Category Archives: UK

October 25, 2010 · 1:11 pm

UK government set to re-examine Google’s infringements of privacy

Great to see the announcement reported by the BBC that Britain’s privacy watchdog is to re-examine the personal information that Google has gathered from private wi-fi networks.

As the BBC article commented, “The Information Commissioner’s Office had investigated a sample earlier this year after it was revealed that Google had collected personal data during its Street View project. At the time, it said no “significant” personal details were collected. But Google has since admitted that e-mails and passwords were copied. … Google’s admission of more detailed data has prompted further action by the ICO. “We will be making enquires to see whether this information relates to the data inadvertently captured in the UK, before deciding on the necessary course of action, including a consideration of the need to use our enforcement powers,” a spokesman said.‬ Google’s director of privacy Alma Whitten said the company would work with the ICO to answer its “further questions and concerns”.”

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October 17, 2010 · 4:58 pm

Towards a free university

I have generally been highly critical of plans by successive UK governments to commodify higher education and create a free market in university degrees that will require students to pay fees of well over £6000 for their degrees.  The review of higher education chaired by Lord Browne published on 12th October thus commented that “We do not in our proposals include a cap on what institutions can charge for the costs of learning. There is no robust way of identifying the right maximum level of investment that there should be in higher education. A cap also distorts charging by institutions” (p.37).  Under these proposals, universities would be able to receive all of the money for charges of up to £6,000 and then pay a levy on the amounts that they charge above this.

So, how feasible might it be for universities in the UK not to charge students fees for the learning that they receive?  The standard reaction amongst most British vice chancellors to the possibility of increasing fees has been one of relief and welcome as they see it as the only way to counter the decline in income that they have faced in recent years, and that is about to get very much more severe if reports of the impending cut of perhaps 79% in funding for undergraduate teaching in the upcoming spending review prove to be true.  It would be a brave vice chancellor who used this as an opportunity to cut student fees, and provide students with a free education.  However, it would be a remarkably astute piece of marketing, and might just prove to be the means to save their institutions.

This, or course, depends a little on how we choose to define a university – and I see universities as something very, very different from the low quality, mass-producing, learn and regurgitate type of higher education institutions that dominate the world today.  A university should be a place of research and learning; it is where leading academics push the frontiers of knowledge forward, and in so doing enable bright students to learn something of value from them.  Universities are exciting places for those who are bright enough to benefit from the opportunities that they provide; they are dreadful for students who simply want to be taught the right answers to regurgitate in exams. The tragedy in the UK is that this distinction has been blurred, and in seeking to provide a higher education system that enables half of our young people to gain degrees, we have dumbed down the quality and created a system that we can no longer afford.

So, how might a university that provides free learning work?  The following are some tentative ideas:

  1. Such universities could focus primarily on gaining high value research funding, both from government research councils and also from external research contracts.  Whilst undertaking research, academics would also be expected to do some ‘teaching’ (for free), but at a much reduced level.
  2. New ICTs can help dramatically to reduce the amount of time academics actually spend in classes.  Filming of standard lectures, for example, which could be used for more than just one year, and the use of digital learning management systems can effectively reduce the time that academics actually need to spend teaching.
  3. Universities could change their employment contracts, only paying staff for nine or ten months a year (thereby leading to an immediate 16.7%-25% cut in salary bills), and expecting them to gain whatever extra income they wished to through external consultancy or contracts for the additional two or three months. This might actually turn out to be much more lucrative for academics in terms of salaries
  4. Once students have left halls of residence in droves (because they can no longer afford both fees and accommodation),  universities could focus on using this vacated space for the conference trade and other external sources of income generation.  This could then be used to subsidise free education to the students living locally
  5. Learning could be provided for free, but students would then be expected to pay something to take examinations if they wanted the external recognition that modern credentialism demands. Oh for the day when students could get a job without showing that they gained a 2:1 from the university of mass production, but rather by simply showing that they had learnt something from being with Dr. Wisdom!
  6. Might we even be able to move to a system whereby students paid academics on a voluntary basis – as with tips in a restaurant?
  7. Academics could write text books, make them available to students online and charge realistic prices for them, thereby gaining some of the profits traditionally made by textbook  publishers.
  8. Traditional styles of teaching could be changed dramatically.  If academics are spending most of their time doing research, perhaps students could learn by being apprentices, working together with the relevant academics and doing some of the simpler research tasks for them.

