![Liam Byrne](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912122206im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/26/1393425893191/15a69680-d7f9-4951-971f-32a51e4f380c-620x372.jpeg)
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That wraps up today’s event
The chairs are now being stacked up around me , so it’s time to leave and get ready for the Guardian University Awards.
Follow #gdnuniawards to find out who are this year’s winners.
Updated
We had a chance to interview Pericles ahead of the event – here’s what he had to say.
Story of very elite Yale-National University of Singapore collaborative liberal arts college. Not a model easy to copy! #Gdnuniforum
— Aulay Mackenzie (@aulay01) February 26, 2014
Lewis on liberal arts degrees and creating a “community of learning”.
Liberal arts encourages flexibility and a love of learning. It helps you to think actively, develop your cultural understanding and contemplate big topics.
Question we ask at Yale-NUS is this: What must a young person learn in order to live a responsible life in this country?
We must address questions of philosophy and literature and to have some sense of what data manipulation means.
Final keynote from Pericles Lewis, president of Yale-NUS College
'What must a young person learn to live a responsible life in this century?' Great q, should guide more curriculum design. #gdnuniforum
— Russell Bentley (@RKBntly) February 26, 2014
Response from the other D Stevens (NUS): The idea that we aren’t lobbying enough is ludicrous. Things are really bad. Policies are detrimental to international students. And we need to play a bit more hard ball.
Updated
David Stevens: We have to acknowledge that a reduction in the number of students enrolling is not just down to government policy – it’s also down to things like exchange rates and visas.
It’s going to play out differently in different areas. We’ve got at the moment a perfect storm.
Could the current situation be improved upon? Yes certainly. Within the sector we do need to lobby the government but we also need to do so in a measured and controlled way.
![Guardian University Forum](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912122206im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/26/1393428240742/3e3e0425-3390-4af1-b098-212621757e4b-460x276.jpeg)
An Unintended consequence of lobbying against current legislation is a reduction of international student number- D Stevens UCL #GdnUniForum
— Marie-Annick Gournet (@magournet) February 26, 2014
Immigration Bill currently in passage through Lords an imminent disaster for the HE sector? Daniel Stevens of the NUS says yes. #Gdnuniforum
— Aulay Mackenzie (@aulay01) February 26, 2014
Nigel Seaton Abertay VC: can respond to policy change - can't 'run a good British University with a monocultural student body' #gdnuniforum
— Cara Aitchison (@MarjonVC) February 26, 2014
Scott Blinder: Attitudes towards immigration is very negative in the UK. For students, there’s low levels of support for reducing immigration.
Daniel Stevens: International student numbers are down – 36% decline in tier 4 visa issues. The UK is becoming less attractive to international students.
The public don’t consider international students as migrants - they want to see the number stay the same or increase.
51% of non-EU students feel the UK is not welcoming. The immigration bill will put off international students, and there is always this battle between perception and reality.
Education in the UK is second to none, but things are only going to get worse from the immigration bill. It’s important that we stop the bill or remove international students from it.
Nigel Seaton: International students bring in billions of pounds. Money’s important, but what is also important is the impact on the campus environment as a whole. University is a place to be with people from different backgrounds and cultures. I worry about what it will be like in two or three year’s time. We have to sort ourselves out now.
Must stress the importance of language and atmosphere – language is used in the UK which is imported overseas. I find it concerning that landlords might have a go in policing it. That makes me feel uneasy.
'In 2007 there were 140,00 foreign students in the UK, in 2010 there were 230,000, 2012 there were 175,000' Scott Blinder, #gdnuniforum
— QAAevents (@QAAevents) February 26, 2014
Interesting that there has also been a drop in the number of EU students coming to the UK as well as non-EU students #gdnuniforum
— Peter Tinson (@pat3460) February 26, 2014
Immigration and higher education
After a short break we’re back to discuss the much-debated topic of immigration and internationalisation.
