By Beth Craigie (Public Affairs and Policy Manager, University of East London) and Dr Daniel South (Public Affairs and Policy Officer, University of East London)
At the end of last month, we hosted members of the Lighthouse Policy Group at the University of East London’s University Square Stratford campus for a programme of lively and enlightening sessions about all things higher education. With presentations from UEL’s Professor Bugewa Apampa, Professor Julia Davidson OBE, Dr Michelle Morgan and Robert Gordon University’s William Hardie, the day’s conversations took in a breadth of topics including institutional equity, the Online Safety Bill, and the cost-of-living crisis.
In a closing members’ discussion, we noted that higher education is connected to all of the big political topics of our moment, but rarely seems to be acknowledged by politicians as such. As important as apprenticeships and admissions are, politicians must recognise that universities are affected by and affect a far wider pool of issues. Universities have a huge role to play in Research and Development, the NHS, levelling up and further national priorities. Yet if higher education does not appear to be an immediate priority in these discussions, is there perhaps also an opportunity for the sector to set out its stall in fresh terms, and make a claim for our importance to this moment?
Policy professionals at universities across the UK will be hoping so, and with a general election now guaranteed to be under two years away thoughts will be turning to manifesto pledges and key campaign issues. A few weeks ago, we attended an event hosted by Public First and their partners Pearson about preparing for the next election. It was one of those rare events where with each speaker you find yourself frantically writing down their valuable answers that form neat but substantive soundbites.
