As another attack on higher education references ‘provincial ex-polytechnics’, we should recall there was more to the binary line than polytechnics. It’s worth reflecting that the creation of a public sector of higher education embraced far more than those institutions designated as polytechnics in England and Wales or central institutions in Scotland. The notion of a public sector came from Crossland’s Woolwich speech:
‘Why should we not aim at … a vocationally orientated non-university sector which is degree-giving and with appropriate amount of postgraduate work with opportunities for learning comparable with those of the universities, and giving a first class professional training … under state control, directly responsible to social needs’
He contrasted the pubic sector with an autonomous university sector and hoped that we could move away from ‘our snobbish caste-ridden hierarchical obsession with university status’. The public sector of HE often embraced opportunities that the university sector did not, in particular they opted for growth. The response to the early 1980s cuts saw universities cut student numbers, whereas the public sector grew. There’s a helpful snapshot of the public sector in the 1985 Lindop report, showing student numbers across the UK. Lindop was looking at validation – the public sector institutions did not have their own degree awarding powers and relied on the CNAA or a small number of validating universities. There was agitation for change: CNAA would devolve more powers to the bigger, more mature, institutions and incorporation would take another group away from LEA control with a new funding council.
A line was drawn through the public sector; based on the proportion of students on ‘advanced’ courses. The following data shows the number of students on first and higher degree courses in November 1983 compared with the number of student enrolments in 2021/22 (HESA – all students). I’ve included all those that had 250 students. The obvious conclusion is that the providers have grown hugely, but not necessarily at a uniform rate.
It shows that, outside London, those ‘provincial ex-polytechnics’ have retained their status as the largest institutions, growing five or six fold in under 40 years. There are outliers, for example Bournemouth, UCLAN, Glasgow Caledonian, West London, and Edge Hill are 10 times larger than the place they were in 1985. In London the picture is mixed, there’s been slower growth for some and the dynamic nature of student numbers is not picked up between these two point. London Met, which grew to be one of the largest universities after its merger is now only 87% larger than both its predecessor polytechnics were in 1983.
Mergers complicate the picture – small public sector colleges that joined an autonomous university (such as LSU or Westhill) are not the same body. There are examples where mergers have promoted growth. Cambridgeshire CAT and Chelmer Institute came together as Anglia – which is now 20 times bigger. Bedford first merged with De Montfort and then de-merged and merged with Luton. In 1983 Bedford had 653 students but Luton only had 120 – now Bedfordshire is 21 times the enrolment.
The other area of growth, which brings us back to the issue of validation, is where students registered at one provider are being taught by another. Canterbury ChristChurch had 30 times its 1983 student number in 2022 and Bucks New 42 times.
| Title in 1983 | Title in 2023 | 1983 | 2022 |
| Manchester Poly | Manchester Metropolitan U | 7291 | 36980 |
| Sheffield Poly | Sheffield Hallam U | 6331 | 34535 |
| Trent Poly | Nottingham Trent U | 6279 | 41465 |
| Middlesex Poly | Middlesex U | 6271 | 19255 |
| Liverpool Poly | Liverpool John Moores U | 5881 | 28100 |
| Portsmouth Poly | Portsmouth U | 5651 | 26500 |
| Newcastle Poly | Northumbria U | 5141 | 32570 |
| Poly of South Bank | London South Bank U | 4962 | 19185 |
| Leicester Poly | De Montfort U | 4941 | 28335 |
| Coventry Poly | Coventry U | 4799 | 38190 |
| Kingston Poly | Kingston U | 4583 | 19920 |
| North East London Poly | U East London | 4425 | 19550 |
| Poly of Central London | Westminster U | 4384 | 20915 |
| Leeds Poly | Leeds Beckett U | 4359 | 23365 |
| Brighton Poly | Brighton U | 4356 | 17835 |
| Poly of North London | London Metropolitian U | 4334 | 13435 |
| Wolverhampton Poly | Wolverhampton U | 4064 | 20250 |
| Hatfield Poly | Hertfordshire U | 3971 | 31940 |
| Sunderland Poly | Sunderland U | 3865 | 19975 |
| Bristol Poly | U West of England | 3855 | 37170 |
| North Staffs Poly | Staffordshire U | 3844 | 18480 |
| Plymouth Poly | Plymouth U | 3620 | 19095 |
| Thames Poly | Greenwich U | 3496 | 26610 |
| City of Birmingham Poly | Birmingham City U | 3403 | 30285 |
| Oxford Poly | Oxford Brookes U | 3205 | 17470 |
| Huddersfield Poly | Huddersfield U | 3062 | 20885 |
| Wales, Poly of | U South Wales | 2876 | 23270 |
| Paisley C of T(S) | U West of Scotland | 2836 | 20070 |
| Goldsmiths College | Goldsmiths | 2816 | 9880 |
| City of London Poly | London Metropolitian U | 2813 | 13435 |
| Preston Poly | U Central Lancashire | 2548 | 28325 |
| Teesside Poly | Teesside U | 2449 | 22695 |
| Roehampton IHE | Roehampton U | 2365 | 12335 |