These are just a few ideas, and they are proposed here simply to show that the notion of a university where people can learn for free – something very different from free higher education for the masses – is not entirely ridiculous.  All it requires is some imagination, vision and passion.

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October 13, 2010 · 7:41 am

The brave new world of a free market university system in the UK

The Browne review places the final nail in the coffin for the belief that universities are about anything other than economic interest.  From henceforth, university education in the UK has become a commodity to be bought and sold in a free market for individual benefit. Overthrown are beliefs that university education is about intellectual curiosity, about moral judgement, and about communal interest.

The short-sighted stupidity and naïvety of the recommendation that universities should be able to charge market prices for their offerings must, be challenged.  Even for those who see the world purely through an economic lens, the arguments against Browne’s recommendations should be convincing. Imagine a world where:

  • British students increasingly live at home and turn to high quality distance-based courses provided more cheaply by excellent universities, often in other countries;
  • Many students go overseas to study in countries where education is free, thus making a huge cost-saving in gaining a degree and contributing to the local economies of the countries where they study (rather than the UK);
  • Many UK universities shut down, because students realise that the courses they offer are a complete waste of time and do not give them any additional lifetime earning expectations; and
  • Employers, realising even more than they do at present that UK universities do not provide the skills for which they are looking, increasingly employ people without degrees, and give them tailored training courses (often collaboratively with other employers) to ensure that they have the expertise required.

These are just some of the likely economic impacts of the recommendations that are now before government.  The net outcome will be a dramatic reduction in the UK higher education sector, a shift overseas in the amount spent on fees and maintenance by UK born students, an increase in unemployment of former university staff who are unable to gain any other form of employment, and a decline in the wider contribution of the higher education sector to the UK economy.

Even on economic grounds, a decision to let universities charge whatever fees they think the market will stand is fundamentally flawed.  So, even for those who do not care about the social divisiveness, the intellectual sterility, and the communally destructive effects of such policies, these arguments should at least carry some weight!

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October 9, 2010 · 10:14 pm

The Browne Review of Higher Education

Can anyone tell me why Lord Mandelson (the former Business Secretary) chose John Browne (Baron Browne of Madingley) to chair the review of higher education in the UK that is due to report on 12th October?  Given his background, and the wider political agenda of which the review is a part, the report’s conclusions can never really have been in question:

  • Browne spent almost his entire career at BP, beginning as an apprentice in 1966 and rising to Group Chief Executive of the combined BP Amoco group in 2007
  • He was one of the most highly paid executives in the UK, with a reported £5.7 million salary in 2004
  • According to some, he was the person most responsible for cost cutting at BP that many attribute to having led to the Texas City refinery explosion in 2005 and most recently the Deepwater Horizon Explosion in 2010.

In short, he is a businessman, who was paid a salary that most people can only dream of, and built his ‘success’ on cuts.  Although he is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (amongst others), he has shown that he has little real understanding of the purpose of universities, the issues and challenges facing academic and students, and the crucial role that high quality research and teaching must play in Britain’s future.

Surely even he is intelligent enough to understand that increasing fees twofold or threefold will mean that many students will no longer be able to afford to go to university, or will choose instead to go to universities elsewhere in countries  that still believe in the provision of free, high quality university education. A free market in higher education cannot serve the interests of students, of the country, or of university excellence.

Just because Browne was able to earn such a large salary having gained a Physics degree from Cambridge and a Business Master’s degree from Stanford, does not mean that every graduate will be able to do likewise.  Only a few are able to earn the grossly inflated salaries that now seem to be so prevalent amongst senior executives in major corporations and the bankers who brought our financial systems to the point of crisis that has been so damaging to our economy.

A more intelligent and sympathetic Chair might just have led to a more creative and viable future for our once great universities.

Links to my reflections on:

Together, we might just be able to salvage a small number of high quality universities from the impending bonfire of the vanities.

