Higher Education and Research Bill

Lord Desai Excerpts

Committee: 4th sitting (Hansard - continued): House of Lords
Wednesday 18th January 2017 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Desai]

133A: Clause 13, page 8, line 26, at end insert—
“( ) a condition requiring that all student assessments, written and otherwise, including assessed dissertations at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, are either—(i) robustly blind marked to ensure the identity of the student is not known to the marker, or(ii) where it is unavoidable or probable that the identity of the student will be known to the marker, secondarily marked by an independent marker to whom the identity of the student is unknown.”

[Lord Desai (Lab)]

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendment 133B. They are pretty straightforward. They concern the notion that students should not feel that they are being discriminated against; they should not actually be discriminated against and they should not perceive that they are being discriminated against. The suggestion is that there should be blind-testing as far as possible—and if blind-testing is not possible, there should be a second examiner who should not know the name of the students.

Amendment 133B applies the same principle to admissions. BAME students in particular feel the possibility of discrimination, so this is to reassure them. I beg to move.

[Lord Bew (CB)]

My Lords, I rise briefly to support the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Desai. I learned earlier this evening that he taught at the University of Pennsylvania, as did I and the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth. That university is about to be further distinguished by the fact that one of its alumni is to become President of the United States in two days’ time. But I did not agree with his saying that it is easy to assess university teaching, partly because of the mixture of research that is involved with teaching and the difficulties of making judgments in that area.

I will come to this issue in Amendment 189, in my name, but there is a real danger that the Government are aiming for a spurious scientificity in their attempt to deal with the problem. On the other hand, Amendments 133A and 133B hit on something that can and should be dealt with to protect students’ interests. It shows greater objectivity in the treatment of students, which is all the more necessary in the epoch we are now in, when these matters are greatly disputed, much more than they were a generation ago. Broadly speaking, it is easier, and I think more appropriate, to meet the requirements of the government manifesto by aiming at things which actually hit at what I might call the fecklessness of university teachers—not marking properly or quickly enough, not being good enough at getting in contact, not replying to emails. Those are things that legislation should be aiming to correct to protect teachers, but it should not aim at a spurious scientific metric, which is quite a dangerous thing to do.

The thinking behind Amendments 133A and 133B, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Desai, is very solid and goes to the heart of putting, as the Minister said, the student and the legitimate protection of the student’s interests at the heart of things, rather than seeking a bogus popularity among students. This is a legitimate concern for students and they have a right to be protected in this matter.

--- Later in debate ---

There is no doubt that the amendments are well-intentioned and speak to issues of great importance, but I suggest that the principle of institutional autonomy and the good work the sector is already doing in this area mean that it would not be appropriate to include them in the Bill. I therefore ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Desai]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Bew, and my noble friend Lord Watson, and of course the Minister for her reply. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 133A withdrawn.