Wednesday 3 November 2010

This is coalition government

This really is copybook coalition politics. No fuss. No bother. No external briefings. Just a comprehensive and convincing restructuring of higher education funding to put British students and universities on a global footing.

Vince Cable and David Willetts have delivered - and way beyond the coalition agreement hammered out in May. They have done so with civility and in the face of deeply partisan criticism from the Labour benches whose thirteen years of government were characterised by the near destruction of university funding based on dumbed-down qualifications attached to absurdly optimistic projections for participation and without the necessary funding.

Now we have widely agreed, evidence-based, bottom-up policy that will stand the test of time. Putting students at the heart of higher education and British universities at the forefront of global educational standards. Anyone who cares about higher education should celebrate the coalition tonight.