TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION: Reshuffle ‘paves way for bold review of English HE funding’

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Andy Westwood, professor of government practice at the University of Manchester, said that the Conservatives’ 2017 general election manifesto, which included the major funding review and called for a greater focus on technical education, “still offers the closest guide to what Theresa May wants from education and from new ministers Damian Hinds and Sam Gyimah”.

He said that “everything is on the table” regarding the funding review – it could affect “fees, loans, grants, the size and shape of the sector” – and there are “now additional political tests” for the new ministers.

“After the general election result, education needs to be less politically toxic for the Conservatives, so whether it’s fees and interest rates in higher education or school funding formulas, Hinds and Gyimah will be expected to win support for policy changes among the wider voting public, who tend to like grammar schools and, after recent months, to be quite sceptical about universities,” he said.

“I don't see the high profile of universities changing anytime soon or the headlines around fees, interest rates, vice-chancellor pay and so on – although I suspect that new ministers may be a little less gung-ho on free speech post-Toby Young.”