More Means Better: 50 Years of

Higher Education
Roderick Floud
Provost, Gresham College

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 My career
• Taught at University College London, Cambridge, Birkbeck College
London and held Visiting Chair at Stanford.
• Head of University for 18 years
• Member, Economic and Social Research Council, 1993-1997
• Founder Convenor, London Higher Education Consortium, 1999-
2001
• President of Universities UK, 2001-2003
• Vice-President of European University Association, 2005-2007
• Chair of Social Sciences Committee of European Science
Foundation, 2007-2014
• Member of British Academy, AcSS and Academia Europaea and
holder of seven honorary degrees and fellowships
• Published 50 books and articles on economic history

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 1964-2014 and 2014-2064
• The Robbins Report and “More will mean
worse” (Kingsley Amis).
• What has happened since 1964.
• British higher education in 2014 and what
needs to happen now.

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 1964-2014
• More of everything: -
– More students in more universities
– More women
– More part-time students
– More research
– More European teaching and research
– The world
• More has meant better

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Emerging from recession: Guardian
2/5/14

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 More students
• “Throughout our Report we have assumed as
an axiom that courses of higher education
should be available for all those who are
qualified by ability and attainment to pursue
them and who wish to do so.” Robbins Report
1963

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 Students in tertiary education, Great
Britain, 1900 - 2011

Source: 1900-1962 Robbins Report; 1999-2011 UNESCO 7

 Participation in HE (% of age-group)
Year Participation rate

1870 1

1902 1

1938 2

1954 3

1962 4

2004 28

2013 34

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 More women
The % of graduates who are women
Country Bachelor’s degree Doctoral degree

Iceland 69% 44

Portugal 60% 62%

OECD average 59% 46%

UK 57% 45%

USA 57% 53%

China 47% 44%

Japan 44% 28%

Source: OECD, data for 2010 9

The “little woman” wins a Nobel prize
in 1964

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 Male and female participation rates:
England

Source: HEFCE 2013, ‘Trends in young participation in higher education’

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 More part-time students

Source: Eurostudent 2006

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Fall in participation of part-time students

Source: Derived from HEFCE 2013, ‘Trends in young participation in higher

education’
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More research

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Strength of the UK research base

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 More Europe
• The European Higher Education and
Research Areas:
– The Bologna Process
– EU framework programmes, Horizon 2020
and the European Research Council
– The European Science Foundation/Science
Europe

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The world

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The UK is extraordinarily attractive to
international students

Source: OECD 2013, ‘Education at a Glance’

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 Dependence on overseas – ie not UK
or EU -students
• 20-30% overseas students (28)
– Aston, Brunel, Cardiff Metropolitan, Courtauld Institute, Heriot-
Watt, Queen Mary, RAM, RCA, RCM, Royal Holloway, City, Bath,
Cambridge, East Anglia, Edinburgh, Essex, Exeter, Lancaster,
Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield,
Sunderland, Surrey, Sussex, Warwick,
• 30-40% overseas students (6)
– Glyndwr, Imperial, SOAS, Buckingham, UCL, Univ. of Arts
• 40-50% overseas students (3)
– LSE, School of Hygiene, St. Andrews
• > 50% overseas students (1)
– LBS

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 More has meant better
• “This expansion has not been accompanied by
any lowering of standards but rather the
reverse.” Robbins Report 1963

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 2014 - 2064
• Expansion will continue
• Mess, muddle or omnishambles
• What needs to be done: -
– Too many universities, doing too many things
– Specialisation and the reduction of duplication
– Proper funding of research
– Fund, not fund raise

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Young entry rates to higher education

Source: OECD 2013, ‘Education at a Glance’

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 Expansion will continue
18-yr old Participation
rate

Source: HEPI 2013, ‘The impact on demand of the Government’s reforms of

higher education’
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 Mess, muddle or omnishambles
• “it is difficult to defend the continued absence
of co-ordinating principles and of a general
conception of objectives.”
• … “the needs of the present and still more of
the future demand that there should be a
system.” Robbins Report 1963

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Too many universities, doing too many
things

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 Universities as hoteliers
Major Banks - Branches of Santander & Barclays Restaurants –
le Gusta oven & bar, the Dirty Duck, Xananas - to name a few
Bars – the terrace bar, Arts Centre café bar Coffee shops –
Curiositea, Costa Coffee Shops – the Bookshop, Costcutter,
Student Union Market Post Office – located within Costcutter
Hairdressers - Thompson & Murray Hair and Beauty Pharmacy

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Universities as bus companies

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Specialisation and the reduction of
duplication

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 Research funding in the UK
• The state through “dual support”:
– The Higher Education Funding Councils
– The Research Councils
• Charities – e.g. Wellcome, Nuffield, Rowntree,
Leverhulme, Cancer Research UK, etc.
• Europe
• Private industry

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 Proper funding of research?
University Change in share of research funds, 1995-
2014 (Percentage points)
UCL + 3.2

Imperial + 2.8

Oxford + 1.7

KCL + 1.0

Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Reading, + 0.1 to + 0.9

Southampton, York
Birmingham, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, - 0.1 to -0.9
Liverpool, LSE, Manchester, Newcastle,
Nottingham, Sheffield, Surrey, Sussex,
Warwick
Overall change + 6.0
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Fund, not fund-raise

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 Higher education on the cheap

Public investment in HE as Private investment in HE as

percentage of GDP percentage of GDP

Source: OECD 2013, ‘Education at a Glance’

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 Conclusion
• A great British success story – 2.8% of British GDP and
export earnings of £10.7 billion p.a.
• But also a mess and a muddle
• We need to take a fresh look – a new Robbins report
• Meanwhile:
– Fewer universities
– Specialise
– Reform research funding
– Forget fund-raising and
• Fund British higher education properly

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