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The speech made by Jacqui Smith, the Skills Minister, at the University of Reading on 4 September 2024.

I thank you very much for that welcome, and it’s an enormous honour to be here, and thank you very much to Universities UK for the kind invitation. I’m also very pleased and proud to be back in government again, 25 years after I first arrived at the Department for Education in my first ministerial job, but it’s great this time to be here at the beginning of a new government too.

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor have rightly been outlining the enormous challenges and tough choices that we face in the coming months. But despite that, I’m really excited. I’m excited to be part of a mission led government determined to create a new era of opportunity and economic growth and a fairer society for everybody, where excellence is a given, not just something that the most fortunate get to enjoy. And I’m excited to be working with you. Bridget Phillipson has been absolutely clear that we are resetting the approach, that we’re taking an approach that will focus on working in collaboration. I want to have a constructive relationship with all of you, all of us working together, talking to one another to build a more sustainable future based on partnership, not picking fights.

So I’d like to spend my time with you today reflecting on my early impressions in this role, and then I’d like to hear your ideas and respond to questions. Our universities and the higher education offered in this country is up there with the very best in the world, and we should be rightly proud of it. And as I said in my maiden speech, which you’ve heard referenced in the House of Lords, our university sector is one of this country’s greatest enablers. It provides opportunities for people to follow their passions and to expand their horizons through research and teaching. It enables us to challenge our understanding and develop new ideas in many communities, it provides an anchor for wider economic development.

So, our universities are vital engines of economic growth and of opportunity for everybody throughout their lives. That’s my starting point, but I also recognise that now, more than ever, we need to work together to put higher education on a strong footing so that it continues to deliver for everybody, for students, obviously, but also for universities themselves, for our economy and for all of us well into the future. And I hadn’t been in the job an hour before people were outlining for me the real financial peril that the sector faces.

Higher education providers are rightly independent from government and have a responsibility to plan prudently to ensure their long-term sustainability. However, I am well aware that providers are under financial strain, and that’s why we took immediate action. Sir David Behan, who carried out the recent independent review of The Office for Students, has now been appointed as its interim chair, and Sir David will oversee the important work of refocusing the Office for Students’ role to concentrate on a number of key priorities, including prioritising the sector’s financial stability. And I will be working closely with the OfS to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape. And I am committed to making sure that there are robust plans in place to mitigate risks as far as is possible. And we’re determined in government that the higher education funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students, and we are carefully considering all options to deliver a more robust higher education sector, working on it now, but this isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight. It will take time to get it right, and we’re doing it – as I started by outlining – in an era of enormously difficult and tough fiscal choices that we need to make.

So, financial stability is the foundation, but we are more ambitious for the future of higher education than that. We need to use that foundation to build wider reform. The OfS has an important role to play in that too. Sir David’s review of The Office for Students is a serious and sobering read, and it makes very clear that the regulator should focus its work on clearly defined key priorities, alongside financial stability, those will also include making sure that quality is of a high standard, that public money is protected, and that the interests of students are paramount, and that’s the right focus and Bridget and I have been very clear about that. And I know that those are changes in terms of the focus that you want to see yourselves, because many of you have told me so. But there is even more that you can do to contribute to the missions that I outlined, ensuring opportunity and driving growth.

Firstly, those of us fortunate enough to have gone to university know first-hand about the opportunities that flowed from that. Looking around the room, I can be pretty confident that most of us went at a time when only a small minority got that chance. Many more benefit now, but too many people across our country still don’t get the chance to succeed, because the way ahead is an obstacle course strewn with barriers and dead ends, which is why we are absolutely committed to supporting every young person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university to do so. Because while universities are, as I’ve said, vital to delivering the skills that we need, while the research that you do is vital to shaping the economy of tomorrow, that’s not and it cannot be all that we ask or expect of higher education.

As the Robbins Report set out over 60 years ago, and as I believe today, universities have a broader role to play in shaping and enriching the society we live in and the culture that we enjoy, not just for each of us, but for all of us, and that’s why it’s vital, absolutely vital, that access to higher education should be based on individual ability and attainment, not fettered by where you happen to live, or simply the success or otherwise of your parents.

So, improving access and progression for students is key to our ambitions for the future. I know that many of you are already working hard on this, and I’m keen to hear more about what we can do together alongside the refocused OfS, to make further progress on getting all people who can benefit from higher education into university and, alongside that, to ensure that they’re getting the best possible teaching and the most enriching experience when they’re there. A rich and diverse student body is, of course, one of the things that draws people to higher education in the first place, but for some, it will not be that positive, life enhancing time that it needs to be. That’s why I’ve been discussing this with Edward Peck, who’s been briefing me about the disturbing growth of mental health problems among university students in recent years, and what should be done about it.

I’ve heard how UK members have responded to this challenge, engaging enthusiastically with the university mental health charter so that student wellbeing is supported across every aspect of campus life, and thank you for the work that you’re doing in that and I’ve asked Edward to continue as higher education student support champion, and his task force on mental health intends to publish its second stage report in November.

So, alongside this enormous contribution to ensuring individual opportunity and wellbeing, the HE sector has a huge role to play locally, nationally and internationally in driving growth. In July, the Prime Minister launched Skills England to drive forward our plans to tackle the skills shortages that are holding the economy back. That new organisation will unify the skills landscape. It will bring together employers, trade unions, universities and other training providers to make sure that the opportunities are there for everybody to get on in life.

And of course, higher education is an integral part of that skills landscape at a more local level. Why do so many of my colleagues in Parliament lobby and campaign for university campuses in their constituencies? It’s because they understand the economic, the social, the cultural power that they can bring to the communities that they represent. What more then can we do to encourage this role and to ensure that partnership and collaboration with each other, with further education, with local government, with employers and with communities can flourish and on a global stage, I know that higher education has both a global status and a global impact.

You asked us to make a strong statement about the role of international students, and Bridget did just that in her speech to ambassadors in July. The UK is outward looking. It welcomes international students from all over the world. They make a hugely positive impact on this sector, on our economy and on society as a whole. In fact, of course, attracting the brightest students from around the world is good for our own students too, as it leads to more university places for them and a strong culture of research informed teaching across our campuses, as well as lifelong friendships. So, it’s not just an economic benefit, but a social and geopolitical export, too.

The impact of those whose formative study has been in the UK going back to their homes with the values of the UK echoing in their ears should not be underplayed. I’d like to state as plainly as I can that international students are and will continue to be welcomed in the UK. So, all these objectives and the financial stability which needs to underpin them will, of course, need effective leadership, strong governance and a focus on efficiency we know that exists in the sector.

How do we ensure that the best is spread more widely? Before I finish, I just want to touch on one other area where we listened and acted quickly. As you know, we have paused further implementation of the Higher Education Freedom of Speech act to give us time to consider all our options, but we are completely clear that higher education must be a space for robust discussion where students and staff hear and express a host of diverse opinions and are able to challenge each other and ideas.

But concerns, of course, have been raised about the Act, as it stands, that that wasn’t the way to achieve those ends, and indeed, risk making matters worse, not better. Academic freedom and freedom of speech are too important for us to risk getting this wrong, and that’s why we will consider further, and we’ll be announcing what the future holds for this Act as soon as possible. So, just finally, then my whole professional life has been about making sure people get every opportunity to learn and to get on and to lead better, more rewarding and fulfilled lives. That’s what I’m bringing to this role. I’m very proud to be in a position to work alongside you so that we can all translate our shared objectives into opportunities for all to flourish and for all to succeed wherever they start and whatever the hurdles that they need to overcome. Thank you.