Oxford snub for Willetts as reforms attacked

ACADEMICS from one of the country’s most prestigious universities have passed a landmark vote of no confidence in David Willetts and dismissed Government’s higher education reforms as “reckless, incoherent and incompetent”.

There were cheers inside the Oxford University’s Sheldonian Theatre yesterday as dons overwhelmingly voted against the beleaguered university Minister.

A motion which called on Oxford’s council to “communicate to government that Oxford University has no confidence in the policies of the minister for higher education” was voted through by 283 votes to five.

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It is the first time a vote of no confidence in a Minister has been passed by an English university, and follows a no-confidence vote taken recently by the Royal College of Nursing in Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s management of NHS reforms.

The higher education sector has been faced with massive uncertainty since the Government voted through plans to raise the cap on fees to £9,000 and cut university teaching budgets by 80 per cent over the next four years.

The cut of around £2.9bn means universities will be more dependent on fee income.

Mr Willetts’s department had expected universities to charge around £7,500 on average under the new system.

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Instead the majority plan to charge the maximum, meaning the Government is set to create a massive funding shortfall which could lead to further cuts to universities budgets or reductions in student places.

There has also been controversy over the suggestion that rich British students might be able to buy “off quota” additional places at university by paying the same rate as international students.

The proposals for off-quota places were floated by Mr Willetts last month but within 24 hours Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to intervene to deny the Government wanted to allow rich students to pay their way into higher education.

Proposing the no confidence motion in Mr Willetts to Oxford University’s Congregation yesterday, Prof Robert Gildea said: “We are under attack from Government policies that are reckless, incoherent and incompetent.”

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He warned that moves to introduce “off quota” places, outside the current cap, and announcements like that by a group of academics led by AC Grayling to set up a new private humanities university, risk introducing a “two track” admissions system.

“It’s red carpet entry for the rich and even more competition for everyone else,” he said.

He told Congregation that some academics may have concerns about Mr Willetts being named in the resolution.

But he added: “This Minister has been central to promoting these policies, outspoken in defending them and responsible for delivering them.

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“That’s why, in this unprecedented way, we are calling him to account.”

Prof Margaret MacMillan, warden of St Antony’s College, accused the Government of “making policies on the fly, trying something and when that doesn’t work, trying something else.”

She raised concerns that the university would be forced to bring in more higher-paying foreign students, saying she did not want Oxford to “end up as a finishing school for rich students from around the world”.

David Barclay, president of Oxford University’s Student Union, told dons: “I speak for a generation of disadvantaged students who may never even come to Oxford, deterred by the extraordinary leap in fee level and by the parents for whom £27,000 is more than they earn in a year.

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“I speak for all these people and I need you to speak for them too.

“Because you have a platform to pass judgement publicly on the damage that is being done to higher education across the country.”

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: “Universities have always been bastions of free speech and debate.

“However, our student and university finance reforms are fairer than the present system and affordable for the nation.

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“No student will be asked to pay upfront costs, there will be more financial support for poorer students and those who go on to earn the highest incomes will make the largest contributions after they have graduated.”

Under the Government’s planned reforms, universities which want to charge more than £6,000-a year had to submit plans to the Office for Fair Access (Offa) demonstrating the extra support which they would provide to students from the poorest households. Offa is set to announce whether each university’s plans have been accepted next month.