Secondly, the research strength of British higher education is strong. In the past 50 years, Britain has produced 44 Nobel Prize winners. Although Britain's population accounts for 1% of the world's population, it has 8% of the world's scientific publications, among which 13% is British. Except for the United States, Britain has achieved better results than other countries in various evaluations. Because of its unparalleled research foundation, the United States is in the leading position in 20 major scientific research fields, while the citation rate of Britain in the field of 15 ranks second and is not lower than the fifth in any subject. The cooperation between Britain and its European partners has been strengthened through the framework plan, which has greatly expanded its research base. Today, British science and research are the main beneficiaries of EU funds. The government has formulated the corresponding strategy of science, engineering and technology, that is, the strategy of "inventing through innovation", which shows that the government will greatly increase its investment in research.
Third, most students are satisfied with the level of teaching and learning. Higher education in Britain has brought great benefits to individuals. 93% full-time first degree winners have either found jobs or continued their studies. The income of people with higher education is 50% higher than that of people without higher education, and its rate of return is higher than that of any OECD country. In the past 20 years, the number of students with degrees has tripled, and the graduation rate is among the highest in the world. The unfinished rate of the first degree is only 17%, which is almost the lowest among OECD countries. In the highly competitive overseas student market, Britain is becoming an increasingly attractive country. There are 28,000 overseas students in Britain, accounting for 8% of the total number of students. From 200 1 to 225,000 in 2002, it is close to 1 1%.
Fourth, the relationship between universities and enterprises has been continuously strengthened and increasingly close. In 200 1 year, the university created 175 new companies related to innovation, and the number is still growing. The number of patent applications also increased rapidly, reaching 22% in 1998- 1999 and 1999-2000. The proportion of higher education research income funded by companies is also increasing, even higher than that of the United States. There are many examples of higher education institutions helping enterprises to improve their innovation and competitiveness. For example, the product development equipment provided by the University of Exeter has benefited more than 300 small companies. Now colleges and universities can provide a wider range of courses to provide services for employees of specific companies or enterprise departments to receive continuing education. Higher education also plays a key role in supporting knowledge transfer and innovative management in public sectors (such as National Health Administration, NHS).
Fifth, the British higher education system has successfully changed from elite system to universal higher education system. 1962, only about 6% of people under the age of 2/kloc-0 received higher education, and now nearly 43% of people under the age of 8-30 can enter universities. Universities are no longer places for a few elites. Although the number of people attending higher education is increasing, the average wage allowance of the labor force has not decreased, and it is still the highest among OECD countries. There is no such thing as "more means worse".
At the same time, universities have changed the nature of supply to reflect the changing needs of students. Some colleges and universities specifically encourage students who cannot receive higher education normally for some reason, while others meet the needs of learners through various new ways, methods and new course types. In 1994- 1995 and 200 1-2002, the number of people who obtained qualification certificates below the degree level increased to 39%, much faster than the increase in the number of people who obtained honorary degrees (12%). Part-time study is also expanding, and students can combine work with study. Today, 65,438+065,438+0% of first degree graduates have obtained qualification certificates through part-time study, and 65,438+065,438+0% of higher education students are studying in the College of Continuing Education. In 1994- 1995, 15% of the students studied at home. In 2000-2006, 5438+0% of the students studied at home.
Second, the danger of decline and the need for reform.
Both the analysis of existing development achievements and the understanding of challenges are based on the understanding of the value of higher education. The white paper "The Future of Higher Education" first shows the values of the government:
"Higher education is a huge national asset, and its contribution to the country's economic and social welfare is crucial. University research has opened up a new field of human knowledge and expanded the boundary of knowledge, which is the basis of human progress; University teaching cultivates citizens and increases skills for the era of knowledge rule; Universities give students a sense of personal and intellectual accomplishment; Through cooperation with enterprises, universities promote the economy, and university graduates play a decisive role in public services. Expanding the enrollment of higher education is conducive to creating a more enlightened and just society.
