Oxbridge Should "Move" Towards How US Universities Are Funded
Dominic Grieve outside the High Court London
3 min read
The country's most prestigious universities should become more like US colleges in how they are funded, candidate for next Oxford chancellor Dominic Grieve has said.
Grieve, the former attorney general, said universities like Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London have the capacity to "expand their own endowment and free themselves" from dependence on graduates and state support which is repaid through tuition fees.
A former long-serving Conservative MP, Grieve is one of several political figures in the running to become the new chancellor at the University of Oxford, along with Labour peer Peter Mandelson and former Conservative party leader Lord William Hague.
He spoke to PoliticsHome amid growing concern in the higher education sector over the financial pressure facing universities. In recent weeks a number of institutions have said they will be forced to cut jobs and reduce the number of courses they offer as a result.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced earlier this month that tuition fees would rise with inflation next year to help universities deal with the financial pressures.
However, higher education figures have warned that the funding increase will be eaten away by the rise in employers’ National Insurance Contributions announced in the Budget.
Vivienne Stern, CEO of Universities UK, recently told PoliticsHome that a university going bust was a "massive worry" and that the sector was "not out of the woods".
Grieve, also a barrister, said the country's leading universities should look to the US — where private donations play a much more significant part in university funding.
The former Conservative MP said this would give these universities "much more flexibility" but added that it would require" tapping into levels of philanthropy".
"The main challenge [facing universities] is financial and applies to all universities," he said.
"It's about the dependency: graduate dependency and also dependency on government money for undergraduates which is then repaid through tuition fees.
"Oxford and Cambridge do have the capacity to try to expand their own endowment and free themselves from that. That's what US universities have done."
Grieve added: "Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial probably need to move to a model like the US. They could choose exactly who they want to support. Bring in undergraduates and subsidise them."
The final round of voting to decide the University of Oxford’s new Chancellor is taking place this week, with the result to be announced in the week commencing 25 November.
Speaking about the position, Grieve said they have "a role in assisting and acting as a bridge between Government and the University, as well as fundraising".
Grieve also spoke to PoliticsHome about academic freedom, a debate that has clouded universities in recent years.
Soon after being appointed as Education Secretary, Phillipson said that the legislation brought in under the previous Conservative government — the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 — was not fit for purpose and would be scrapped.
The former attorney general said he did not believe academic freedom was "under threat" at Oxford and did not want to "exaggerate" it as an issue facing the university.
He said there had been "issues" at some other institutions, however, adding "there must be academic freedom".
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