No minister to say yes...

A time of quiet celebration in higher education? We do not have a minister in government to look after us.. Government does provide a significant proportion of university finance - but its share has declined markedly since the introduction of student fees. Its share of the research pot has also declined in relative terms. Unfortunately, higher education is now a constrained market with a cap on fees at an uneconomic level and an exchequer that is unwilling to put any more money into what is a creaking system. One would question then - what is the point of government? The mixed economy in HE is not working, a substantial proportion of good universities are facing deficits and many are insitigating redundancy programmes. Perhaps we will all be bettter off without a minister to look after us.