| Robert Gordon’s I of T(S) | Robert Gordon U | 2162 | 14970 |
| Humberside C | U Lincoln | 1997 | 17975 |
| Glasgow C of T(S) | Glasgow Caledonian U | 1971 | 20050 |
| Ealing CHE | U West London | 1822 | 18695 |
| Napier College(S) | Edinburgh Napier U | 1617 | 15530 |
| Ripon and York St. John C | York St John U | 1412 | 7935 |
| Dundee C of T(S) | Abertay U | 1368 | 4790 |
| Edge Hill CHE | Edge Hill U | 1356 | 14700 |
| Crewe and Alsager CHE | MMU (Merger) | 1278 | |
| Dorset IHE | Bournemouth U | 1174 | 17960 |
| Liverpool IHE | Liverpool Hope U | 1089 | 5640 |
| King Alfred’s C | Winchester U | 1073 | 8280 |
| Worcester CHE | Worcester U | 1068 | 9900 |
| Bath CHE | Bath Spa U | 1067 | 13240 |
| S Glamorgan IHE | Cardiff Met U | 1059 | 12620 |
| Bulmershe CHE | Reading (Merger) | 1057 | |
| St. Mary’s Twickenham | St Mary’s U | 1043 | 5895 |
| Nene College | Northampton U | 1009 | 16100 |
| West London IHE | Brunel (Merger) | 982 | |
| West Sussex IHE | Chichester U | 973 | 5985 |
| Derbyshire CHE | U of Derby | 960 | 22955 |
| St. Paul and St. Mary C | Gloucester U | 951 | 8210 |
| Trinity and All Saints C | Leeds Trinity U | 928 | 11640 |
| Chester College | Chester U | 915 | 14325 |
| Cambridgeshire CAT | Anglia Ruskin U | 913 | 35195 |
| Edinburgh C of A(S) | Edinburgh U (merger) | 902 | |
| Bolton IHE | U of Bolton | 848 | 10995 |
| West Midlands CHE | Wolverhampton U (Merger) | 815 | 20050 |
| Chelmer IHE | Anglia Ruskin U | 806 | 35195 |
| Christchurch College | Canterbury Christ Church U | 792 | 24660 |
| Bradford and Ikley CO | Bradford College | 785 | |
| GlasgowS of A(S) | Glasgow S of A | 777 | 2440 |
| Duncan of Jordanstone (S) | Dundee (merger) | 753 | |
| St. Mark and St. John C | Plymouth Marjon U | 745 | 2890 |
| Jordanhill College (S) | Strathclyde U (merger) | 721 | |
| Bedford CHE | Bedfordshire U (merger) | 658 | 16430 |
| Avery Hill College | Greenwich U (merger) | 641 | |
| Bretton Hall College | Leeds U (merger) | 635 | |
| De La Salle College | Hopwood Hall (merger) | 613 | |
| West Surrey CAD | UCA (merger) | 551 | 9430 |
| St. Martin’s College | Cumbria U | 547 | 9705 |
| Hertfordshire CHE | Hertfordshire U | 531 | |
| Gwent CHE | U South Wales (merger) | 529 | 23270 |
| St. Martin’s S of A | U Arts (merger) | 529 | 22455 |
| Rolle College | Plymouth U (merger) | 522 | |
| La Sainte Union CHE | Southampton U (merger) | 517 | |
| Queen Margaret C (S) | Queen Margaret U | 511 | 6250 |
| Central School of A and D | U Arts (merger) | 500 | 22455 |
| Buckinghamshire CHE | Bucks New U | 479 | 20570 |
| NE Wales Institute | Wrexham Glyndŵr U | 446 | 7490 |
| Gloucestershire CAT | Gloucestershire College | 418 | |
| Camberwell S of A and C | U Arts (merger) | 418 | 22455 |
| London C of Printing | U Arts (merger) | 400 | 22455 |
| North Riding C | Hull U (merger) | 391 | |
| Ravensbourne CAD | Ravensbourne U | 387 | 2585 |
| Westminster College | Oxford Brookes U (merger) | 344 | |
| St. Andrews C (S) | Glasgow U (merger) | 337 | |
| Newman College | Newman U | 333 | 2760 |
| Loughborough CAD | Loughborough U (merger) | 330 | |
| Nonington College | 317 | ||
| Canterbury College of Art | UCA (merger) | 301 | 9430 |
| Exeter CAD | Plymouth U (merger) | 291 | |
| Westhill College | Birmingham U (merger) | 286 | |
| Bishop Grosseteste C | Bishop Grosseteste U | 277 | 2370 |
| Charlotte Mason C | Cumbria U (merger) | 274 | |
| W Glamorgan IHE | U Wales TSD (merger) | 274 | 15045 |
| Queen’s College (S) | Glasgow Caledonian U (merger) | 265 | |
| Maidstone C of A | UCA (merger) | 253 | 9430 |
| Glasgow C of Building | City of Glasgow College | 252 |
The Lindop report encouraged the evolution of CNNA’s approval processes and called for better co-ordination of the validation activities of universities. It also focused on the need to protect the quality of academic staff and to check there were processes to maintain the quality of students ‘ensuring that institution do not accept for degree courses students who lack the minimum qualifications normally required without carefully assessing their ability to reach degree standard on the course to which they have applied’ (p83).
We have something of a tradition of academics at Swansea writing pieces saying that More Will Mean Worse. It can’t be a coincidence that hierarchy comes into play; it’s often been the new providers, the unfamiliar names, that do the ‘heavy lifting’ on widening access. Providers are much bigger in 2023 than they were in 1983, perhaps on a scale unimaginable back then. In the history of UK higher education, another expansion followed Lindop, driven by Ken Baker’s policies again with institutions in this list taking the lead. What’s potentially interesting is that the latest expansion has finally focused on the older universities, more familiar to Amis and Tettenborn alike. We wait to see if minimum qualifications or other student number controls are part of where DfE goes next with the ‘post-Augar’ announcements.
Reference
Lindop, 1985, Academic Validation in Public Sector Higher Education – the Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Academic Validation of Degree Courses in Public Sector Higher Education – Chairman Sir Norman Lindop, London, HMSO Cmnd 9501
moremeansbetter 