13 Comments on Universities – time for innovation

Paul Smith on Wed, 23rd Dec 2009 3:12 pm


There seems to be an underlying suggestion that academic education for its own sake is somehow not useful. Surely the encouraging of thought and study is good in itself and may lead to developments useful to society, the environment and the economy even if that is not their principle objective.

Joe Nutt on Wed, 23rd Dec 2009 3:59 pm


I’m reminded Matthew of a conference I attended at the Serious Games Institute a couple of years ago where the keynote speaker (a Canadian) gave a clarion call to all present to innovate, pretty much in order to save the world.

When it came to questions I asked him if he thought innovation was always good. He looked a tad bemused, and paused for quite some time before saying, “I suppose so. I guess I’ve never really thought about it!”

Michael (in UK) on Wed, 23rd Dec 2009 7:00 pm


“The HE sector needs to turn this looming crisis into an opportunity to think in new ways about the content, form and finance of undergraduate education”.

I completely agree. I hope it will include challenging the role of “the lecture” in HE.

One positive thing this year – students launching high profile protest action highlighting poor customer service and poor value for money.

Anne C (UK) on Wed, 23rd Dec 2009 11:37 pm


I am sure budget cuts can sometimes provide a spur for innovative thinking, but perhaps that is not so easy to achieve here. It has even been suggested that the universities could for instance get away from the prevailing method of delivery, ‘the lecture’, at this point. Well, what would be the alternatives? Would they be more cost-effective (surely an important consideration at the time of cuts)?

Alternatives could perhaps include teaching in small groups; research conducted by students; e-learning… It is true that e-learning can in some cases provide some good skills training, but moving away from lectures to any smaller groups normally requires additional funds, unless we radically add to academics’ teaching hours (in which case we might not be able to keep the best of them within the UK system) or use visiting lecturers instead (which reduces contact time with permanent academic staff). I think that not everything should be relegated to visiting staff (even though it is good to get new, refreshing contributions from outside the confines of any one academic department, and to help newly qualified academics) or to students’ own research initiatives, and that is currently the opinion of accreditation bodies etc. also. Students in fact need more contact time with permanent academic staff, not less.

I fear that these cuts will not lead to anything particularly ‘innovative’, or at least to innovation that would improve student experience. In fact, they may only increase the universities’ reliance on ‘the lecture’. (The cuts may lead to ‘innovative’ costing strategies, however… But is that what the sector particularly needs?)

Charles Frith on Thu, 24th Dec 2009 6:47 am


Surely education in its old didactic top down ivory tower approach is on the way out? There are so many ways to learn now that the student assessment process needs reviewing as well.

P.S I don’t think your blog posts have diminished in quality but then I’ve not seen your comments elsewhere. Reciprocity is a cornerstone of socialised media. Just a thought.

Olivia on Thu, 24th Dec 2009 10:54 am


I am fascinated by the role of HE in supporting the sort of issues that the RSA looks to tackle, I think it’s really under-researched and integral to any real transformation in society, so here are my thoughts – Higher Education operates in a global market, it is inherently subject to a world economy – therefore I would suggest that innovation is unlikely to emerge as a result of budget cuts. It just doesn’t need to. Not that I am suggesting innovative teaching methods don’t exist, or that there aren’t fantastic departments working to challenge the status quo when it comes to HE. The problem is that these efforts are marginalised as a result of the learner as consumer effect – what I mean is that whilst students continue to go on to HE with a view to securing greater career opportunities, which is a ‘here and now’ approach to markets, employment and so on, what scope is there for imagining the sort of world we want to live in and how HE institutions can support imaginative learning and innovation? Also – Matthew, when you reference the UK and the US being at the top for the provision of HE, no doubt they are, but having worked at a University in India, the constant striving to achieve what Harvard, Stanford, Oxford etc have, has an extremely negative effect on the ability of the university to provide what is needed for its students on a local level. The UK and US hegemony in HE is just another example of the resource monopoly and success of capitalism surely? What about Universities without Boundaries for a next project?!

matthew taylor on Thu, 24th Dec 2009 4:59 pm


Some great comments here. Thanks. Joe, surely the point about innovation is that it is looking for a new solution to a problem. Of course, not all innovation is successful but without innovation how does society progress? Charles, I take your point about asking for comments when I don’t make them. It was partly the goal of more structured reciprocity which lay behind the idea of Bloggers Circle http://bloggerscircle.net/ . The site has all but lapsed but we are hoping to get to moving again in the new year.

