Paying a price for excellence

If Gordon Brown had stayed in power, he, too, would have been required to preside over a major overhaul of university funding. Ed Miliband should have considered this before he launched his opportunist Commons attack.

In short, the Lib Dems and Tories are sorting out the mess created by Labour's profligacy. The deficit has rendered redundant most pre-election promises on all sides – the vociferous National Union of Students should recognise this.

Yet, as Michael Arthur, the vice-chancellor of Leeds University and the head of the influential Russell Group, argues, the status quo over funding is untenable. Universities, and specifically those with an international reputation for excellence, need extra finance to maintain standards – both in terms of research and ensuring that today's students fulfil their potential.

Though higher fees are regrettable, the safeguards to assist young people from poorer backgrounds go further than Lord Browne envisaged. This is welcome.

However, the funding furore – and its political exploitation – has diverted attention away from the need for a fundamental debate about higher education's role.

Unlike their parents, many 18-year-olds now expect to go to university. Yet, in many cases, they do so because it is part of their rite of passage into adulthood and rather than a desire to study a subject relevant to their intended career.

Another consequence is the proliferation of "soft" subjects that are no longer affordable or justifiable in the current climate when there's such a premium on funding and quality. A course that requires four

hours of lectures a week is not a sufficient test of intellectual rigor. They should be withdrawn, or taught over a shorter timeframe. Likewise, students could study closer to home if they wanted to reduce their indebtedness; they are not being forced to move hundreds of miles away.

Of course, these are difficult dilemmas – and everyone, including students, is being expected to make sacrifices. But the impact of these changes could be mitigated if there was a re-appraisal about the role of universities to ensure excellence at all times. This shake-up should be viewed as an opportunity. Just because a degree course has previously lasted three years does not mean that this should always be the case.