Clause 30 - General duties of relevant authority
Higher Education Bill
3:30 pm
Mr Tim Boswell (Daventry, Conservative)
I agree with that. I accept the Minister's encyclopaedic knowledge of the labour movement. I also accept his good will in the matter. There are many people who would like to intervene on the specific and there are lots of people whose agendas are not quite as objectively motivated as they may appear. I saw a few signs of that from those on the Labour Benches whose views are dripping with interventionism in this matter. If that happens it will damage the universities. It will be demeaning to the students who are admitted and it will not achieve the growth in potential that we all wish to see.
My biggest worry, my fundamental reason for opposing these proposals, is not so much the proposals themselves although, as my hon. Friend said, they need clarification, it is what they may lead to. First, there may be specific controversies, which will then generate heat for further and damaging intervention of a specific kind. Secondly—this has been touched on a little—if they do not work and if there is not a huge
bouleversement in the socio-economic characteristics of university entry, those who are interested in social engineering will come back to the charge. They will argue that they have to do the job properly: the regulator's remit will have to be re-jigged or the Secretary of State will have to give him instructions. At that point, all the Minister's fair intentions and all his assurances will be switched off. That would be a bad day for our universities, for our students and for academic freedom.