Olivia, Michael and Paul (and Charles) make interesting comments and confirm for me the need to open up a wider debate.

If they didn’t exist, would we invent three year undergraduate degrees immediately after school as the primary form of higher education? If we are going to subsidise 90 weeks full time learning is it really best to use it all up by the time most people are 23? We shouldn’t see part time or two year degrees as cut price option but as good alternatives as relevant to high achievers and aspiring professionals as anyone else.

mas on Sun, 27th Dec 2009 5:50 pm


I don’t think many that have done degrees in recent years could pretend they couldn’t be condensed into two years.

I do think it’s time to move away from the system of straight progression from school – college – university, not least of which could be a requirement for teachers to have to gain some life experience themselves instead of the system we currently have which seems to encourage many to remain within the academic system as some sort of insular beast (and not much of an example is it?!).

I agree with Charles comments – until more creative approaches to assessment are used it’s difficult to see how teaching methods can progress. Unless we think it’s useful for students to demonstrate how ‘innovative’ they are by completing a multiple choice exam on innovation that is…..

Indy on Sun, 27th Dec 2009 11:42 pm


Not directly comparable (it’s from the US) but a thought-provoking infographic:

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/infographic-day-college-really-worth-it?Great

The key point comes in the comment at the end by the designer… a lot of the largest issues around university education hinge on the way our society organises large portions of the job market around academic qualifications. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, but you can’t make sense of the pressures on the university system without tying in the job market system…

Mark on Fri, 22nd Jan 2010 4:00 pm


“When it has got past its anger and anxiety (and realised it won’t be any better off whoever is in power) the HE sector needs to turn this looming crisis into an opportunity to think in new ways about the content, form and finance of undergraduate education.”

What a very silly thing to say. You miss the point entirely. HE has been gearing up to deliver the hallowed 50% participation rate with sanctioned capital expenditure – building new lecture theatres, student residences, labs and other spaces. That capital won’t just disappear and the service costs of that capital remain to be paid for years to come. The removal of fee caps may, or may not, allow the recovery of those costs. Changing the ‘content, form and finance’ of UG delivery won’t affect that one iota…unless of course you were thinking of selling off universities? Of course you might reduce the running costs of institutions by thinking afresh about
‘the content, form and finance of undergraduate education’, but that might actually add to costs (for example, two year degrees suggest even more intensive use of existing resources).

mas on Fri, 22nd Jan 2010 4:48 pm


“might actually add to costs (for example, two year degrees suggest even more intensive use of existing resources”

like what? it certainly wouldn’t be the student union bars!

Mark on Mon, 25th Jan 2010 4:21 pm


Like more staff hours? Instead of delivering a programme consisting of 360 credits at level 1 or above over 3 years, we’ll have to deliver it so that those 360 credits cen be achieved in 2 years. That means:

- allowing more AP(E)L to reduce the amount of ‘earned credit from modules’ – so more time to assess more student cases
- more student time spent in accumulating credit over a shorter period, meaning more intensive use of labs, libraries etc., so more staff time to support them
- more delivery (e.g. two runs of a module – one in each of two terms/semesters), or an additional summer term/semester – meaning more staff time

Sorry, ‘fresh thinking’ is not always resource free….

HE in the UKis pretty much pushed to the limit already. Assume the 10,000 extra places the Tories want to add are combined with the ‘fresh thinking’. Do you really think that UK HEIs won’t break under the strain?

mas on Mon, 25th Jan 2010 4:37 pm


I was thinking more along the lines that 120 of those credits in year 1 don’t have much value. I only speak from experience of course – no doubt there are courses for which they do (but how many?)

I get your point though that there would be more intensive use of some resources.

I’m curious about the ‘10,000 extra places the tories want’ – not much else of what they’re talking about suggests that would be likely to happen very soon (raising the bar and all that)

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