London Metropolitan University chief: Let students swap Holloway Road for Oxbridge

Published: 1st July, 2011
by ANDREW JOHNSON

THE head of London Metropolitan University has called for an exchange scheme with top universities such as Oxford and Cambridge so that able but less advantaged students can have a taste of elite education.

“I’d like the students here to be able to do their second year, or third year, at another university,” Professor Malcolm Gillies said. “Some would be elite. And we’d see students from those universities come here. They’ll learn quite a lot about what contemporary Britain is about.”

Professor Gillies was speaking exclusively to the Tribune in response to the government’s White Paper on higher education, published earlier this week. 

The paper – a consultation document ahead of legislation – proposes to allow universities to compete for the best students to help drive down tuition fees. It suggests allowing private companies to compete in the university sector.

Professor Gillies des­cribed the proposals as an attempt to make good the “botched” reforms that have so far taken place, including raising the maximum tuition fees to £9,000 a year. 

He added that his chief concern was widening access for students. London Met, with campuses in Holloway and the City, has one of the highest intakes of black and minority students in the country. 

In April, Prime Minister David Cameron clashed with Oxford University in a row over the admission of black students – only 26 were admitted to Oxford last year. More widely, the Russell Group of elite universities has been criticised for its poor intake of students from state schools.

Professor Gillies said that many of these problems began at primary school, which failed to instill a sense of aspiration in pupils. 

His university took in so many less advantaged students because it made the effort to look at potential, rather than just academic attainment, he said. 

“London Met doesn’t have the same intake as Oxford or Cambridge,” he added. “What we’re trying to do at London Met is to take people who have the capacity or life experience to progress through our degrees. Thirty-six per cent of our students come through further education colleges and FE is doing good work with ethnic minorities in London. 

“We’d like to do part-time study, which helps women with young children. Twenty per cent of our students are Muslim and that is reflected in our timetables, which work around religious obligations.

He added: “We take in more black students than the entire Russell Group of elite universities put together. And we’re very proud of that. That’s what access is about – how the masses have new opportunities, not how a few go to an elite university.”

He criticised the level of fees demanded by universities – most are charging the full £9,000 a year – arguing that the taxpayer should stump up at least 50 per cent.

“Society benefits from higher education in all sorts of ways, from reduced crime to better health. So the contribution in fees should be 50 per cent or higher. 

“We have the most affordable fees in the country but it’s still a hell of a lot of money – £6,850 per term.”

Students protested at his university earlier this year after it slashed the number of courses offer­ed. “We had 577 active courses, which reduced to 160,” Professor Gillies said. “Two hundred of the losses came from business. We removed courses from every faculty. 

“The most important thing is the quality of the student learning experience. Number two is access and wid­ening participation because this university has been doing that since 1848. We’re going to try harder.”