Panel includes:
David Stevens, head of international office, UCL
Daniel Stevens, international officer, NUS
Scott Blinder, director, the Migration Observatory, University of Oxford
Nigel Seaton, principle and VC, Abertay University
![Guardian University Forum](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912122206im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/26/1393425734131/31e75397-cac0-48dc-b795-e8b8a558f345-460x276.jpeg)
Kevin Van-Cauter too shy to say crisis in inward HE international recruitment caused by mad visa policy. #Gdnuniforum
— Aulay Mackenzie (@aulay01) February 26, 2014
Biggest impediment to UK students going overseas? Language skills perhaps esp with UK heavy focus on STEM not humanities #gdnuniforum
— Aline Hayes (@Aline_Hayes) February 26, 2014
Still huge barriers in terms of support for student abroad and credit transfers. Hope the outward mobility strategy will fix it #gdnuniforum
— Daniel C. Stevens (@dc_stevens) February 26, 2014
How can universities make the most of these overseas opportunities?
Kevin Van-Cauter: We don’t even know the real costs of TNE (transnational education) and the returns we’re getting. TNE is increasingly seen as a high-quality offer for students. Often students are disconnected with a UK institution, that is an issue and something that needs to be addressed. There has been a shift in way UK teaches international students, not in the UK.
Carolyn Campbell: International students choose UK HE because of reputation. Diversity of international provision brings new opportunites, but also risks. The rise of the global student, plus increased competition, are all challenges that we face.
Anne Marie: We need to talk about the importance of our own UK home students as brand embassadors of UK education. We want to see more benefit from an international experience – how it benefits their life indivdually and also how it benefits the sector. I’ve seen institutions develop innovative practice. I have noticed that opportunities and emerging powers are harder to come by. Got a long way to go in giving our students reciprocal opportunities.
David Greenaway: We have two campuses, one is in UK ad one is in China with 6000 students. Let me say something about why people say: how much do you bring back? That misses the point. It’s not about short-term margins, it’s about long term value. It creates employment opportunities for our students – B2B opportunities – and builds another stream for University of Nottingham alumni, who are brand ambassadors. How do you ensure quality? Hire good quality people, take good quality students, and retain control of the brand. If you want to do this, you have to have long running ambitions
Next panel debate: exporting educational excellence
Our next panel will debate how universities can capitalise on overseas opportunities while ensuring their brand and reputation stay strong.
Panel includes:
Carolyn Campbell, head of international QAA
Kevin Van-Cauter, HE adviser, British Council
Prof David Greenaway, VC, University of Nottingham
Anne Marie Graham, head of outward mobility programme, UK International Unit
![David Watson](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912122206im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/26/1393423289842/7faefd96-c7eb-4fc4-86f8-720f06de581e-460x276.jpeg)
Question from the floor: Isn’t change now happening more quickly?
Watson’s response: Things were changing quickly in the past as well. Think about higher education before industrial revolution and after. There is a sense that things are changing quickly now but we can absorb those. There is a generational difference now as well. I want to urge the longer view.
Question: What your view is on “for profit”?
Watson: Really successful view of for profit is when working in partnership. Really successful examples are when they are working together. The mantra in ‘All the president’s me’ - deep throat says ‘follow the money’. In HE it’s more important to follow the reward.
Question: Isn’t the sector too diverse to generalise?
Watson: It has a collective and an individual value. We can have diversity, but also a degree of discipline.
Updated
Does the world owe us a living?
Watson: There’s another perspective (presents picture of world map where the poles have been reversed).
The “dangerous South”
If you look from South to North, you see a number of different things. Universities are adapting to post-conflict settings and adapting to political overlay.
Investment in HE is seen much more as a consumer good. Many of these things will come to affect our thinking of higher education as we become more connected around the globe.
We have an odd attitude towards the private sector – it is seen as the “cavalry over the hill”. Yet there is a fear about regulating it to the same standard as regular provisions - but this is not the view in many contexts around the world.
The southern narrative is more about “societal pull” rather than “social push”.
International partnerships from the North and South is about international prestige - about saying, “who wants to be in my club?”
Single secret for university leaders on how to adapt to changing HE landscape: creative contemporary cross-subsidy – very unheroic! You will never see a VCs grave stone saying that “he was a great cross-subsidy”
Universities have survived because new layers of infrastructure are built on solid foundations of previous layers #gdnuniforum
— Peter Tinson (@pat3460) February 26, 2014
#gdnuniforum: Unis don't change dramatically in response to avalanche theories, but with marginal changes based on longstanding foundations.
