False economy on universities

But the reason so many doubts now surround the Prime Minister’s leadership is because of the coalition’s failure to implement common sense measures and bring an element of joined-up thinking to the policy-making process.

In short, this Government needs to be rolling up its sleeves and working “morning, noon and night” to put in place policies to inspire strivers and to cut the deficit – the theme of Mr Cameron’s speech in Keighley last week.

The problem is that this is not happening at a sufficient pace because of the constraints of coalition government; the inflexibility of a dogmatic Civil Service and the inability of politicians to see the ‘bigger picture’ because they lack the philosophical grounding of their predecessors.

Take universities. Despite the furore over the trebling of student tuition fees, a controversial policy necessitated by the desperate state of the public finances, Britain is still a world leader in higher education.

Yet, because of the Conservative Party’s need to appease its Right-wing, the finances of some universities are being compromised by the immigration cap which makes it more difficult for wealthy students from overseas to obtain degree places.

The consequence is higher education failing to produce the scientists and innovators of tomorrow – the people whose expertise and ingenuity can generate huge sums for the Exchequer.

And the short-sightedness does not end here. A new Parliamentary report reveals the incoherence of Whitehall thinking – and how universities do not have the resources to exploit the commercial benefits which can be accrued from new scientific discoveries. The consequence is start-up firms being acquired by foreign companies to secure much-needed investment.

This is not a new trend – it actually began under the last Labour government – but the big disappointment is that Mr Cameron’s administration seems so ill-equipped to put in place policies to enable universities to flourish.