have criticised Higgins’ biased opinions, calling him an advocate of elitism. He responded, “People might see Durham as elitist. Durham is elite, but not elitist, there is a difference. We look for elite students, but it doesn’t matter what background they come from”.

Whilst discussing student intake compared to those of other universities, The Vice Chancellor emphasised the need for healthy competition to maintain high standards of excellence. “It’s great having 40% of students going to university but if we are going to produce the leaders of the future, which universities like Durham do, you’ve got to have the brightest students”.
However, there is the difficulty that universities are given a limit as to the intake of students they are allowed each year. In Higgins’ view, “we need to get rid of these regulations so universities can compete for students and students can compete for where they want to get to. That’s the only way to improve excellence in the end”.

One of Higgins’ major concerns was that students will turn to international alternatives if UK university standards slip as a result of a shortage of funding. He believes that “What matters is how we compete on the international stage. Students are mobile and if we are not careful the top universities will miss out on the top students, who will decide to go to Harvard and Princeton rather than Durham and Cambridge, and so we need to make sure that we have those top universities”.

So will there be an increase in tuition fees? Higgins maintains, “the key factor is that whatever government we have, how much of the onus of Higher Education they put on individual students, or how much will the government pay; it costs to educate someone.”