Labour told to use key appointments to reset sector relationships

The new UK government has been handed the chance to make an immediate impact on the future direction of universities and research as it mulls two key appointments in its first months in office, with sector leaders urging ministers not to repeat the partisanship of recent years.

A new chair of the Office for Students (OfS) will be chosen by the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, after Conservative peer Lord Wharton of Yarm resigned days into the new Labour administration, while incoming science minister Sir Patrick Vallance must complete the process of appointing a new chief executive of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Recruiting for the latter post, a replacement for Dame Ottoline Leyser, who leaves in 2025 after deciding against a second term, was already in its advanced stages before the general election, and Times Higher Education understands that three candidates had been shortlisted, one of whom was still likely to be handed the post by the new government.

The OfS job represents a different challenge for Labour, with the appointment seen as crucial in repairing the damaged relationship between the regulator and the sector and ensuring that the new government’s priorities are embedded in universities’ future plans.

But ministers have been urged to avoid the temptation to appoint someone seen as too close to the government and to resist saddling the regulator with too many priorities, which would hamper its ability to function.

Chris Millward, professor of practice in education policy at the University of Birmingham and a former director for fair access and participation at the OfS, said Lord Wharton’s Tory affiliation meant that the regulator lost trust among the sector, and “to rebuild this, you have got to appoint somebody who could genuinely demonstrate the arm’s-length character of the body” and who has the “stature and trust to work for the longer term”.

Vivienne Stern, the chief executive of Universities UK, said that while the OfS had already taken on board some of the frustrations that had been expressed about its engagement, there was an “opportunity for a different mindset to emerge” in the regulator.

“The new chair has to be someone who understands the higher education system, but also someone who understands that good regulation is about making sure you enhance the sector you regulate rather than having a ‘we don’t trust you, and we’re here to punish you’ mindset,” she said.

Ms Stern said the government should look to “strip the OfS back to its core so that it thinks fundamentally about quality and standards and access”, but should recognise that it also had a role to play in being a “sector steward” that “needs to think more about whether or not we have a system that serves the national interest, not just the individual interest”.

The new government will still likely see the regulator as a way of pushing its other priorities, according to David Palfreyman, director of the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies, who served on the OfS’ board for six years. He predicted that Department for Education “guidance” letters – 25 of which were sent by the last administration between 2020 and 2024 – “will keep coming”.

There may continue to be an emphasis on the “student experience”, he said – including mental health and sexual misconduct, which were key priorities of the previous government – but free speech concerns were likely to be less of a concern, with more stress on the financial health of institutions.

In its manifesto, Labour also signalled a desire to devolve skills policy and funding to local regions and to ensure that the higher and further education sectors work closer together, leaving some to speculate that the OfS could be reformed or scrapped altogether in favour of a regulator that covers the whole of the tertiary education sector, akin to organisations in Scotland and Wales.

Professor Millward said this wider civic role of universities would be harder for the OfS to bring about because of its remit to operate on behalf of students, and the new agenda would require “something more”, which could involve the OfS but also other partners, leaving the regulator to focus on its core aims.

UKRI also “has to be a significant player in the health of the system”, said Ms Stern, adding that its new leader “is going to have some very important decisions to take” if the government acts to makes good its promises about changing research funding. Labour has pledged to introduce more stability and predictability into the system with 10-year cycles.

Ms Stern said: “We need someone who understands you don’t want to sacrifice tomorrow’s discovery for the sake of today’s innovation. There has to be a balance in the different modes and streams of funding.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com