My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Willetts, said that we are embarking on a journey, which indeed we are, but I feel that the car in which we will travel does not yet have all the component parts. I therefore wonder if, when we have concluded all our debates, rather than going full speed ahead into a TEF for everybody who wants to participate, we should have some pilots. In that way the metrics could be amended quite properly before everybody else embarks on the journey with us.
I speak to the amendments in this grouping, many of which I support and I remind the House of my interest as a pro-chancellor at Bath University. Like all other noble Lords, I celebrate quality and excellence, and students should and must expect to receive high-quality teaching in their higher education. This should always have been the case, but is especially important now when students leave university with a debt of perhaps £50,000.
How the quality is measured and the metrics used are of the utmost importance, and it is clear from everything that has been said that the Government have not solved the conundrum yet. However, it is very good news that Chris Husbands is assisting the Government in this task. I have to say that Bath has one of the highest levels of student satisfaction, of which I am very proud. Much of that is down to good teaching. In 11 departments we have 100% satisfaction rates, which is great, but I also have to wonder that there must be some instances in some universities where students are completing the student satisfaction surveys in their rooms and possibly they have never even been to a lecture. That metric is slightly questionable.
I would be grateful if the Minister can say who will make the judgment in respect of what the metrics will be and who will judge each university that is part of the system? Those people are incredibly important.
While I support the TEF in general, whatever system is introduced must not be the traffic light system currently under consideration and it should not be linked to fees. The real problem is when the quality of teaching in a university is measured across the board. As the noble Lord, Lord Kerslake, said, excellence in some departments will be eclipsed by poor teaching in other departments and vice versa. Creating a system that assesses the quality of a whole institution and allows that whole institution to raise the fees of every course based on that assessment, when the quality of teaching will vary—potentially drastically—for every student at that institution, is therefore fundamentally unworkable. It risks creating the potential that students undertake courses that are not of high quality but at an institution that was deemed by the TEF to provide general high quality, and are therefore unfairly charged higher fees
for poor-quality degrees. As has been said on all sides of the House, the bronze, silver and gold proposals are entirely inappropriate and fraught with difficulties, not least the potential for jeopardising the excellent international reputation of our universities. Why would a foreign student paying hefty fees wish to study at a bronze university, and why should our own students go to British universities that are deemed inadequate? Students who begin their degrees at a gold university that is judged to be silver or bronze at the end of the course would feel disillusioned and, literally, short-changed. Amendments 176, 177 and 195 are particularly interesting, and I hope that the Government will give them favourable consideration.
6.30 pm
While I realise that the Government are sadly not giving an inch in Committee, I think it inconceivable that they would not agree to Amendment 196 on Report. Surely arrangements for the scheme to give ratings must be made through affirmative ratings. In answer to many concerns expressed at Second Reading following the Home Secretary’s speech to the Conservative Party conference suggesting a two-tier visa system for international students based on tougher rules for lower courses or less prestigious universities, the Minister said:
“There is nothing in this Bill that links the TEF to any limits on international student recruitment”.—[Official Report, 6/12/17; cols. 724-25.]
While that may be literally true, like other noble Lords I am fearful that the system of ratings will be used by the Home Office as an immigration tool. We will discuss in depth the issue of immigration when we reach the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, to which I have added my name, and there was an excellent debate last Wednesday. However, I warmly welcome Amendments 199 and 200 on this issue.
Quality ratings must absolutely not be used to determine whether a provider may enrol non-EU international students. The purpose of the TEF should be to ensure quality, not to restrict the number of tier 4 visas authorised by the Home Office. Our higher education sector is flourishing, much of it due to the contribution of overseas students and staff, and the benefits to our country are enormous. The Government are deeply exercised by immigration numbers, but their concerns must not be allowed to contaminate higher education policy and practice.