| Sir Martin Harris. Professor of French linguistics. Vice-Chancellor of Essex University 1983-87. Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University 1992-2004. Honorary Fellow of Queens' College Cambridge. Member of University Grants Committee. Chairman of review of graduate education in England and Wales (the Harris Report) 1995-96. Chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP), now Universities UK, 1997-99. Founding Chair of the North West Universities Association 1999-2001. Chairman of a review of university careers services for the Department for Education and Skills 2000. Chairman of the Clinical Standards Advisory Group 1996. Commissioner for Health Improvement 1999-2002. A Director of Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited. Deputy Chair of the North West Development Agency 2002. Honorary President of the NPC. Patron of the Embroiderers' Guild. Knighted in the Millennium Honours List. |
Sir Martin Harris, the ex-vice-chancellor of Manchester University, was today appointed the first ever director of the new Office for Fair Access.
The move, announced early this morning, will be welcomed by university bosses who feared an appointment from outside the university sector which might have signalled a tougher approach from the access watchdog. In a carefully-worded statement, Sir Martin, under his new title, director of fair access, said: "I am delighted to accept this new post and look forward to working with the sector to ensure fair access for all students, in particular, those from groups currently under-represented in higher education.
"I fully share the secretary of state's view that there should be a continuing drive to widen participation. However, the introduction of variable tuition fees is inevitably a time of change for institutions. Whilst one of my key aims in this new post will be to implement a process for setting up access agreements to safeguard fair access, I hope as director to do this by working as collaboratively as possible with institutions and in doing so I will respect the secretary of state's wish not to add to their bureaucratic burden."
In words which will bring relief to worried university bosses, he added: "My past experience working in the sector has led me to understand and respect institutional autonomy and it is on this basis that I look forward to working with the sector." Offa will have the power to stop universities charging top-up fees and issue penalties of up to £500,000 where institutions are not making enough effort to meet the provisions of their access agreements, which they negotiate with Offa. Kim Howells, the higher education minister, explicitly said yesterday that this would not be automatic. "We do not have any admission targets. We will not fine universities who miss their benchmarks," he told the Universities UK conference on admissions in London.
The education secretary, Charles Clarke, this morning said: "The director will make sure that every institution charging higher fees will have the quality bursaries, outreach work and financial guidance in place to help encourage greater applications from under-represented groups. The director will not have a remit over university admissions. Admissions are and will remain a matter for universities themselves. "The director of fair access may be an essential position but I know universities are as passionate about widening participation as I am. That is why I expect there to be a healthy relationship between institutions and the director. I would consider it to be a success if the director never had to rely on his sanctioning powers during his term in office."
Professor Ivor Crewe, president of Universities UK, the umbrella group, welcomed the appointment, adding: "From his years as VC of University of Manchester he already has in-depth knowledge of the sector and of the excellent work many universities are doing to widen participation. "We look forward to working with him to ensure that the terms of the Higher Education Act are met and students are encouraged and supported in their ambition to obtain a university degree."
Sir Martin has a tough workload. Most universities plan to publish details of their tuition fee charges under the new top-up fee regime in December. To do so they must first draw-up an access agreement with Offa. Offa has a remit for more than 100 institutions in England and Wales. The access agreements will set out their plans to widen participation through bursaries and outreach work, and their self-defined benchmarks. The government has repeatedly assured the sector that there will be no "automatic" penalties for missing targets.
Education Secretary Charles Clarke today named the man who will head the controversial new Office for Fair Access to university. Professor Sir Martin Harris, former vice-chancellor of Manchester University, will play an important role in the Government's drive to get more students from poorer families into college.
As director of fair access to higher education, Sir Martin will have the power to fine universities up to £500,000 in extreme cases if they fail to honour their commitments on widening access. The Office for Fair Access (Offa) can also stop universities charging students top-up tuition fees of £3,000 per student per year if it is not satisfied they are doing their best. Amid recent fears that elite institutions such as Oxford will be forced to take more state school students or pay the price, ministers insisted that Offa will not have a say over admissions.