In a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive world, higher education plays an increasingly important role in arming the workforce with appropriate and relevant skills, encouraging innovation and improving productivity, enriching life and improving quality of life. The benefits of a high-quality higher education system are far-reaching, but the danger of decline is unacceptable to us. "
It is based on the understanding of the importance of higher education that the British government is not satisfied with its current success, but is prepared for danger in times of peace and recognizes the danger of decline.
British higher education first faces foreign challenges. Nowadays, many economic competitors have invested more in higher education institutions than Britain. The investment in higher education in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States accounts for 65,438+0% of GDP. Japan also plans to increase public investment from 0.4% to 1%, while Britain only has 0.8%. These countries all realize that developing knowledge economy means needing more well-trained labor force. Higher education is becoming a global undertaking, and competitors are seeking to export higher education overseas, which is a great stimulus to Britain because it is traditionally regarded as the British market.
Higher education is also facing inherent challenges, that is, how to absorb, retain and reward high-quality academic personnel to maintain and improve teaching and research, how to maintain the infrastructure of teaching and research, and how to ensure that the investment in higher education (whether it is the investment of taxpayers, students, employers or others) achieves the best results.
Take research as an example. At present, Britain is in danger of losing its advantage in the world. The British Higher Education Fund Committee allocates research funds according to the quality and quantity of research, which has improved the overall quality of research in the past 15 years, but the competition from other countries continues to intensify. If we analyze the citation rate of scientists who won the Nobel Prize, we will find that although Britain is still dominant, it is declining, which may be related to the inability to effectively use limited research funds. International comparison shows that other countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, concentrate their research funds on a few institutions. Research and awards at the American research level are limited to 200 of the 65,438+0,600 four-year institutions. Similarly, the government of China is planning to create 65,438+00 world-class university research bases. India has a national institute of technology, which is distributed in five parts of the country. This makes Britain need to re-examine how to effectively use research funds and organize research. Only by giving full play to the advantages of concentration can we ensure that some institutions can compete with the best institutions in the world.
A study shows that research funds in Britain are insufficient, and Britain is heavily in debt in research infrastructure or teaching investment, especially in non-research-intensive universities. Nearly half of the facilities in higher education were built in 1960s or early 1970s, many of which are close to the design life, and the number of research is increasing, which requires more investment. The situation of attracting, retaining and rewarding the best researchers is also not optimistic. Although the overall figures show that the flow of scientists is "brain inflow" rather than "brain drain", figures from the Royal Society believe that the best researchers in Britain are those who go abroad, especially to the United States. According to the survey of members of the Royal Society, 26% of the members of 1999 work outside the UK, of which 12% is in the United States. Therefore, Britain needs to consider how to attract and retain the best researchers in the world and how to maintain a stable flow so that the brightest and best young people can flow into the research field. In addition to raising academic salaries, we should also consider letting the best researchers concentrate on research and less on teaching and administrative affairs.
Clark pointed out in the preface of the white paper that the world is changing faster than ever before, and the speed of change continues to increase, and the ability of a country to control the process of change and avoid its pain depends on universities. Future success depends on effectively mobilizing people's imagination, creativity, skills and talents, and applying knowledge and understanding to enhance economic strength and social harmony. Therefore, it can be determined that two areas that universities must improve are:
First of all, the expansion of higher education has not benefited talents from various backgrounds. In today's Britain, there are still too many talents from disadvantaged families. No matter how capable they are, they still regard universities as unreachable places.
Secondly, we must make greater progress in using knowledge to create wealth, which depends on whether we can give universities freedom and resources to enhance their competitiveness on the world stage. "We should give our world-class researchers stable financial support to help them turn their ideas into successful business operations and eliminate the problem of insufficient investment that has led to the decline of universities in recent years."
Third, the strategy to deal with the challenge.
(a) Meeting challenges requires long-term investment and reform strategies.
The British government wants to change the situation of insufficient investment in recent years, and increase the funding for higher education in the next three years, with an average of more than 6% per year (considering inflation). Financial aid for students will also be greatly increased, including providing new funds for students from low-income families. This extra investment will increase the enrollment opportunities of students from low-income families and help universities solve many problems.
