Office for Students

Education – in the House of Commons am ar 9 Medi 2024.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Matt Western Matt Western Llafur, Warwick and Leamington

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Office for Students.

Photo of Dan Aldridge Dan Aldridge Llafur, Weston-super-Mare

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Office for Students.

Photo of Bridget Phillipson Bridget Phillipson The Secretary of State for Education, Minister for Women and Equalities

For too long, universities have been treated as political battlegrounds. This Labour Government will treat them as engines of opportunity and growth. On 26 July, I published the report of the independent review of the Office for Students and appointed Sir David Behan, who led the review, as the interim chair. Under new leadership and with a sharpened remit, the Office for Students will concentrate on securing the future of universities and putting students first.

Photo of Matt Western Matt Western Llafur, Warwick and Leamington

I welcome the Secretary of State to her position. Last year, the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee presented its report, which was very critical of the OfS—we did not need to read between the lines to understand just how poorly the Committee thought of it. It felt that it was serving neither the students nor the providers. What plans does she have to reset the relationship with the OfS so that it gives renewed focus to the students that it is supposed to represent?

Photo of Bridget Phillipson Bridget Phillipson The Secretary of State for Education, Minister for Women and Equalities

I thank my hon. Friend for all his work in this important area to ensure that our universities are recognised as a crucial part of how we drive growth in our country. Sir David’s review, which we published in July, is a platform for improvement, and I welcome and accept its core findings. The Government will support the OfS in refocusing on fewer key priorities, to do what is most important for students and universities, and to do it well. We will take the necessary action to support that work.

Photo of Dan Aldridge Dan Aldridge Llafur, Weston-super-Mare

Young people in Weston-super-Mare and across our country deserve the very best opportunities. Since 2016, University Centre Weston has transformed access to higher education in our town, meaning that more can study closer to home, improving access. How will the Labour Government seek to strengthen the strategic objective of the Office for Students to widen participation in communities such as mine?

Photo of Bridget Phillipson Bridget Phillipson The Secretary of State for Education, Minister for Women and Equalities

I strongly agree with my hon. Friend about the importance of widening participation, and he sets out clearly how universities are a key part of towns and cities right across our country. The last Government wanted to use our world-leading sector as a political football, talking down institutions and watching on as the situation became even more desperate. I have appointed the new interim chair to sharpen the focus of the Office for Students, focus far more on the financial sustainability of the sector, and return universities to being the engines of growth and opportunity that we want to see after 14 wasted years.

Photo of Jesse Norman Jesse Norman Ceidwadwyr, Hereford and South Herefordshire

I am delighted to hear the right hon. Lady talk about engines of growth and opportunity, because that is exactly what universities are when they are well run. In my county we have a new university, the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering, which is doing exactly that, and offering incredible opportunities for young people to do a masters programme in three years, and then, as we are seeing with the new cohort, to go into companies as good as BAE Systems, Kier, Balfour Beatty, the Atomic Weapons Establishment and others. That work has been assisted by the Office for Students, which granted new degree-awarding powers. Does the right hon. Lady share my view that this is a deeply worthwhile enterprise that could be replicated around the country, and will she come and visit herself?

Photo of Bridget Phillipson Bridget Phillipson The Secretary of State for Education, Minister for Women and Equalities

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising this matter. I would be happy to meet with him to discuss it further.

Photo of James Wild James Wild Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary (Education)

We have seen attempts by hostile states to influence our higher education sector, which the last Conservative Government took action to counter. Does the Secretary of State therefore share the concerns about reports that Peking University HSBC Business School in Oxford may be partly operating under Chinese Communist party rules, and does she expect the Office for Students to investigate that?

Photo of Bridget Phillipson Bridget Phillipson The Secretary of State for Education, Minister for Women and Equalities

The shadow Minister will know that the Office for Students is independent, but I will ensure that it looks very carefully at the concerns that he has set out, and addresses them accordingly.