Mr Clarke said Offa would play an important role in ensuring "people with talent get the opportunity to go to university". He said he hoped Sir Martin would not have to use the sanctions available to him at all. "The director of fair access may be an essential position but I know universities are as passionate about widening participation as I am," he said. "That is why I expect there to be a healthy relationship between institutions and the director. I would consider it to be a success if the director never had to rely on his sanctioning powers during his term in office."
Sir Martin, who takes up his position immediately, said he was "delighted" with his new job. He said, "There should be a continuing drive to widen participation." But he was at pains to stress that he wanted to work "collaboratively" with universities. A key aim will be setting up the agreements between Offa and individual universities "to safeguard fair access", he said. "I hope as director to do this by working as collaboratively as possible with institutions." He added that his past experience as a vice-chancellor had "led me to understand and respect institutional autonomy".
Professor Ivor Crewe, President of umbrella group Universities UK welcomed Sir Martin's appointment. "He already has in-depth knowledge of the sector and of the excellent work many universities are doing to widen participation," he said. Professor Crewe said he was looking forward to working with Sir Martin to make sure "students are encouraged and supported in their ambition to obtain a university degree".
Conservative higher education spokesman Chris Grayling said the Tories would abolish Offa as soon as possible if they won power in order to "preserve academic standards". He said, "It is very disappointing that such an eminent figure in the university sector should accept an appointment that is so unpopular among vice-chancellors and principals."
A former Manchester University vice-chancellor was named yesterday as the first head of the Office for Fair Access (Offa), which will scrutinise university plans to charge top-up fees of up to £3,000.
The decision to appoint Sir Martin Harris - rather than a more independent figure from outside the sector - was seen as an attempt by the government to placate universities in the wake of a bitter row over benchmarks for state school intake. In a speech on Thursday, the higher education minister, Kim Howells, tried to calm the storm over claims that the government is trying to impose social engineering on universities. He said they would not be fined if they missed their benchmarks for attracting working-class students. He also hinted at a possible review of benchmarks after a storm of protest from leading universities.
Sir Martin, 60, said he was "delighted" with his new job, which he started yesterday, and pledged "a continuing drive to widen participation" based on collaboration with universities. A plank of his work will be setting up the numerous agreements between Offa and individual universities "to safeguard fair access". The new director of Offa is familiar with significant changes in higher education. During his time heading the University of Manchester, he led the drive towards its historic merger with Umist (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) to create the biggest university in Britain, which will be opened later this month by the Queen.
The Liberal Democrat education spokesman, Phil Willis, said: "In the light of the government's climb-down on quotas for top universities, this position is little more than a bureaucratic irrelevance. The principle that students access the universities and courses of their choice on merit must be the only criterion for access to higher education."
Student leaders claimed the new body was "toothless", and so watered down under pressure from the universities that it was a shadow of what was once promised. Hannah Essex, vice-president of the NUS, said: "We're struggling to see what Offa is going to be able to do - it's been so watered down since the original proposal. It's going to be toothless. It's not really going to do anything if it doesn't have any power over admissions."
Lecturers also expressed concern about "growing confusion" about Offa's role. Paul Mackney, general secretary of Natfhe, which represents academics in the new universities, said: "We look forward to working with the new Offa director, Sir Martin Harris. We hope he will work in partnership with others in further and higher education to lessen the extent to which high university fees will deter poor students from university or the education of their choice. However... we must not lose sight of the supposed purpose of Offa, which we were told was to ensure that all universities play their role in widening participation in higher education."
The Director's role will be central to the drive to widen participation and was created under the Higher Education Act 2004. Any institution that intends to charge tuition fees above the standard level (above £1200 and up to £3000) will need an Access Agreement approved by the Director. Access Agreements will set out:
Charles Clarke said:
"I am delighted that Martin Harris has agreed to become the first Director of Fair Access. It is important to ensure people with talent get the opportunity to go to university if they choose to do so. The Office for Fair Access will, by working with universities, play an important role in enabling this to happen.