— smita jamdar (@smitajamdar) February 26, 2014
David Watson: How do universities change?
Prof David Watson, principle, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford
Current discourse in higher education – who or what makes the weather? How do we respond? If you read commentary - either HE is going to fix everything or the game is up.
In HE we operate between “desperate hope and desperate fear”. Not surprising when we think of the expectations of us. University are expected to be many contradictory things simultaneously.
If you ask a British vice-chancellor whether their university sits in the public or private sector, they answer yes. We are all hybirds now.
It’s very hard to be world class and young or new
Updated
Plenty of food for thought. Speaking of which, it’s time for lunch! In the meantime, take a look at some of our Twitter highlights:
@GdnHigherEd Madeleine knows her stuff, does she agree with EU perspectives on educating educators & recognising their worth? #gdnuniforum
— Andy Penaluna (@AndyPena) February 26, 2014
Anyone else worried debate on student enterprise still stuck on old assumptions of heroic celebrity US techno profit? #gdnuniforum
— Prof Patrick McGhee (@ProfMcGhee) February 26, 2014
#gdnuniforum Brewin v critical of unis' insistence on taking equity in student start-ups. Rewards are philanthropy/ benefits from alumni.
— smita jamdar (@smitajamdar) February 26, 2014
Profitable, not respectable MT @tomcdavy: #GdnUniForum Brit uni mindset: business is not respectable discipline @Lord_Bilimoria
— Russell Bentley (@RKBntly) February 26, 2014
Interesting point: is the desire to foster entrepreneurship at universities incompatible with online delivery of courses? #gdnuniforum
— Joanna Hemingway (@joannaaa) February 26, 2014
![Guardian University Forum](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912122206im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/26/1393418192139/f6298b0d-abed-4fad-9393-92fd195eb6a4-460x276.jpeg)
Another question from the floor: Surely universities can’t just be judged on what they give to society?
Lord Karan Bilimoria, founder and chairman, Cobra Beer:
“Universities are about preparing people for life after university. I struggle with vice-chancellors who don’t get that.
“I realised starting a business that the most important skill is being creative. I wish I’d realised that and been encouraged. We need to encourage it.”
Peter Brewin: “Pretty much everyone at university hasn’t started a company, so you’re looking at something quite alien. The question of whether universities should be involved in this, is of course they should. You’re already paying for all these workshops and labs – so they could be used. Universities absolutely should be and have to be backing us.
Question from the floor
Question: Do all students really need to be entrepreneurial?
Panel: Yes – the skills we’re trying to instill in graduates are entrepreneurial skills. Students get involved in entrepreneurial societies for different reasons. What does it mean to be entrepreneurial? It’s a whole load of skills. But we need to be clear about the difference between being entrepreneurial and entrepreneurship (starting a company).
What do you think? Do you agree that all students need to be entrepreneurial? Have your say in the comments below.
Hushpreet Dhaliwal, chief exec, National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs
I provide a student perspective. We were launched by students to encourage the growth of student enterprise societies.
Students can explore student entrepreneurship as a career option. These societies are really maturing and gaining traction. We’ve grown that model from 12 to 80 universities.
It’s all about learning by doing – having a go at solving a problem. It’s important to think about how this generation engages with the university community – this generation is the Facebook generation.
But the point that I really want to stress is that student enterprise societies are additive. Universities need to be committed to entrepreneurship on campus. Universities are a great place to start a business!
From the Twittershpere
We need to be careful about being entrepreneurial and entrepreneurship said Peter Brewin #GdnUniForum
— Marie-Annick Gournet (@magournet) February 26, 2014
"There's a squeamishness about entrepreneurship in universities". Need to promote problem solving and creativity as key skills #gdnuniforum
— Peter Tinson (@pat3460) February 26, 2014
More wisdom from Steve West: the benefit to SOCIETY of entrepreneurship citing philosophy students in social enterprises. #gdnuniforum
— D Mossley Consulting (@dmossleyconsult) February 26, 2014
Lord Karan Bilimoria @GdnHigherEd #GdnUniForum the most important skill is to be creative @inspiredaub at last!
