A new inquiry has been launched to investigate the UK’s postgraduate education system.
The Higher Education Commission, an independent body drawn from across politics, business and the education sector, will tomorrow (Monday 6th February) call for an ‘intelligent and strategic debate’ about the role postgraduate education can play in maintaining the UK’s position as a competitive location for high-value, highly-skilled industries.
The inquiry will look at how well UK postgraduate providers perform relative to the rest of world, as well as the career paths of those with postgraduate qualifications.
The Commission, whose membership includes senior parliamentarians from all three main political parties, will also examine postgraduate funding and look at how access to postgraduate education might be improved, amid concerns raised by the Sutton Trust that “increasing fees and living costs effectively make these [courses] off-limits for students from poorer homes[1]
Commission chair Graham Spittle, chief technology officer at computing giant IBM, said the Inquiry will seek to “focus on the challenges that knowledge-intensive parts of the British economy will face over the coming decades and the vital role that postgraduate education can play.””
Spittle added:
“We urgently need a proper strategy for postgraduate education. This inquiry will conduct an evidence-based review of current provision and structures and set out what more the postgraduate system can do to facilitate innovation and deliver the research, knowledge exchange and skilled workforce required for continued success. Recent Parliamentary and media attention has for too long focused on undergraduate education and not the complete university system. This Inquiry will seek to inform on the role postgraduates play in driving growth and social mobility.”
Universities minister David Willetts commented in Parliament last week that while the Government recognises “the value of the postgraduate experience to both the individual and the economy” there remains ongoing “concern about postgraduate issues”. Speaking last November, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also warned that “access to postgraduate degrees (will be) important in promoting social mobility” as part of the Government’s wider social mobility drive.
The Inquiry will gather evidence for six months before reporting on its findings this summer.