But this alone can't make universities get what they want in improving the enrollment rate and excellent rate. If universities want to improve quality, expand enrollment opportunities, strengthen ties with enterprises, meet long-term challenges and participate in global competition, they need some extra resources, and the funding system for universities and students should be based on sustainable growth. Although it is not so easy to achieve this goal, avoiding this difficult decision will undoubtedly increase the risk of decline, and the whole country and students will suffer greatly. To this end, the white paper recommends:
Vigorously increase investment in research and knowledge transfer, promote the emergence of world-class research centers, and strengthen the work of universities to support local economy;
Improve and reward quality teaching;
Make more people receive higher education to meet the needs of personal and economic development for high-level skills;
Support students from disadvantaged backgrounds by restoring grants and canceling prepaid tuition fees;
Allow universities to donate 0 to 3,000 pounds per course every year-graduates can pay for it in their later jobs;
By helping universities to establish endowment funds, universities can obtain long-term financial security.
(2) Give full play to advantages and promote research to be excellent.
As mentioned above, British universities have great advantages in research, and investing new resources will help universities further improve their teaching and research level. To this end, the government will concentrate the best research on larger institutions, so that these institutions can have better infrastructure, maintain better intra-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary cooperation, develop pure research posts, and make outstanding researchers have higher income. Specific measures are as follows:
Compared with 2002-2003, the research expenditure in 2005-2006 increased by 65.438+0.25 billion.
Encourage and reward research by large institutions, including cooperative research;
Increase investment in leading research departments and universities so that they can compete with the best universities in the world;
Formulate new incentives to support emerging and improved research;
For government-funded postgraduate training bases, strict new standards should be established to develop and reward talented researchers;
:: Establish a new arts and humanities research committee.
(3) Strengthen the contact and exchange between higher education and enterprises, and develop knowledge and skills.
Although British higher education has created nearly 34 billion pounds of output for the British economy and supported more than 500,000 jobs, less than one-fifth of enterprises have used the knowledge and skills of universities, and universities and colleges could have played a greater role in creating jobs and promoting prosperity. To this end, the government will encourage it through the following measures:
Strengthening the Innovation Fund for Higher Education (HEIF), providing 90 million pounds per year in 2005-2006, and encouraging non-research-intensive universities to cooperate with local, regional and national employers;
Funding 20 knowledge exchange networks through the Higher Education Innovation Fund to reward and support the cooperation between higher education institutions and enterprises;
Constantly strengthen the role of regional development institutions in the allocation of innovative funds for higher education, and establish a close partnership between higher education institutions and regional development institutions;
Help the department skill committee to establish a close alliance between relevant departments of enterprises and universities.
Promote high-quality teaching and learning
Effective teaching and learning are the basic elements to improve the quality of higher education and expand the opportunities for admission. To this end, high-quality teaching must be recognized and rewarded, and best practices must be promoted. This reform includes:
Additional investment is not only for research, but also for quality teaching, in order to pay for modern teaching, reward good teaching and provide more scholarships for outstanding people;
Establish centres of excellence to reward good teaching and promote best practices;
Provide better information for students, including publishing the student survey in the new year and the external examiner's summary report, so as to facilitate students' choice;
Establish a new national teaching professional standard and a new national group-Teaching Quality Society, with the aim of developing and promoting good teaching.
(5) Expanding higher education to meet the growing demand.
Although there is a strong demand for expanding higher education, quality should not be sacrificed. To this end, the government will expand higher education through new quality types to better meet the needs of students and the economy:
Continue to increase the enrollment rate of higher education, so that the proportion of people aged 18-30 will reach nearly 50%, mainly through two-year work-centered basic degrees;
Cooperate with employers to develop more basic degrees, provide financial support for students, strengthen the connection between continuing education and higher education, and open up a good way for this process;
Encourage flexible and diverse courses to meet the needs of more diverse students and improve support for part-time degrees.
(6) Ensure fair admission.