— Simon Pride (@SimonPride1) February 26, 2014
Now on to fostering student innovation and entrepreneurship
Steve West, chair, University Alliance
We as universities are having to become more entrepreneurial and innovative. We are having to adapt the way we engage in student communities. The route for graduates is not necessary determined by the discipline they are studying.
Universities need to work in partnerships, particularly with SMEs. They need to think how they can engage with the world beyond the university walls – and this will help students think about how to become entrepreneurial.
All students need to have entrepreneurial skills, and be creative an innovative in how you think and operate.
Students need to learn how to cope with failure
Every single entrepreneur I have talked to has learned about failure – the education environment is not very permissive of that. How do we create a space for that in universities?
Graduates have to be able to adapt. We need to embed within their curriculum entrepreneurial opportunities so they can be inventive and creative in the future.
![Nicola Dandridge](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912122206im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/26/1393414613936/1a994b86-dd8a-4139-8307-ec3e7e831ce8-460x276.jpeg)
Nicola Dandridge, chief exec, Universities UK
There is a real sense of unfinished business in terms of government policy on teaching reform. We haven’t got what feels like a sustainable funding model.
Universities encourage students from different backgrounds, unlike what Liam Byrne said.
In terms of research funding – it was a pretty significant cut. It’s going to be very hard for a future government to carry on talking about economic strategy. This is getting very serious – we are not investing in research.
What we in the UK will be looking for from each political party is long-term investment – looking for a competitative commitment.
What you're saying...
.@toni_pearce absolutely smashed it at the #GdnUniForum. Talking sense on value of vocational edu & young people. pic.twitter.com/uLHW0Ejc4y
— Daniel C. Stevens (@dc_stevens) February 26, 2014
#gdnuniforum question from floor - how can you get business to engage with HE?
— Daff Richardson (@DaffRichardson) February 26, 2014
#gdnuniforum Question identifies how in China private donations contribute to Uni funding. How can UK increase this?
— smita jamdar (@smitajamdar) February 26, 2014
Updated
Toni Pearce, NUS president
We can lift the student numbers cap, but where are students going to live and how are we going to support them etc? We can conflate universities and higher education, it’s not the same. Policy and reality of student finance are detached from each other, and student finance is not sustainable.
It’s unsustainable for individual students living in the UK – where are we expecting students to get the money for a masters? I’d be really keen to see a much clearer vision about how further, higher and postgrad education all works together.
We tell people that further education is only for people who can’t do higher education – but that’s not true. We need further alignment between all these.
Employment
Students and parents are concerned about value for money, e.g number of hours per pound. This is a false way of looking at the higher education system. We should be expecting best quality of education whether paying or free.
Students are told if you do everything right and get good A-levels, you’ll get a job. It doesn’t happen anymore but we’re still saying that. Then when they don’t get a job we say it’s their fault.
It’s not up to universities to tell people how to be employable - we need the jobs to be there in the first place.
More from Liam: 'it's ridiculous that students are quoted in net migration targets'
We simply don’t have enough routes up to higher level skills.
First thing we’ve got to do is protect science in UK universities – we’re going to have to ask ourselves how we are to maintain that. The challenge has got to be how we grow.
We’ve got to stop shutting Britain off – students are clear about the signals they’re reading from UK politicians.
We have got the balance wrong and we will change it. We have got the post study regime wrong too.
We have a student finance system that is slowly going bust. £70-80bn is at risk – I’m not sure we can afford it, and it’s not a sustainable or strong enough system.
![Liam Byrne](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912122206im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/26/1393412130636/df228d33-b5b6-4be3-82ee-4f477531c20b-460x276.jpeg)
What you're tweeting
#gdnuniforum Byrne: strong case to reform system to improve access to postgrad education.
— David Adger (@davidadger) February 26, 2014
#gdnuniforum @LiamByrneMP Need to ensure Britain is globally connected. Balance of Current system is wrong esp on post study work visas.
— smita jamdar (@smitajamdar) February 26, 2014
We have got the balance wrong re welcoming overseas students - Byrne #GdnUniForum
— Russell Bentley (@RKBntly) February 26, 2014
Liam Byrne MP up next...
“My starting point is the starting point that every Labour politian will begin with – cost of living. Most families today have to work an extra two hours a week to earn what they were in past.
For the mediam term, the only way we can escape this predicament, is to earn our way to a better way of living, which is what we do.
