Alternative White Paper!

In defence of public Higher Education
 Hundreds of academics have signed an alternative white paper which claims that the government's planned education reforms are fundamentally misguided. They state nine propositions in defence of public Higher Education, and draw a clear definition of what a university is and does.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/interactive/2011/sep/27/higher-education-alternative-white-paper?CMP=twt_gu

1.       Higher education serves public benefits as well as private ones. These require financial support if these benefits are to continue to be provided.
2.  Public universities are necessary to build and maintain confidence in public debate.
3.       Public universities have a social mission, contributing to the amelioration of social inequality, which is the corollary of the promotion of social mobility.
4.       Public higher education is part of a generational contract in which an older generation invests in the wellbeing of future generations that will support them in turn.
5.       Public institutions providing similar programmes of study should be funded at a similar level.
6.       Education cannot be treated as a simple consumer good; consumer sovereignty is an inappropriate means of placing students at the heart of the system.
7.       Training in skills is not the same as a university education. While the first is valuable in its own terms, a university education provides more than technical training. This should be clearly recognised in the title of a university.
8.       The university is a community made up of diverse disciplines as well as different activities of teaching, research and external collaboration. These activities are maintained by academics, managers, administrators and a range of support staff, all of whom contribute to what is distinctive about the university as a community.
9.       Universities are not only global institutions. They also serve their local and regional communities and their different traditions and contexts are important

What do you think of the above points?
Is the government confused on the real purpose of Public Higher Education.  What about for profit providers should they be treated the same as public universities would they bring the same benefits?

UUK response to HE white paper: changes needed!

The Higher Education White Paper promises to put students at the heart of the system. Universities always have been and remain unequivocally committed to delivering this. What the white paper doesn't do is think through the process properly and its actions do not match its aims!

http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/ResponseToTheHigherEducationWhitePaper.pdf

White Paper fails to capture the full extent of the contribution  that universities make to society and to the economy. Too much focus is given to the Undergrad recruitment and teaching. This is a large part but by no means the only thing universities do, and should not be isolated from the rest of the universities activities!


"The excellence of the UK  university system, and the value it creates for the economy and for society,
is based not just on the exceptionally high quality of undergraduate  teaching, but on a range of factors, including:
a.  the inter-connection between teaching and research, and the fact  that all teaching in UK universities takes place within a research informed framework
b.  the contribution that universities make to their communities, to  citizenship, and to the wider social and public good
c.  the transformative impact that the university experience has on those who pass through the system"

The UUK has come up with a well thought out and reasonable response to the HE white paper. Lets just hope the Government listens!