Higher Education and the General Election 2

Tonight was the third and final Prime Ministerial Debate and this time on the economy but was actually the strongest and most exciting of the three debates.  As you can imagine those of us in the public sector (including universities), watched listening for any sign of where budget and job cuts will be coming from but there were no real hints.  That said, following on from my last posting on the election, a few more reflections have come to mind. 

The economy has been hitting the headlines today with the Greek 'austerity cuts' and an article from the Economics Editor at the Telegraph saying that the Governor of the Bank of England thinks that whoever gets in will have to make such severe cuts that they will be voted out of power for a generation.  Both of these have given us a bigger hint on what we can expect under the next government than the actual parties fighting to form it.  There are going to be cuts and they're going to be severe but we're still not clear when or how bad they're going to be.  Immigration featured again in the debate but the issue of student immigration was not mentioned this time. 
Now the General Election's still continued to mention Higher Education at various points from Cameron getting a rather good grilling by a student on funding to articles in the Times Higher on the power of the student vote.  There was an article in Research Fortnight (which I can't link to as it is a subscription service) which has also discussed the Manifestos pointing out the Tory and Labour plans for £extra places, a bigger push for universities to commercialise their knowledge and a promise to consider an ongoing review into student fees."  They also pointed out that Labour and the Lib Dems plan to 'ring-fence' research (though the article questions what that means).  They have also counted the number of times each party uses the words Education or University: Labour wins (57), followed by the Lib Dems (35) and the Conservatives last (22). 

The best summary has been by International Focus, a newsletter for people working in that domain in HE.  Their analysis says Labour is the only one to actually tackle internationalisation of HE saying they want it to be "a great export business."  I disagree with this because education can not be seen purely as a business (though it needs a greater business sensibility, education is about people not numeric bottom lines) and also that education is something that is exported.  This implies colonialism, 'giving something to the world' when actually we welcome a huge number of students and the idea of cross-cultural exchange would reflect the nature of the UK's universities today.  The leaflet goes on to say that the Tories focus (vaguely) on student immigration and the Lib Dem's focus on HE from a domestic point of view.  Whatever it predicts that the new government's position on "HE will probably be to invest less and manage more."  Not rocket science as we've already seen it start but succinctly put. 

That's all the detail I'm going to have on education though I do miss the BBC's Daily Politics debate on education as I travel to France on Saturday.  Which means I now have all the information I will have to cast my postal ballet.  Now, as with all elections and all voters, this isn't a single issue vote.  How I much I want to pay in taxes, how I want those taxes spent, the role of society in the individuals' life, the economic downturn, who I believe I can trust to deliver their promises, the implications of a balanced parliament in a 3 party system and numerous other issues have influenced my vote.  The one option which was closed to me was not voting.  That said, looking at how one issue affects has shown how many areas impact on my career and my sector has been fascinating.  The words Higher Education or Universities may not be heard that much in this election but its spirit influences many areas.  From immigration to diplomacy, from home affairs to economic growth, from European relations to the value of education, it touches it all. 

Tomorrow I will have to take that decision. I have been betting for 3 years that there will be a Conservative/Lib Dem mix in the next government.  Will I be right?  What will be the impact of my and your vote?  What's the future for Higher Education under the next Government?  We can start (or continue) these questions in a week's time but I suspect the answer to them will remain unknown for some time.