Shaping the law

Former minister calls on universities to devise the regulatory future.

Universities should unite behind “a clear, single analysis” of how higher education should be regulated in future developed over the coming months, according to David Willetts (pictured), a former universities and science minister. He called upon universities to take advantage of their intellectual resources, drawing upon lawyers and relevant experts to draft potential clauses and generate thinking and analysis. “There more that happens, the better the legislation that will be introduced,” he said to a conference on regulation held today at the London School of Economics.

The need for new legislation is becoming “more urgent and pressing”, he added. While there had been “no great appetite” for another parliamentary vote on higher education in the current Parliament, higher education legislation will be needed in the next one, Willetts said. He added that, with the benefit of hindsight, he was “relieved that [the government] didn’t rush into legislation”, given there were some questions that had “not been properly digested” at the time of tuition fee vote.