2. UNIVERSITIES, DEARING, AND THE FUTURE
2.3 THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: THE DEARING REpORT
2.4.3 The Changing Face of Higher Education
"Recommendation 1
We recommend to the Government that it should have a long term strategic aim of responding to increased demand for higher education, much of which we expect to be at subdegree level; and that to this end, the cap on full-time undergraduate places should be lifted over the next two to three years and the cap on full-time sub degree places should be lifted immediately."
It is apparent from this recommendation that the numbers in higher education, which increased significantly under the last government but which were then capped, will again rise. Historically, a rise in the number of students has not been accompanied with a commensurate rise in the numbers of lecturing or administrative staff. There is some saving to be had in, for example, lectures that take little extra effort to give to greater numbers. However, it has always proved to be the case that the increase in load through extra administration, project supervision, tutorial groups, etc. has more than outweighed this, and members of academic staff and those that support them have had to work harder. There is little slack in the system now, particularly as many undergraduate courses are changing from three to four years (MSci, MEng type qualifications) without greatly increased resources. This simply means that staff must work more efficiently and, as argued above, groupware has a significant role to play in this.
Widening participation
"Recommendation 2
We recommend to the Government and the Funding Bodies that, when allocating funds for the expansion of higher education, they give priority to those institutions which can demonstrate a commitment to widening participation, and have in place a
20 The Digital University - Building a Learning Community participation strategy, a mechanism for monitoring progress, and provision for review by the governing body of achievement."
"Recommendation 6 We recommend:
• to the Funding Bodies that they provide funding for institutions to provide learning support for students with disabilities;
• to the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (see Recommendation 14) that it includes the learning needs of students with disabilities in its research, programme accreditation and advisory activities;
• to the Government that it extends the scope of the Disabled Students Allowance so that it is available without a parental means test and to part-time students, postgraduate students and those who have become disabled who wish to obtain a second higher education qualification."
In these recommendations we see a commitment to widening access to disabled and otherwise disadvantaged groups; this being backed up with funds. Dearing has something to say about the way this will be achieved though, perhaps, this is something of a statement of hope rather than of certainty:
13.4 "C&IT will overcome barriers to higher education, providing improved access and increased effectiveness, particularly in terms of lifelong learning. Physical and temporal obstacles to access for students will be overcome with the help of technology. Those from remote areas, or with work or family commitments need not be disadvantaged. Technology will also allow the particular requirements of students with disabilities to be more effectively met by institutions."
It is widely believed that all forms of C&IT have, at least potentially, something to offer to everyone. However, the "disadvantaged" are not a homogeneous group and it is far from clear that we know exactly what the needs of individual subgroups actually are, let alone the extent to which these specific needs can actually be addressed by application ofC&IT.
Record keeping
"Recommendation 7
We recommend that further work is done over the medium term, by the further and higher education Funding Bodies, the Higher Education Statistics Agency, and relevant government departments to address the creation of a framework for data about lifelong learning, using a unique student record number."
"Recommendation 20
Universities, Dearing, and the Future 21 We recommend that institutions of higher education, over the medium term, develop a Progress File. The File should consist oftwo elements:
• a transcript recording student achievement which should follow a common format devised by institutions collectively through their representative bodies;
• a means by which students can monitor, build and reflect upon their personal development."
Here we see a commitment to creating and holding records over the long term. To be effective, this will require the interfacing of existing departmental and university-wide systems to wherever the relevant central information is held.
Clearly, this provides an opportunity for standardization in both the information interchange format and in the mechanisms used for keeping such information.
Staff development
"Recommendation 9
We recommend that all institutions should, over the medium term, review the changing role of staff as a result of Communications and Information Technology, and ensure that staff and students receive appropriate training and support to enable them to realize its full potential."
This is a direct realization of the fact that universities are changing and must change in terms of the ways in which they carry out their primary tasks and that all staff need to be appropriately trained in the sorts of techniques we discuss in this book.
Strategies
"Recommendation 41
We recommend that all higher education institutions in the UK should have in place overarching communications and information strategies by 1999/2000."
"Recommendation 42
We recommend that all higher education institutions should develop managers who combine a deep understanding of Communications and Information Technology with senior management experience."
Those implementing these recommendations will need to assess the current state- of-the-art in, and potential for, computer-based collaborative techniques in academia. Without specific technical input from those who know about these
22 The Digital University - Building a Learning Community systems, and those who have thought about their uses in relation to more than just administration, the benefits to be had will be severely curtailed. If, in fact, the wrong choices are made and implemented, simply in order to be seen to have some sort of policy, then the consequences could be very costly.