Progress on Reaching Higher

It is over a year since I announced the Assembly Government’s strategy for higher education to 2010.  In Reaching Higher, I set out a clear vision for the sector and proposed action to make that vision a reality.  At the centre of the strategy was a continuing commitment to a strong sector, a sector which makes a sustained contribution to the economy, which excels in research and teaching and where learning opportunities are open to all those with the ability and drive to benefit.  

Reaching Higher represents a comprehensive policy towards higher education.  It draws on all of the Assembly’s areas of responsibility and takes a coherent approach to balancing the needs of institutions, students, the economy and communities.

At the time, I announced an immediate additional investment of £5 million in the sector.  However, I was clear that funding needed to be used strategically and that we had to have reassurances about the return on our investment.  For this reason I made it clear that future funding to the sector would be on a 'something for something' basis and in the first instance that meant focusing on the structure of the sector.  I stated that the long-term success of the sector was dependent on reconfiguration and new approaches to collaboration.  We needed to ensure that the sector was operating at the most efficient levels; that institutions were aiming for and winning large research contracts, which institutions could not win individually; and that institutions were offering the best deal to all students and staff alike.  Reconfiguration was the key priority and I announced £3 million to support progress.

I can report to you that much has been achieved in a very short period of time.  The timescales that we passed on to the sector were nothing short of challenging and I have been heartened by the positive way in which they have embraced this agenda.  Despite the short timescale, all institutions have produced reconfiguration plans and made bids on the available funding.  They are to be congratulated for their achievements.  In December last year, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales announced that it had allocated £5.3 million in total to reconfiguration projects – fully utilising the additional resources that I announced, and drawing on their own resources as well.

The range of projects that the Council is supporting varies from those with stated merger at the root to those that are based on exploratory proposals about the opportunities for future collaboration.  However, one thing that characterises all developments is the vigour and enthusiasm with which opportunities are being pursued.  During my visits to all institutions in Wales I have detected a change in the culture, with a marked move away from outright competition and towards co-operation.

Key projects supported by the Council are:
The proposed merger between University of Wales College of Medicine and Cardiff University;
Developing the strategic alliance between NEWI and University of Wales, Bangor;
An appraisal of a merger and other options between University of Glamorgan and UWIC;
An appraisal of options for strategic collaboration between University of Wales, College Newport and University of Glamorgan;
An option analysis of subject rationalisation between University of Wales, Swansea and Swansea Institute of Higher Education;
A strategic analysis of teaching and research collaboration between University of Wales, Bangor and University of Wales, Aberystwyth;
Future options appraisal for University of Wales, Lampeter and Trinity College, Carmarthen;
An analysis of models for HE/FE collaboration and integration.

I am keen to build on this early progress and intend to make reconfiguration and widening access continuing priorities into the next financial year.  It is only if we can get the basics right from an early stage that we can hope to achieve our ambitions.  At the time of the budget announcements, the Finance Minister indicated that she would be willing to consider additional funds in the light of progress against reconfiguration in 2002-03.  Yesterday she announced an additional £8 million investment in support of Reaching Higher in 2003-04.  We have also increased the running costs available to HEFCW to allow them to take this agenda forwards proactively.

Whilst the early progress is encouraging, in itself it is not enough to achieve the results we want for the sector.  We need to see institutions building solid and lasting developments on these early scoping projects.  I am quite clear that reconfiguration is not a passing trend, but must underwrite all future developments in the sector.  The policy behind Reaching Higher was founded on the evidence base and recommendations produced by the Education and Lifelong Learning Committee’s review of higher education.  Nothing in that has changed in the last year.  Without adopting new ways of working, there is the real danger that we will see institutional performance slipping and failing to provide the service that our economy and communities need and deserve.  I will be investing £6 million in the coming year to continue the drive towards reconfiguration, and am prepared to consider the case for further funding if this is warranted by progress made on reconfiguration projects.

And we are clear that institutions do have a contribution to make to wider Welsh life.  This role features in many of the Assembly’s strategies – from Wales for Innovation to the Skills Action Plan.  They have a vital role in building the kinds of communities that we wish to see and this is why we are keen to see higher education opportunities open to all those with the drive and ability to benefit.  Widening access beyond the traditional groups accessing higher education has been our other key drive in the preceding year.  We have invested an additional £2 million in this work – over and above the £3 million already invested by HEFCW.

In the spirit of Reaching Higher, we have required the use of that money to be under written by collaborative activity.  HEFCW has used that money to support four widening access partnerships.  These partnerships have allowed the sharing of best practice, and have allowed a far wider reach than has been possible by institutions working unilaterally.  A key principle of the projects is an earlier focus on raising aspirations and attainment and a wider focus than just schools.  Taken together, they represent a coherent, pan-Wales approach to widening access which will be consolidated by HEFCW’s imminent appointment of a national widening access co-ordinator.  Work undertaken by the partnerships and the Council will be complemented by the national Aimhigher Wales campaign that I launched recently.  The additional resources announced yesterday include an additional £2 million for widening access.  This will allow the Assembly Government and HEFCW to continue this important work and help to make higher education a reality for more of our young people.

When I announced this Strategy last year, I made it clear that in the early years we had to place the focus on laying the foundations for future success.  The Assembly’s published budget and the additional allocations announced yesterday underpin our commitment to continuing the implementation of Reaching Higher, with a steadily increasing baseline.

Since the publication of Reaching Higher last March, policy across the UK has moved forward – especially with the publication of DfES’s higher education strategy.  I was pleased to note that the vision set out in that document has many parallels with the vision that we are pursuing here in Wales, shaped by Reaching Higher  and by funding decisions made in the last Budget Planning Round.  We remain in close contact with colleagues in England as their policy develops and we are in discussion about taking forward those areas with cross border implications.  Certainly I am keen to see comparable standards across the component countries of the UK, whilst maintaining the flexibility to develop and deliver policies designed to meet specific Welsh circumstances.

Reconfiguration and widening access will continue to be our central focus.  Working closely with HEFCW and higher education institutions, we will continue to work to realise our vision of a nationally and internationally renowned HE sector in Wales with our local needs at its heart.  Of one thing we can be sure - excellence will always meet the competitive challenges ahead.