Need more jobs in this sector
Our teaching system is not keeping up with technology that’s shaping the world around us. While we’re reducing science spending, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, and Obama, US president, are investing more.
Our competitors are not simply inventing things, they’re also making things – that is the competition. It’s not just the power of our competitors, it’s computer power too.
So what is going to happen is the economy is increasingly going to seperate into a high skilled sector and a low paid low skilled sector.We need to make sure there are more high level jobs and more ladders to allow people to break through to those jobs
This is the challenge we face in higher education – you are drawing on a talent pool that is just too small.
We do a terrible job of making sure that apprenticeship people go on to higher skills – currently only 6000 going on to higher level five.
Quite simply Britain doesn’t have an earn one earn two route to higher level skills.
What's next for higher education policy?
Sir John O’Reilly, director, general knowledge and innovation, BIS says:
Graduates are good for the economy. We’ve seen growth in student numbers and growth in proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. We’ve also seen a substantial commitment to science capital.
Generally our sector is seen to be in good shape, but there is a need to diversify income streams.
More students than ever before have secured their first choice in university – and students from lower income backgrounds are not being put off applying. Postgraduate study has also moved up the agenda, and the government recognises concerns about postgrad provision.
Let’s be clear, expansion shouldn’t be undertaken lightly – student experience should be as good as could possibly be.
Maintaing quality is key – the UK system is well established and very much on the radar with the government – lets make sure we keep it there.
![Gavin Ellison](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912122206im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/26/1393409873615/d968b17b-fd91-4b9e-840c-23d4cbed690e-460x276.jpeg)
Your reactions to the YouGov survey
The yougov parental attitude survey will work well next to our Revisions and Decisions research @AGrassby @smrsltd #GdnUniForum
— Dan Beynon (@danbeynon) February 26, 2014
Perceived value for money is key issue but "cheap" fees not a success in recent past. Conundrum. #Gdnuniforum
— Aulay Mackenzie (@aulay01) February 26, 2014
Employability important facet of sense of "value" in doing a degree BUT highish percentage see value of degree for own sake #GdnUniForum
— Aline Hayes (@Aline_Hayes) February 26, 2014
#gdnuniforum what do parents think about universities marketing efforts. Is there a skepticism about this?
— David Adger (@davidadger) February 26, 2014
Findings reveal some interesting trends:
- 60% of parents in london compared to 37% of parents in the north east expect their children to apply to university
- For parents who earned over £50k, 80% expected their child to apply to university
- 29% of parents say the university experience is overrated
- Third of parents believe it benefits you more from going to work than university
- Nearly half of parents think apprenticeship is a good route
Exclusive findings from Guardian's YouGov poll
Gavin Ellison, director of public sector at YouGov presents the exclusive findings from the Guardian’s YouGov poll - more on this story can be found here in this Guardian report.
Welcome from the chair Sue Littlemore
Sue Littlemore, education journalist and former BBC education correspondent, sets the scene talking about the changing landscape of higher education.
From impact of new immigration policies to expanding student places, and from the BIS grant letter to Hefce calling for the need to protect high-cost subjects, to industry-university collaboration – there’s certainly a lot of food for thought.
So how will universities cope in these changing times? David Watson, University of Oxford, will offer his thoughts later this afternoon.
Welcome to the Guardian University Forum 2014
Hello and welcome to our live blog coverage from the Guardian University Forum 2014. This year our theme is competing on a global stage.
At a time of unprecedented international expansion, we are bringing together top decision-makers from UK universities to discuss the strategic and practical challenges facing the sector.
From 9.30am – 4.30pm we’ll bring you the latest views from the event, including what you’re saying on Twitter (#gdnuniforum).
Highlights from the day include:
- Liam Byrne MP on what’s next for higher education policy (10:15am)
- Professor David watson, University of Oxford, on how universities are coping in a changing climate (1:05pm)
- Professor David Greenaway, vice-chancellor of the University of Nottingham, on international collaboration (1.40pm)
- Pericles Lewis, president of Yale-NUS on the challenges of setting up overseas campuses (3:35pm)
Share your thoughts in the comments below and tweet any questions you have to @gdnhighered using #gdnuniforum.
Updated