I have absolutely no objection to paying more tax, and having more of it spent on educating other people, because of the massive collective benefits that come from living in a well educated society.

But what I would really like to hear, before any policies are brought forward, is a conversation about what we think higher education is for? At the moment, it seems, Vinny’s response to that question might be that HE should be for about 2 years!

@cornerstone, I keep my fingers crossed that we have enough collaboration going on to make that difference!

@Nick, you’re absolutely right that a great deal is already shared, which is fantastic. That makes me even more sad when some unis, groups & individuals make comments based on their own interests, ignoring the bigger picture. I can’t help but think that’s not the right move now, especially in these unusual times.

You’ve got some good ideas there on possible new degree routes. I imagine more flexible routes are the way forward, so long as they can be found workable. That’s partially why I would rather separate institutions had the choice. A broad brush approach bringing in new rules across the board would surely not be helpful to anyone at this juncture.

I have been somewhat skeptical of the Shared Services agenda, which strikes me as driven by oversimplistic ideas of economies of scale. However we do have some excellent shared services, such as http://www.outofhourshelp.ac.uk/

I want to see collaborations between universities where the partners play to their strengths and unique missions. The most obvious example of a university with a unique mission is the Open University.

After some high profile failures, I think traditional universities widely accept that distance learning is not a cash cow to sell their wares to more and more students. That is the core strength of the OU, it has the skills to do it and has the market sewn up.

How about a traditional three year full-time university degree but with one year delivered at a distance by the OU? Perhaps two years are delivered in a traditional university setting, and one year consists of an industrial placement with simultaneous distance learning modules delivered by the OU. This should cut the cost of delivery while increasing students experience and future employability.

I hope forward thinking VCs are queuing up to talk to Martin Bean…