Evelyn Welch: not all of our interests will align all the time

In her last year of studying her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, Evelyn Welch felt “ready to get out”.

Although she didn’t move far – across the river from Cambridge, Massachusetts to the city of Boston – the new chair of the Russell Group said: “I was a commuter student myself.”

That is not to say the University of Bristol vice-chancellor, who assumed the influential role overseeing the work of the research-intensive grouping this summer, feels the residential model is going anywhere.

But she believes the future is one of “greater differentiation between students who want to live at home and those who want…to come to university”.

It is an issue Bristol has been considering deeply over the past few years, in part designing its new £500 million campus – which comes complete with a new entrance to the Bristol Temple Meads train station – with a view to accommodating more commuters, even though just 5 per cent of its students could be classified as such currently.

Nonetheless, Welch doesn’t doubt that there will always be students keen to live on campus – particularly those studying at Russell Group institutions, where people value the chance to “learn together”.

The Russell Group retaining a broadly residential model while others become more mixed is one example of increased differentiation in the sector – something that could become a defining feature of Welch’s time in the role.

It has escaped no one’s notice that the Russell Group has become more combative in the policy positions it takes of late – pushing the interests of its members, at times at the expense of other institutions in the sector.

Notably, the organisation successfully campaigned for a flat rate over a percentage-based fee for the coming international student levy, saving its members money, while increasing the cost for those institutions lower down the food chain.

“I think we all start with the assumption that we are a sector and that we have collective interests in terms of meeting national need,” Welch said.

“But the Russell Group, like MillionPlus, like Research Plus…we are mission groups. Actually, our job is to speak, where appropriate, to our mission, and in the Russell Group’s case it is about being large, comprehensive universities who are delivering research at the highest level for the nation.”

For Welch, such universities’ interests might “not align” all the time with those of small, specialist institutions – on questions of “parts of government funding”, for instance.

“It’s just very important to be open about it to see where there are overlapping interests to begin with and to work these things through and certainly not to ask ministers to decide who’s their favourite child,” she said.

The group’s support for a national minimum university entry standard has also raised eyebrows, with suggestions floated in recent months including the possible requirement of a pass in GCSE English.

Those concerned by the proposition suggest it could set back access and inclusion efforts.

“We have to have a debate about how we ensure that public money, which is supporting students, is actually being used wisely,” Welch said.

“That’s not about minimum entry requirements per se, it’s about how you ensure that the student is well prepared for success – and goes on to succeed in terms that not just they as an individual, but we as a social community, would regard as success.”

Welch suggested that could be a pass in GCSE English, an access to higher education foundation course or a “specialist test that we all agree on”.

Expressing concerns around international education agents telling prospective students, “You’ll get £10,000 and can spend it on a holiday”, Welch continued: “There’s a job which is primarily the job of the Office for Students to crack down on what are sometimes called rogue agents or bad actors.

“But there’s also a role for university communities to say, ‘Do you know what? This is public money. It needs to be spent wisely.’”

Welch called on new prime minister Andy Burnham to stick by his express support of the international student community, voiced when he was still Manchester mayor.

She said that introducing the fee levy, which will be used to fund new maintenance grants for students from low-income households from autumn 2028, would make it clear to the “brightest students from around the world, we think of you as a cash cow”.

“International students have always cross-subsidised research,” Welch said. “They have increasingly cross-subsidised our ability to deliver high-quality education to UK students and now they’re being taxed for the privilege of doing so.

“I would love to see the whole thing rethought.”

Bristol’s own finances appear relatively resolute, with the university’s most recent financial statements recording a surplus of £294 million. “The language we’re using is that we are stable, we are not complacent,” Welch said.

“There is no guarantee that stability will be there forever. My first year, we talked about being stable but aware of the changing environment. My second year, we talked about Bristol not being immune to the changing finances.

“Last year, we talked about the need to act now so that we found ourselves in a strong position going forward. And this year we are acting.”

Acting, Welch said, includes the opening of the Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus and unveiling its first international campus in Mumbai, to “go to where our learners are”.

From a national perspective, some of the vice-chancellor’s biggest concerns include the lack of a dedicated universities minister and the laser-eyed focus on student debt over sector-level debt.

“Jacqui Smith is a really, really effective skills minister,” Welch stressed. “But she’s covering such a wide range [of areas].”

She went on: “I’m really appreciative of what the Department for Education is trying to do, and I want to put on record that the decision the DfE, and Smith herself, made to increase tuition fees and maintenance grants in line with inflation was a brave and absolutely crucial one.

“But we need a more fundamental rethink of how the whole system is funded. