Twelve member institutions of the University of London, including UCL and King¡¯s College London, are planning to apply for university status in their own right, subject to a bill on the federal institution completing its passage through the UK¡¯s Parliament.

The ¨C a private bill promoted by the institution itself ¨C aims to strengthen the institution by reducing the drivers for member institutions to leave, by allowing them to apply for university title.

Any of the member colleges ¡°could choose to leave the federation in order to achieve separate university status (as Imperial [College London] had to in 2006), but this would weaken the federal university and disadvantage the [member institution] forced into that position¡±, law firm Pinsent Masons writes on behalf of the University of London in .

The member institutions ¡°need to be able to obtain university title, but they wish to remain within the federation: Imperial did not have that choice¡±.

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

The bill would repeal the University of London Act 1994.

The University of London¡¯s 18 member institutions have their own degree-awarding powers and a combined total of about 120,000 students. Letters from the institutions published alongside the bill show that UCL and King¡¯s are among the 12 members planning to apply for university title immediately.

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

Maureen Boylan, acting secretary of the University of London, told Times Higher Education that the ¡°critical¡± change would be to the definitions section of the act, allowing member ¡°universities¡± ¨C rather than just institutes, schools and colleges at present ¨C to be included within the federal institution.

The current act also sets out how the University of London makes its statutes and ¡°we¡¯ve taken the opportunity to bring it up to date¡±, she said.

Documents related to the bill show that the University of London informed local Unison and University and College Union representatives that their unions¡¯ ¡°rights to be consulted in relation to the making of or amendments to the statutes of the university would be formally removed under the bill¡±.

Union representatives said they had no objections to the bill after being assured that the statutes had no relation to employment matters.

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

Ms Boylan ¨C who hopes the legislation could receive Royal Assent by the summer ¨C said the bill was ¡°at least the third time¡± in the past 20 years that the University of London ¡°had attempted to have this conversation with the government¡±.

¡°But this time, we were pushing on an open door,¡± she added. ¡°Jo Johnson [the former universities minister] agreed with us that it was absolutely ludicrous that the constituent members of the federal university are not universities ¨C they are colleges, technically, legally speaking.¡±

Asked why it was important for members to have their own university statuses, Ms Boylan said: ¡°It really varies¡­But internationally, especially, there are occasions where they might be left out of a league table, they might be left off funding [allocations]; it might just be confusing for students and staff [in recruitment].¡±

She added: ¡°In a nutshell, it¡¯s brand confusion. For some it scarcely matters; for some it matters rather more.¡±

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

Highlighting recent changes to the English higher education system, Ms Boylan said: ¡°You¡¯ve got all these new entrants¡­They can become universities ¨C and UCL can¡¯t. It¡¯s crazy, really. So we¡¯re putting right an anachronism.¡±

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com