Asked by The Duke of Wellington To ask Her Majesty’s Government,
following the publication of the Teaching Excellence Framework
outcomes, whether they will review the metrics employed. The Duke
of Wellington (Con) My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question in my
name on the Order Paper. In...Request free trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the
publication of the Teaching Excellence Framework
outcomes, whether they will review the metrics employed.
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My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question in my name on
the Order Paper. In doing so, I declare my interest as a
former chairman of King’s College London.
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My Lords, the metrics used in the teaching excellence
framework have been thoroughly reviewed and will continue
to be carefully scrutinised as the TEF develops. During
the passage of the Higher Education and Research Act, the
Government committed to undertake a lessons learned
review to consider how the metrics were applied and
interpreted in the trial year and to commission a future,
independent review of the TEF.
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I thank the Minister for confirming that the teaching
excellence framework and indeed the metrics will be
reviewed, but I wonder whether he would agree with me
that a system that classifies the London School of
Economics and the University of Southampton as third
class, and University College London and the University
of Manchester as second class, must surely be using
metrics which are not suitable for properly assessing
teaching quality?
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My noble friend will not expect me to agree with him. I
believe that the results show that every single
participating provider has met very demanding national
requirements that ensure a high-quality academic
experience, delivery of positive student outcomes and the
protection of the student interest. I would say also that
providers awarded bronze or silver still deliver outcomes
that fully meet or exceed the existing high bar for
quality and standards in UK higher education. As Chris
Husbands, the chief executive for the TEF said, “seams of
gold” can be found in many silver and bronze providers.
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My Lords, can the Minister name any other country which
has set up a dubious system of metrics which needlessly
damages the reputation of its highly regarded
universities? If not, does he not think it would more
effectively raise teaching standards if, instead of
publicly branding universities as third class, they were
all encouraged to train their teaching staff in teaching
skills, which are after all very different from the
skills required to get a good degree or a doctorate?
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I do not share the noble Baroness’s pessimism on this. We
believe that the test can be used to enhance the UK’s
international reputation and will support our
universities to recruit more students by sending a clear
message to the world that we take teaching seriously. For
example, Coventry has recently used its additional TEF
accolade to market itself effectively in China.
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My Lords, is it not a good reminder to us all that the
success of a university is to be judged against not the
number of students it recruits—in particular, the number
of students from overseas that it recruits—but more the
contact that takes place between the students and their
tutors, in particular the support that students get in
the early years as they move into university life?
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The noble Lord is absolutely correct. He will know that
the process is an iterative one, which we believe is
becoming more robust. For example, the assessment process
takes account of diverse forms of teaching, the level of
academic support and the learning experience—everyone
knows about the NSS—and also looks at outcomes and where
students end up. Each application for this particular
trial also included a 15-page submission from the
providers, so it was very much qualitative as well as
quantitative.
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My Lords, when the Higher Education and Research Bill was
going through your Lordships’ House earlier this year,
noble Lords from all sides, including the Government
Benches, argued strongly against the concept of a
teaching excellence framework, warning that it was a
blunt instrument and ill equipped to show what actually
happens within lecture rooms. Now we are where we are.
Everyone knows that the London School of Economics, the
School of Oriental and African Studies, Goldsmiths,
University of London, the University of Liverpool and the
University of Southampton are in no sense third-rate
institutions, but that is not how it looks now to
potential students, particularly those from overseas.
Although we accept that an independent review will be
carried out—which I am sure will sweep away the nonsense
of gold, silver and bronze—will the Minister say in the
interim, to address the inevitable reputational damage to
institutions, what support he will offer to them in that
situation?
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Again, I do not share the pessimism that has come across
from the noble Lord. I was very pleased to be part of the
process of the Bill. There were over 500 amendments, and
I appreciated the noble Lord’s contribution. I repeat
that it is an iterative process. Once the TEF has been
properly introduced a year or so down the line, there
will be that proper independent review and, as we pledged
in the process of the Act, it will look at the metrics
and the definitions. We will see what happens from there.
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My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that a system
that ends up giving a gold teaching award to his alma
mater and mine, the University of St Andrews, as well as
to my university, the University of Dundee, of which I am
chancellor, must be the right system?
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I can only agree with the noble Lord. In congratulating
the University of St Andrews, I would like to take this
opportunity, which other noble Lords have not done, to
congratulate all those who have got a gold award but also
those who have got silver and bronze.
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My Lords, what applies to St Andrews also applies to
Lincoln, I am pleased to say, but does my noble friend
not accept that those coming to our great universities
from abroad, on whom we increasingly depend, want to have
a message of clarity, not confusion? No one can begin to
pretend that the LSE and UCL are not among the foremost
institutions of the world, and anything that casts doubt
on that is only damaging our higher education system.
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Let me say again that there is a strong panel that took
its time and went through a process to provide the
assessments. This is something that has been well thought
out. My noble friend will know that some initial ratings
were given and then final ones. It is a strong process.
With regard to marketing abroad, the Department for
Education has been working closely with the British
Council and Universities UK on an international script
for UK embassies to use to avoid any international
misinterpretation of the award levels.
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