University education ‘healthy and vibrant’

The university education system is ‘healthy and vibrant’ and there is no urgent need to alter the provision of subjects, according to a higher education research body.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) was asked by the Department of Education to investigate the provision of ‘strategic subjects’ such as science and modern languages at the end of last year, amid fears that university departments in these areas were being forced to close due to low uptake.

However, in the report Hefce chairman David Young states it would be “exaggerating” to say such departments were in crisis, although he does set out a number of recommendations to protect “these important and vulnerable subjects”.

Higher education minister Bill Rammell said he was “pleased” by the report, but added that the government would not be complacent and would keep its higher education policy “under review”.