The most important step to increase the enrollment rate of higher education is to expand the participation rate of secondary education and continuing education and improve the quality of secondary education and continuing education. At the same time, improving the financial aid measures for students is also conducive to eliminating the barriers to admission, and colleges and universities themselves should play a greater role in improving admission opportunities. The government's package includes:
Restore grants for students from low-income families and cancel the requirement of paying all tuition fees in advance;
Require universities to formulate access agreements before raising the tuition fees paid by students to increase the enrollment rate of disadvantaged students;
Appoint an independent enrollment manager to supervise the implementation of these agreements, promote wider enrollment, and ensure fair, open and professional enrollment procedures;
Expand the national "aim high" plan, establish good ties between primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, and improve the ambition level of young people;
Reform the funding mechanism and appropriately compensate universities and colleges for the extra expenses incurred in attracting and retaining students from disadvantaged backgrounds;
Double the extra funds to help disadvantaged students and introduce new scholarships for part-time students.
(7) Maintain free distribution.
Universities need not only short-term financial aid, but also long-term stable financial support. The British government will make unprecedented investment in universities to solve the problem of insufficient investment for decades. The government will continue to be a major investor in universities and give them the freedom to strive for new capital flows for their own interests. One way is to encourage universities to establish endowment funds, and the other way is to give universities the right to donate education costs from graduates. Generally speaking, graduates are more likely to find jobs and get higher income than those who don't get a degree. Nevertheless, the government will not compromise on fair admission, and will take some measures to ensure that young people are not affected by prepaid tuition fees.
Since 2004, the subsidy for students from low-income families has increased, reaching 65,438+0,000 pounds per year, benefiting about one third of the students;
In 2006, a new graduate student donation scheme was introduced, allowing universities to seek donations of 0-300 pounds for each course every year;
Continue to pay the first tuition fee for students from low-income families1100;
Abolish prepaid tuition fees and allow each student to delay paying tuition fees by donating money to the course after graduation. Payment after graduation will be linked to students' repayment ability through the tax system;
From April 2005, the starting point for graduates to repay tuition fees will be raised, and loans of 1 10,000-10.5 million will be allowed;
By promoting donations from individuals and enterprises, we will help colleges and universities establish donation funds and encourage colleges and universities to increase donation funds.
American higher education has the highest degree of marketization, industrialization and privatization in the world, and the tuition is also the highest. The secret of its success lies in the implementation of the "education voucher" system without the name of "education voucher". The government does not directly manage universities, but supports students through a large amount of funds. Milton friedman, a famous American economist, Nobel Prize winner and inventor of "education voucher", pointed out that the government has three major functions in education: 1. Legislation to implement compulsory education; 2. Financial support for schools; 3. Manage the school. He concluded that the first two functions of the government in education are reasonable, but according to the logic of the free market, there is no reason for the government to manage schools in person. This is also the reason why he advocates the "education voucher" for compulsory education in the United States, aiming at creating market competition in education. In fact, in the field of American higher education, many practices are the "education voucher" system. For example, Pell Grants is the largest scholarship provided by the federal government for low-income students, with a total amount of more than $654.38+026 billion in 2003-2004. Students who get this money will be transferred to the school account as long as they register in a school, and the school must give the money to the students within 14 days, otherwise it will be illegal. In this way, the government gives students a sum of money to "buy" higher education with E according to their own needs. They become consumers of education. In order to cater to the appetite of these consumers and grab this business, universities have to provide satisfactory educational services to others. It can be seen that under such institutional arrangements, the government never ignores citizens' right to education and leaves everything to the market. On the contrary, the state has invested heavily in education. The investment in higher education in the United States is 2.7% of its annual GDP, while that in Europe is only 1. 1%. Some people have calculated an account and come to the conclusion that if you pay the tuition at the marked price to go to college, even if the income after graduation is much higher than that of people in college, it is better to invest your money in the stock market from a purely economic point of view. The income obtained in this way is much higher than the high salary income brought by college education. Most people are economic animals. After calculating an account, it is said that few people are willing to lose money to study. However, why do almost all American school-age young people go to college? Because they didn't pay at all, the government paid a lot of fees.