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October 5, 2010 · 10:04 am

Religious faith in the UK

A recent report in The Times highlights that almost 80% of people in Britain describe themselves as having a religious faith:

“More than seven out of ten people in Britain describe themselves as Christian, according to government research. Nearly eight in ten have a religious faith. The number of trainee clergy in the Roman Catholic and Church of England is also approaching record levels, according to figures released yesterday. The first Office for National Statistics household survey recorded Christianity at 71.4 per cent, Judaism at 0.6 per cent, Islam at 4.2 per cent and Hinduism at 1.5 per cent. Sikhism was 0.7 per cent and Buddhism 0.4 per cent. Slough is the most religious town in England, where 93 per cent profess a religious belief, while Brighton is the least, with 58 per cent”.

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September 22, 2010 · 9:15 pm

Rats in Virginia Water

Walking home from the station today, I have to admit to being a little surprised by seeing a rat on the path!  A rat in leafy Virginia Water! A rat not so far from the Wentworth golf club.  The irony was striking.

It was amazing – just sitting there, oblivious to the trains passing by a few yards away, and the car park just nearby. Sadly it scuttled off into the undergrowth before I could get close enough for a better photograph.

I have to say I prefer the deer amongst our local wildlife – even if they do eat the roses and vegetables.  Should rats be seen as pests?  If only hedgehogs were as common as rats perhaps we would have fewer slugs!

It’s amusing to see other mentions of rats in Virginia Water and Wentworth:

  • The Sun recently referred to Peter Crouch (the footballer) in the following terms “Abbey Clancy will forgive love rat fiancé Peter Crouch”, noting on 12th August 2010 that “Crouch looked teed off yesterday during a round of golf at the posh Wentworth course in Virginia Water, Surrey”

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August 24, 2010 · 6:30 am

Jobs or degrees for young people in the UK

It’s that time of year again: school exam results, and pictures of happy young people getting the results for which they hoped, alongside grim stories of those who have failed to make the grade! “Desperate for a degree?” in the Metro on 28th August, ‘”Carnage’ as pupils scramble for university places“, or “Universities swamped in mad dash for places” in the Times

Much of this reporting is highly misleading, especially concerning the difficult decisions young people are facing when they do not get the results that they had wanted. The Metro, for example, comments that “”Up to 200,000 youngsters were expected to miss out on higher education places despite record A-level results”.  Not a bit of it.  Why should anyone think they are missing out?

To be sure, it is very unfortunate when school leavers do much less well at their A levels than expected.  However, they should always have kept one of their university options as a safety net, in case of this eventuality.  There is absolutely no point in keeping  an offer of AAA and another of AAB, when realistically there is a possibility that you might get BBB.  Moreover, there is a fundamentally misplaced assumption that anyone who gets A levels – even low grades – should automatically be able to go to a university!  Why?  University entry is not an automatic right. It should be reserved for those who can benefit most from it, and can best use the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and understanding.

Although youth (18-24 year olds) unemployment in the UK fell by 16,000 over the last month, it is still 324,000 according to the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion.  Many young people are therefore choosing to try to go to poor quality universities, rather than entering the ranks of the unemployed.  Even with average student debt around £25,000 after three years, this is seen as being desirable primarily as a lifestyle choice.  The expectation is that graduate salaries will more than enable this debt to be paid off.  Anyway, at this age, who really cares?

There is little point, though, in many young people with poor A levels scrabbling to go to a university.  Many degrees offer few skills that will ever be of relevance in the job market. Indeed, employers regularly complain about the low skill levels of graduates in the UK! These people would be far better off starting on apprenticeships or entering the work environment immediately. They would not saddle themselves with debt, and in many instances their career prospects are just as good as those of graduates.  Moreover, by the time they are 21 they will have three years of income over and above their peers who waste three years simply ‘having a good time’ at university.  Graduate employment is tough – it is currently estimated that there are now some 70 people searching for every graduate job!  So, instead of going to university, those young people who are not really interested in academic studies should turn to the job market (see report in the Sunday Times on the university of life!).

This is really where we are failing young people.  Youth unemployment is far too high.  We need to encourage more apprenticeship schemes, and create opportunities for more young people to be gainfully employed.  It is far better for them to be working productively rather than costing tax payers money simply to enable them to gain increasingly worthless degrees at low quality universities.  Better still, we should close down half of these so-called universities, and instead create training institutes that would enable young people to gain the skills needed  to compete successfully in the global employment market!

So let’s stop fooling ourselves. Very few young people are actually missing out on university places!

