The role of higher education in Levelling Up: reforming or subverting the market?

Abstract

This paper examines the Levelling Up White Paper from the perspective of higher education (HE) policy and finds that HE is largely absent from the main arguments presented. The paper situates the White Paper firmly within other policy reforms that aim to change the conditions of the current undergraduate market regime in order to lower the overall costs of the system to the exchequer, by diverting some degree applicants towards (lower) skills attainment. The main emphasis in the White Paper is raising skills levels in ‘left-behind areas’ of the UK in order that additional investment will flow to those areas; in effect, the White Paper can be read as a rejection of market principles, and, if fully realised, a restatement of the benefits of serious labour force planning. However, the notions of ‘skills’ and the levels of the post-compulsory system at which these skills are delivered are wilfully misrepresented, with the higher education sector pitted against the ‘Skills Sector’, as the ideological ‘problem’ rather than part of the solution. The paper concludes with recommendations that offer a more holistic understanding of the skillsresearch-investment-growth nexus, calling for more depth perception and less vacuity.