The ¡°complex¡± flows of money happening in UK universities today were not anticipated when the former coalition government tripled?tuition?fees in 2012, according to the Conservative shadow minister for?skills.

¡°I don¡¯t think that the system has really evolved in the way that was hoped in 2011 where there was a belief that there would be differentiation in terms of fees,¡± Neil O¡¯Brien, MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, told?Times Higher Education.?

Now, when considering the policies his party will put forward following their defeat in last year¡¯s general election, he is keen to avoid ¡°unintended consequences¡±.

¡°We¡¯re conscious that there is this complex network of cross-subsidies between research and teaching; between international students and domestic; between different departments,¡± he said. ¡°Money is flowing around the system in lots of complicated ways...that were not really, I think, anticipated ¨C definitely not in 2011.¡±

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A major cause of ¡°unintended consequences¡± is migration policies. In recent years, British universities have been left fearful that a?crackdown on immigration to the UK?could harm their finances by stemming the flow of higher fee-paying international students ¨C fears which, for the most part,?have proved rational.?

¡°I don¡¯t have a problem with international students,¡± O¡¯Brien said, but added that he would like to see the end of the?post-study work visa for foreign graduates, which he does not believe has lived up to the promise of attracting the ¡°best and brightest¡±.

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¡°A lot of people are using it whose motivation is not to study,¡± he said. ¡°I think we should sell [higher education] on its own merits.¡±

But, he said, ¡°we are conscious that we need to avoid doing anything, if we get in, in terms of creating unintended consequences in higher education¡±.?

Prior to becoming an MP in 2017, O¡¯Brien spent four years as an adviser to then chancellor, George Osborne, before going on to advise Theresa May during her tenure as prime minister. More recently, he held positions in the levelling up and health departments during the pandemic.

In July 2022, he quit his role as levelling up minister in Boris Johnson¡¯s Cabinet one day before the former prime minister announced his resignation. When assembling her shadow Cabinet in 2024, current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch appointed O¡¯Brien to the education team, alongside shadow secretary of state for education, Laura Trott.

His new role commenced about a month after the Labour government announced plans to?reduce the amount of funding raised by the new ¡°growth and skills levy¡± that is used on higher-level apprenticeships?in a bid to expand them at a lower level.?

O¡¯Brien, who has accused the government of ¡°vandalising¡± apprenticeships, believes level 6 apprenticeships will inevitably be cut too, not least because the numbers of people taking level 7 courses is relatively small, so more change will be needed if the adjustment the government hopes for is to be achieved.?

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¡°Some of that redistribution from level 7, unless you do something about it, will go straight to level 6,¡± he said.?

¡°It won¡¯t go to level 2 and 3, because the whole point of the levy was ¨C as well as to stop good employers being undermined by bad employers who don¡¯t invest and then just poach their staff ¨C to give employers real ownership and assistance the first time, and their revealed preference is to use it to do this higher-level stuff.

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¡°You either accept that it¡¯s an employer-led system and they can choose or you don¡¯t,¡± he said.?

He also sympathised with the challenges the proposed policy creates for universities. ¡°In an already difficult context, there will be a lot of problems for them if you suddenly whip this away from them, particularly if you then leave the sword dangling over level 6 as well.¡±

When it comes to traditional courses, the MP is in favour of ¡°a little bit more control by ministers¡± given concern,?frequently voiced by his party?while in government, about the?low value of some degree courses.?

These decisions, he believes, shouldn¡¯t be solely in the hands of 16- and 17-year-olds who ¡°do not primarily think about what they¡¯re going to be earning at age 45 and¡­don¡¯t think about...the needs of the economy in 20 years¡±.

That control could ¡°come in different ways and doesn¡¯t have to be incredibly heavy-handed¡±, he said, but what it would actually look like remains the ¡°big question¡±.

¡°Britain is in a difficult place fiscally because of the ageing society ¨C that¡¯s going to continue for the rest of my life,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s never going to be a moment where there¡¯s just tonnes of money, so we¡¯ve got to make the best use of the resources we've got.?

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¡°Are we absolutely making the best use of resources for higher education that we could at the moment? I'm not convinced that¡¯s true.¡±

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com