Set up small universities in towns to drive growth, shadow Commons leader says
Universities should be set up in small cities and towns across the UK to drive growth, the Conservative shadow Commons leader has urged, as he said they could be the 'small modular reactors' in British higher education.
Jesse Norman said there were 50 small cities and towns he had identified which lacked a university, which he believed could be a catalyst for economic growth.
He told MPs that the first students graduated this year from the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering – a university in his Hereford and South Herefordshire constituency. He said it had given them the 'hands-on skill of an apprenticeship, but also the rigour of a masters' degree'.
He said smaller institutions, which were more 'agile', had been lost from the university landscape.
Mr Norman told MPs: 'I mention it now because it highlights what I think could be considered a lack of ambition in the way we've thought about higher education as a country over the last 50, possibly even longer, years.
'This is an institution that is not just focused on marginal educational gain, but transformational improvement. To take a person, male or female, young or old, who might never have thought of going to university at all to help them find their passions, head, hands and heart and take them as far as they can go.'
He added: 'This is the small modular reactor of British higher education.
'I raise this because I want to invite the Government and members across this House to consider whether we could not do this elsewhere. There are 50, at least, small cities and towns and large towns in this country which lack higher education and higher economic growth. There's a huge need for specialist Stem skills, vast amounts of talent deprived of opportunity and this can be part of the solution.'
The call from Mr Norman during business questions comes against a backdrop of difficulties for the university sector across the UK. Numerous university bosses have announced large numbers of redundancies in recent months in a bid to save costs.
The University of Nottingham announced 258 in April while in Scotland the University of Edinburgh said 350 jobs would be cut. In the Welsh capital, Cardiff University announced plans to cut 400 jobs, which was later reduced to 286, and Queen's University in Belfast said 270 jobs could go.
Earlier this month, the chief executive of Universities UK, Vivienne Stern, said falling per-student funding, a decline in international student numbers amid immigration rule changes, and a drop in research grants were all contributing to falling income for institutions.
This week the Government announced it was considering a 6% levy on international students, which Universities UK fears could further damage student numbers.
Commons leader Lucy Powell acknowledged the importance of Stem subjects, and told MPs her son was studying engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Ms Powell said: 'I hear what he says about the new technical university in his constituency in Herefordshire, it sounds like a really very important and good innovation to provide technical education and engineering pathways, particularly for people from backgrounds that might not otherwise access such education.'
Ms Powell said she was disappointed in the lack of praise from Mr Norman for the growth figures, released on Thursday, which showed a 0.7% increase in gross domestic product (GDP) between January and March.
Mr Norman had said: 'We've had a week of mixed economics, growth slightly up, wage growth weak, a spike in unemployment, as everyone had predicted in the case of national insurance.
'We've also had an immigration policy launched with echoes of Enoch Powell and a prime minister who doesn't know the difference it appears between capital and current spending in relation to hospices who are seeking to support people day-to-day across this country who are literally at death's door.'
Ms Powell replied: 'He didn't seem to want to welcome the good news on growth figures out this morning, and he didn't mention the interest rate cut last week either.'
She added: 'Former chancellor George Osborne said of his current leader and the stance of his current party that they're more interested in culture wars than having a serious economic plan. I mean he's right, isn't he?'
She continued: 'They've got no idea where they stand on the economy, they've got no plan for the economy, we've got a plan, we've got a plan for growth, a plan to improve living standards, a plan to put money back in people's pockets and today people are starting to see the fruits of that.'
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