The Director will make sure that every institution charging higher fees will have the quality bursaries, outreach work and financial guidance in place to help encourage greater applications from under-represented groups. The Director will not have a remit over university admissions. Admissions are and will remain a matter for universities themselves.
Some universities have already announced bursaries of up to £4,000 since the announcement to create OFFA. That means that some low income students will receive almost £7,000 in non-repayable support each year. This is good news and I hope others follow suit.
The Director of Fair Access may be an essential position but I know universities are as passionate about widening participation as I am. That is why I expect there to be a healthy relationship between Institutions and the Director. I would consider it to be a success if the Director never had to rely on his sanctioning powers during his term in office."
Martin Harris, Director of Fair Access said:
"I am delighted to accept this new post and look forward to working with the sector to ensure fair access for all students, in particular, those from groups currently under-represented in higher education.
I fully share the Secretary of State's view that there should be a continuing drive to widen participation. However, the introduction of variable tuition fees is inevitably a time of change for institutions. Whilst one of my key aims in this new post will be to implement a process for setting up access agreements to safeguard fair access, I hope as Director to do this by working as collaboratively as possible with institutions and in doing so I will respect the Secretary of State's wish not to add to their bureaucratic burden. My past experience working in the sector has led me to understand and respect institutional autonomy and it is on this basis that I look forward to working with the sector.
I will be spending the next few weeks preparing for my new role, and will be making contact with the sector as soon as possible with guidance for producing Access Agreements."
CLASS is the root problem facing universities and they should work to overcome inequalities by considering the school and family background of applicants, the Government's new access regulator believes.
Professor Sir Martin Harris, who was named yesterday as director of the Office for Fair Access (Offa), said that universities should work to forge a meritocracy by taking account of "covert" social factors. He said his views had been shaped by his own "profound shock" at the class differences he encountered as a state school entrant to Cambridge in the 1960s.
Offa has already been dubbed "Oftoff" by critics who fear that universities will be pressured to admit more state students at the expense of those from fee-paying schools. Universities seeking to increase £3,000 tuition fees from 2006 will have to negotiate "access agreements" with Professor Harris to boost applications from disadvantaged students. He can withdraw permission to charge fees and impose fines of up to £500,000 on any that fail to live up to their commitments.
Professor Harris made his views plain in a speech to academics at the Higher Education Policy Institute a month before his appointment. Acknowledging that he was regarded as "resolutely old Labour", he said that the description reflected "what for me remains an important truth: that class underlies almost all the inequalities and unfairnesses in our system, and that to focus unduly on any other variable... is to lose sight of what actually makes a meritocracy difficult to attain in practice. Until we tackle this issue at its roots, everything else is a distraction."
Access to university should be on merit: "To discriminate against any candidate on any other basis whatsoever would be intolerable." But Professor Harris added: "To operate such a policy so that meritocratic principles are honoured in reality may well require the sensitive consideration of covert characteristics of applicants, in particular their family background and their schooling, rather than more overt characteristics enshrined in legislation. I believe this issue needs to be tackled openly and head on." Professor Harris's speech marked his retirement as Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University last month. He described it as an opportunity to be "rather franker than I have felt it appropriate to be over the last twenty years or so about what seems to me to be entirely obvious".
The university system was being asked to rectify at age 18 social inequalities between students that had emerged in early childhood and in the school choices of their parents. The "great social divide" was the decision made by parents to send their children to the local comprehensive - as he had done with his two sons in Manchester - or to enrol them in private schools. Some state schools, particularly in the inner cities, were "not able or willing to stretch their ablest pupils so that they can begin to climb the meritocratic ladder". "The ladder, in my view, is still very much in place, but it is perhaps harder for some and easier for others - relatively speaking - to begin the ascent. To remedy that at 18 is far from easy," he said. "This matters because a relative lack of equality of opportunity within the school system makes it harder to reconcile the parallel demands: the need for fair access and the need for advanced learning and research of the highest quality to be taking place within the UK higher education system. True academic excellence is not about equality, any more than are great musical or sporting talents - but a meritocracy requires that access to all levels, including the very highest, is available on merit, not on circumstances of schooling or, even worse, of family income."
