Post-18 Education and Funding Review — House of Lords, 2019-07-02
Topic: Education
Frank Ashcroft Judd (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I am very glad that the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, emphasised the international student dimension in all this. I am convinced that we repeatedly and constantly undervalue the importance of the international community in higher education. We live in a totally interdependent world. We have a great deal to learn from other cultures, outlooks and experiences, and the quality of our higher education is intimately related to the presence of a strong international community, especially among undergraduates, postgraduates and, indeed, academic staff. If this review has done nothing else, it has made an invaluable contribution by encouraging this House to concentrate on lifelong learning and to begin to look at the wood in higher education, rather than continuing an unhealthy preoccupation with the trees I will make some wider observations about higher education. We are constantly told that we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Millions of our fellow citizens go to their graves never having begun to appreciate what they might have been and what a full life they could have had. That is totally unacceptable. I have never quite understood why we have so easily drifted into this conviction that, whatever we are doing about funding in higher education, the concept of free higher education is no longer on our agenda. Why not? It is there for secondary and primary education. If we really take the fulfilment of our fellow citizens seriously, why should this not be an overriding priority that deserves consideration? This is about not simply the financing of higher education but the esteem in which higher education is held. That is why so much of what has been said in the debate is so important. It is about how that is reflected in the quality of life of the academics and others who provide educational facilities through their contribution I also believe that it is right to emphasise going back to the concept of quality apprenticeships and what that can mean; as ever, I was fascinated by my noble friend Lord Blunkett’s contribution on that point We must take seriously the confusion that has arisen in discussions, particularly in political quarters, about education and training. We need highly trained, highly skilled people—that is indisputable—but training itself is not education. Education is about enabling people to discover themselves and fulfil their potential, academically and creatively or in another way. For example, I grieve that so many of our fellow citizens have never really been able to enjoy, access or be excited by classical music. Last weekend I was at the opera with my wife and a friend. I looked at the audience and thought that, although it was a wonderful experience, it did not begin to be a socially representative one. Why should this be? Why should other people not get the same joy and pleasure from an occasion of that kind as we do? Our education also means that we can enjoy an art exhibition, crafts and literature. Why should it be that only a small section of the population has the opportunity to read and fulfil a great need through what they derive from great writing, be it fiction, non-fiction, historical or biographical? We need a bit more idealism in the debate about our strategy for education. We are saying that we in the United Kingdom want to live in a society that pats itself on the back not only for being one of the wealthiest nations in the world but for the quality of life of its people, with all their potential In making these remarks, I am a little surprised that we have not really mentioned the Open University and the extension courses provided by many universities across the country. They have been invaluable. It is also true, particularly in the history of the political movement to which I belong, of places such as Ruskin College, which has made a fantastic contribution over history to the emancipation and fulfilment of people from the working classes We need lodestars. I would assert that the crucial one for education is making maximum life fulfilment for all our citizens our ideal—that is, making sure that all citizens are enabled to discover what they are capable of being. It is not just about what they earn; their experience and quality of life are so important. Our deliberations and this interesting review must be judged in history by how far they carry us forward in our idealism for education as distinct from our functional management approach to higher education.