PRIORITIES

FOR

GOVERNMENT

OUR BELIEFS

People are rightly seen as the mostimportant resource we have in the UK.Higher Education plays an essential rolein developing people, equipping themwith knowledge, skills, curiosity andcreativity and equipping them for thechanging world of work. Universities andcolleges have a unique capacity totransform their local communities andeconomy, support social mobility andextend the boundaries of knowledge.

Supporting Economic Development Addressing the Climate CrisisPromoting inclusion and diversity

GuildHE members are universities,university colleges and other institutions,each with a distinctive mission and priorities.They work closely with industries andprofessions and produce locally relevant andworld-leading research. They are a crucialpart of the UK’s diverse higher educationsector. Diversity means more choice for studentsand for graduate employers and moreopportunities to reach out to new learners. Itencourages fresh approaches to researchand different ways of engaging withbusiness, industries and charities. Itdevelops new ways of enriching the social,economic and cultural prosperity of life in theUK’s communities and regions. Our priorities for an incoming governmentare:

DIVERSITY IS THE KEY TO EXCELLENCE

The future UK economy must be highlyinnovative, globally connected and locallysuccessful, actively addressing regionaleconomic inequalities within the UK. GuildHEmembers and other higher educationinstitutions have teaching and research linksacross Europe and globally. They provide theskills, practical research and innovation tosupport sustainable economic success in everypart of the UK. Small and specialist institutionsare often deeply embedded in their town/cityand region,providing accessible learningopportunities, support for local business andpowerful civic engagement.

SUPPORTING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The process for agreeing degreeapprenticeships standards needs to befaster and more streamlined. There must not be an artificial dividebetween technical (T-Levels) and academic(A Levels) qualifications. Sufficient bridgingqualifications are needed between the twopathways.

The next government can help by: Ensuring higher education institutions arecentral to the development of high levelskills and are funded sustainably. GuildHE institutions work closely with industriesand professions and are major providers in awide range of technical subject areas: 

Investing a greater proportion of researchfunding in applied and close-to-marketresearch throughout the UK;Providing additional funding to smallerresearch environments in between cyclesof the Research Excellence Framework toaccelerate their development; Reviewing knowledge exchange fundingthresholds to allow smaller and specialistinstitutions to translate their innovations towider socio-economic success; and; Developing appropriate metrics formeasuring relevant knowledge exchangeactivity.

Funding excellent research wherever it isfound and supporting innovation andenterprise whatever the scale:

Guaranteeing the current status of non-UKEU staff and students in the UK, and that ofUK staff and students based elsewhere inthe EUEnsuring that UK academics are able tocollaborate with researchers across the EUand further afieldSecuring continued access to EU researchand innovation funding streams, such asthe Horizon Europe programme, or gainingadequate alternative fundingFostering globally aware students throughErasmus+ and other exchangeprogrammes

Securing a post-Brexit relationship with theEU that supports mobility, talent andcollaborative research:

Lowering the minimum salary threshold to£21,000Having a pro-rata salary threshold for part-time employment. This is particularlyimportant for both portfolio careers, suchas those in the creative industries, andequality purposes given the genderimbalances in full and part-timeemployment.Model the impact of any immigration salarythreshold in different parts of the countryand lower it where appropriate.

Putting in place a fair and robustimmigration system that supports alluniversities and colleges to attract talentedpeople:

Creativity needs to be fostered at an earlyage, embedded in the school curriculumand with a strong range of specialist highereducation providers delivering a pipeline ofcreative graduates for the economy;GuildHE endorses the recommendationsof the Durham Commission on creativity ineducation.

The jobs of the future will require us toimagine new ways of doing things. The UK is known around the world for thestrength of its creative industries - from our filmto the computer games industry and from musicto art and fashion. The creative industries areworth over £100 billion to the UK economyaccording to the Department for Digital, Culture,Media and Sport:

Responding effectively to the climate crisis mustbe a strategic priority for any incominggovernment. Higher education institutions arewell placed to help. As educators, researchersand innovators with business and the thirdsector, higher education institutions have thepotential to be uniquely powerful contributors totackling the climate emergency.   Universities and colleges are already takingaction, including through focusing theirprocurement on sustainable companies;ensuring their energy is from renewable sources,and investing in sustainable estates, highlightingclimate change in risk registers and strategicplans and seeking to be active participants in acircular economy.  But we know there is much more to do. GuldHEis collaborating with Universities UK, the AoC andEAUC in setting up a climate commission foreducation sector leaders, to enable us to moreefficiently target these efforts. The nextgovernment should work collaboratively with thiscommission, harnessing the capacity of thesector to solve hard problems and showingleadership in response to the passionateconcerns of students and young people.

ADDRESSING

THE CLIMATE

CRISIS

CONTACT US

GuildHE, Woburn House | 20 Tavistock Square | London | WC1H 9HB020 3393 6132 | info@guildhCharity Number: 1012218

PROMOTING INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY

Reform student funding so it can beoffered on a per-credit basis, rather thanthe current annual calculation. This wouldallow students to step on and offeducation courses at their own pace andencourage  institutions to be moreinnovative in their delivery.Reinstate and extend non-repayablemaintenance grants for students so that allwho want to can succeed in highereducation. Invest in adult education so that the tensof millions of working-age people whodon’t have a level 3 qualification canacquire new skills and progress in theircareers. Fund national widening participationactivities to allow for greater reach.National engagement activities are just asneeded as local interventions, and willenable a greater number of students toaccess diverse higher education.

Ensure access to high quality highereducation throughout life:

Engage student as partners in shaping theirlearning experience. Student engagement has the potential to have apowerful and lasting impact on the studentexperience.Students should be involved inshaping decisions at all levels, from their courseand institution to the national level, includingdecisions relating to the TEF and the OfS.

Elements of the metrics currently used failaccurately to measure teaching quality.GuildHE institutions firmly believe in thewide and significant benefits a universityeducation can have for the individual, theeconomy and society. A roundedappreciation of this worth is crucial as aflawed calculation about graduate earningsmisleads students, parents and employers.

Develop the Teaching Excellence andStudents Outcomes Framework on thebasis of evidence to ensure students aresupported to achieve their potential. Studentsdeserve the best possible teaching, that ischallenging, supportive and rewarding:

Universities must be recognised as anessential part of this training to ensure thatschools have the skilled staff theyneed. The government should continue towork closely with the Teacher EducationAdvisory Group (TEAG).

Schools and the learning of young people willonly ever be as good as the teachers in them.We need to ensure that there is a goodsupply of excellent teachers, well trained andgiven opportunities for professionaldevelopment: 

Regulation of the higher education sector shouldprimarily be about promoting and defending thestudent interest. GuildHE wants to see agenuinely risk-based approach toregulation that understands and mitigates thedisproportionate burden and cost of regulationon smaller institutions.

Higher education transforms people's lives andshould be accessible to all that are able tobenefit from it. Lifelong learning must be apriority for the incoming government: