Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Willetts and Julian Smith

Thursday 10th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Willetts]

I would be happy to meet my right hon. Friend. That is exactly the kind of initiative that the Mayor of London envisaged when he launched his MedCity initiative earlier this week. We look forward to a golden triangle that links Oxford, Cambridge and Sutton.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

11. What steps he is taking to help small and medium-sized businesses to export.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Willetts and Julian Smith

Thursday 23rd January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Willetts]

We certainly understand the value of the work of the student opportunity fund. Indeed, I have visited Sheffield Hallam university and have seen the excellent work that it does.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

As the Prime Minister’s recent excellent trip to China has shown, there are phenomenal opportunities for Britain to trade with the Chinese. May I urge the Department to continue to lobby for the simplification of visas for Chinese visitors and entrepreneurs?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Willetts and Julian Smith

Thursday 24th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking Robbins report. Will the Minister for Universities and Science confirm that this Conservative-led Government will continue the spirit of Robbins and ensure that higher education is open to all?

[Mr Willetts]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; indeed, today is the day, 50 years ago, when the then Conservative Government accepted the Robbins report. We are marking the 50th anniversary with more funding going into universities, with more students and with more applications from students from disadvantaged backgrounds than ever before, so we can be proud of our record on higher education.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Willetts and Julian Smith

Thursday 13th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

The Government are having a really successful run-up to this year’s G8; $4.5 billion was pledged for global malnutrition last Saturday and there has been a highly successful science summit this week. Will the Science Minister update the House with further details of the science summit?

[Mr Willetts]

We had an excellent summit of the G8 Science Ministers at the Royal Society yesterday. We agreed that new global challenges such as antibiotic resistance needed to be tackled, and we committed ourselves to the publication of research and data that are publicly funded.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Willetts and Julian Smith

Thursday 7th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Willetts]

The variation in applications between universities is what happens when there is competition and when the money goes with the student. That is a key feature of our reforms. This year we are seeing applications up. Given the hon. Gentleman’s genuine concern about this issue, I should have thought that he would welcome the fact that the application rate for disadvantaged young people from England is at its highest ever level—19.5%.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

May I congratulate the Minister on his excellent reforms and urge him to push forward with all the efforts that he is making to attract foreign students to the UK?

[Mr Willetts]

My hon. Friend is right. There is no cap on the number of overseas students who come to Britain. All legitimate overseas students are warmly welcome in our country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Willetts and Julian Smith

Thursday 20th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Willetts]

Of course, entry to British universities is competitive, and we have many more applicants than places, but we will continue to get across the message that no student has to pay up front to go to university, and that students start paying for university only if they are earning more than £21,000. That is a very fair way of financing our universities.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

What measures is the sizzling science and higher education Minister putting in place to ensure that applicants to universities have the very best information on the outcomes of their courses?

[Mr Willetts]

For the first time, we have required that key information sets contain the information that prospective students want about, for example, employment outcomes from particular courses at particular universities. People are entitled to that information—it was not available before, but now it is.

Higher Education White Paper

Debate between Lord Willetts and Julian Smith

Tuesday 28th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

I welcome the furthering of links between business and universities. Which developing and emerging economies does the Minister think we have most to learn from, and when will Sir Tim Wilson produce his report?

[Mr Willetts]

I hope that it will be possible for Professor Sir Tim Wilson to report to us by the autumn on his observations. Having visited our main trading partners, encouraging legitimate overseas students to study in the UK and building education contacts, I think there are opportunities for us to learn from them, but equally there remains a great desire among them to learn from us. Some of our vocational qualifications are well respected, especially traditional, well-established qualifications such as City and Guilds, HNCs, HNDs and BTECs. I want to see those expanded, as do the Secretary of State and the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning. Indeed, one of the new flexibilities will be to have a BTECU. It will be possible to take BTECs beyond A-level, so we could imagine a level 4 or 5 qualification—it might not be a full-blown honours degree, but it could be called a BTEC even though the organisation offering BTECs is not a teaching institution. That is the type of new flexibility that we are going to make possible so that higher-level vocational qualifications can be properly studied in our country.

Higher Education Funding

Debate between Lord Willetts and Julian Smith

Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Willetts]

We believe in broadening access, but we do not believe in artificial targets for the number of people going to university. The 50% target was a suspiciously round number—it did not sound like a carefully thought through proposal. We believe that the number of people going to university should emerge as a consequence of the choices of those who have the aptitude to do so.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

The £150 million scholarship fund is great news for low-income students, but many young people tell me that they are unclear about what bursaries and scholarships are available to them. May I urge my right hon. Friend to promote this fund so that every young person is aware of the great opportunities that exist to get free education if they need it?

[Mr Willetts]

My hon. Friend is right. Some evaluations sadly show that bursaries, despite a large amount of money going into them, have not been very effective in broadening access to university. That is why we want to give universities much greater freedom to design schemes that actually work. A single £150 million national scholarship scheme is a great opportunity to communicate the fact that support will be available.