Professor Harris, 60, said that he had been the first in his family to be educated beyond the age of 14. He won a place at Cambridge from his grammar school in Plymouth in 1962. He had then found it a shock to encounter for the first time social class differences, and in Manchester he had undertaken an ambitious programme of targeted access, but that had been only "tinkering at the edges". "To be blunt, the chance which was given to a boy in Plymouth in 1955 would not necessarily be available to a boy or girl of comparable income and from a comparable neighbourhood today."
FROM DR NICK HUDD, October 16
Sir, Rarely have I found an item more offensive than the remarks of Professor Sir Martin Harris, the new university access regulator, about Cambridge (report, October16). I too was a state school entrant to that university in the 1960s, and from a deeply "working-class" area (Thurrock). I found Cambridge the most egalitarian society I have lived in. That does not make me right and him wrong, but it does reveal his attitude to be entirely subjective.
I do not believe there is a shred of evidence that the inequality of access is due to anything other than a gross deterioration in state education since he and I were young. His views suggest to me that the learned professor is following a pre-determined agenda.
Yours faithfully,
N. P. HUDD,
(Consultant Physician),
13 Elmfield,
Tenterden, Kent TN30 6RE.
FROM PROFESSOR R. J. CRAMPTON, October 17
Sir, Professor Sir Martin Harris is not alone in believing that class should play a significant role in determining university admissions policy; this was also very much the view of the communist-dominated regimes which came to power in Eastern Europe immediately after the Second World War.
Under these regimes all citizens were placed in one of a number of social categories, and identification documents bore clear sign of which class a person belonged to, even to the extent in some countries of identity cards varying in colour with the social origin of the bearer. Universities were given strict quotas on how many from each class they could admit with the result that, regardless of aptitude, intelligence, interest or attainment, it became very difficult or even impossible for those stigmatised as "bourgeois" to gain entrance into university. On the other hand, those blessed with "proletarian" origins faced few if any impediments.
Given the nature and record of these regimes, is this the direction in which we wish our universities to move?
Yours faithfully,
R. J. CRAMPTON,
(Professor of East European History),
St Edmund Hall, Oxford OX1 4AR.
FROM MR J. C. WOLTON, October 18
Sir, If the Government wishes to persuade our senior universities to become independent, can there be a better way of achieving this than by appointing Sir Martin Harris as director of the Office for Fair Access?
Yours faithfully,
J. C. WOLTON,
Saffron Pane, Hall Road,
Lavenham, Suffolk CO10 9QU.
FROM PROFESSOR EMERITUS COLIN HARBURY, October 16
Sir, Your report (October 15) that ministers are likely to scrap university admissions targets should be seen as nothing more than a straightforward victory for the political clout of Oxbridge (and the Russell Group).
These leading universities have yet to produce convincing evidence that their judgment has produced efficient intakes or that admitting more students from disadvantaged schools would lower quality. I very much doubt it would.
I remember that Oxbridge used to engage in its own forms of social engineering via scholarships and exhibitions restricted to public schools (eg, Westminster to Christ Church), which kept down the numbers of places for students from poorer families.
Yours, etc,
COLIN HARBURY,
(Admissions Tutor, University of Birmingham, 1961-63; Westminster pupil, 1936-39),
Bridge House,
Pakenham, Suffolk IP31 2JU.
colinharbury@btinternet.com
FROM DR NICOLETTE ZEEMAN, October 15
Sir, You quote a student from King's College, Cambridge, expressing the view that Oxford and Cambridge should take more state school applicants (October 14).
King's College continues to welcome the best applicants, regardless of the school they come from. In the last five years between 73 per cent and 76 per cent of our offers were made to applicants from the state sector.
Yours sincerely,
NICOLETTE ZEEMAN,
(Admissions Tutor),
King's College, Cambridge CB2 1ST.