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August 19, 2010 · 3:07 pm

Vacancies for Two New Members of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission

The Secretary of State for International Development is looking to appoint two new members to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK.

The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission is a non-departmental public body, responsible for delivering the UK’s contribution to the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan. It achieves this through the provision of (mainly postgraduate) scholarships and mid-career fellowships to some 700 individuals from throughout the Commonwealth each year. The Commission also nominates UK candidates to take up awards made by other Commonwealth countries. The Commission receives funding from the Department for International Development, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Scottish Executive, and most UK universities.

There are 15 Commissioners, drawn from a range of academic, development, diplomatic and private sector backgrounds. Their roles are to:

  • provide policy direction and oversight
  • monitor the effectiveness of awards
  • ensure appropriate structures for governance and accountability
  • through selection committees held in February and March of each year, select recipients of awards

Candidates are also encouraged to find out more about the work of the Commission from its website, from which annual reports and other key documentation can be downloaded.

Full details of these vacancies are available at http://www.cscuk.org.uk/about/vacancies.asp

As Chair of the Commission, I would be very happy to discuss the post with interested applicants.

Applications should arrive by 17.00 (GMT) on 10 September 2010.

All forms should be completed and returned to the following address:

Dr John Kirkland
Executive Secretary
Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdom
c/o The Association of Commonwealth Universities
Woburn House
20-24 Tavistock Square
London
WC1H 9HF

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August 7, 2010 · 6:52 pm

UK Government switches off child database

I have previously raised concerns about the creation of the national ContactPoint database of all children that was put in place in 2009. I’m therefore delighted to note that this is to be shut down.

The BBC  reports that the “£235m government database containing the records of England’s 11 million children has been switched off. … Within two months of the switch-off all the data collected for the system is to be destroyed, although the information will still remain in the social services, education and health departments it had been gathered from. But there have been concerns that there is nothing collating key information centrally in one place. The system, which has been running since January last year, was always controversial and was set to cost a further £41m a year. After successive delays, it was rolled out to only 15,000 users, out of the initial target of 330,000. The system was used by doctors, social workers, schools, charities and other individuals involved in the protection of children. Many said it was useful in tracking children and discovering the truth about the way they are cared for. …  But civil liberties groups criticised it as intrusive and disproportionate.”

While it is of course crucial that we find ways to try to ensure that all those seeking to support “children at risk” can share information efficiently, the creation of a national database of information about all children raised huge ethical issues.  Whilst it seems that the reason for the closure of ContactPoint was largely on cost grounds, it is good to see that this represents at least a small step back from the excessive use of ICTs by the UK state to maintain databases of information so that it can more effectively monitor and control the country’s population.

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June 11, 2010 · 6:45 pm

In defence of Godstone

Today’s announcement that “Lawyers representing 28 victims of last year’s E. coli outbreak at Godstone farm in Surrey are preparing to demand “substantial” damages in a group legal action” raises complex and interesting issues. Of course it is extremely sad that so many people suffered, and are still suffering, from the outbreak of E. coli traced to the farm in September 2009.  However, Godstone farm has provided an important source of education and enjoyment for thousands of people over many years.  It does not make huge profits, and it is difficult to imagine how the owners could afford to pay substantial damages.

I have extremely fond memories of taking my children to Godstone farm on many occasions more than a decade ago.  What struck me particularly was just how much the owners advertised the importance of people washing their hands.  Indeed, I find it difficult to believe that anyone could have visited the farm then without being aware of the risks that were involved.  Godstone provided many more notices and offered more taps for people to use than did most other farms that we visited.

There is always a risk that people can pick up infections and illnesses from animals.  Parents of young children have responsibilities for their care in all sorts of situations – including the need to wash their hands carefully when they have been in contact with animals.  Likewise, farms have a duty to inform the public as soon as they are aware that their animals definitely carry disease.

I guess that the only real winners in this case will be the lawyers!

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The subsequent independent report published on 15th June  was widely reported as being critical of both the Health Protection Agency and the farm:

  • “A “substantial” number of E.coli cases could have been prevented if health chiefs had responded quickly to an outbreak at a petting farm, a damning report said today. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) missed a key opportunity to take action which would have restricted the size of the outbreak at Godstone Farm, near Redhill, Surrey, last year” (The Independent)
  • St George’s University of London press release about the findings of Professor George Griffin who led the investigation

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