June 11, 2010
David Docherty: ‘Willetts is facing a familiar university challenge’
David Docherty, Chief Executive of CIHE has written for the Guardian saying that pragmatism is key if David Willetts is to find answers to the fees debate that has haunted higher education for decades.
In the article David says:
“Three things became clear to me from reading Willetts’s speech and talking to [John ] Hayes. First, it’s a lucky stroke of coalition fate that two seasoned shadow ministers got the jobs. Second, both are genuinely passionate about social advancement. And third, ideas are back in fashion – but only if they have pragmatic value. Francis Maude at the same conference essentially said, whatever works, works.”
Referencing the newly announced employability statements to be in place by the end of August, David went on to say:
“The problem is that employability is a baggy and undefined term and perhaps the new politics needs new concepts. In the spirit of pragmatism, we need to promote early professional development (EPD), using “professional” to mean games design as much as medicine. This would be similar to continuous professional development programmes, which are accredited jointly with business, embedded within the degree course from year one, and are part of business and public sector engagement schemes. These can either be taught by universities or outsourced to specialists.”
The full article can be found on the Guardian website.
