Some words of comfort?

David Lammy’s speech to the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) is worth a read. The headline message is a defence of the liberal arts within higher education – this being justified on the dual basis that it is both good for the economy and good in itself.

Perhaps the underlying message is ‘don’t fear the swallowing of DIUS by BIS’. Of course, beyond the rhetoric, funding decisions and policy will reveal the real balance of power and priority in the merged department and we will need to wait a little longer to see how that turns out.

For my part, I was interested in the rather traditional conception of higher education that seems to inform the speech. References to “music societies, film clubs, bridge clubs, sports clubs, science clubs, political clubs, voluntary societies, foreign language societies” and the “annual play put on in the German Department” suggest to me a particular type of higher education experience. My hope is that the commitment to a liberal conceptualization of higher education is one that all learners are able to benefit from.

Breaking News

Following the reports from today's reshuffle it appears that:

• DIUS has now been merged into a new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
• Lord Mandelson is now the Secretary of State in charge of HE

Given the way that things are unfolding in government, I am tempted to think this might have more to do with expediency than strategic policy - but it does mean that HE is now clearly linked to business rather than the rest of education within government. It will be interesting to see if this has any consequences.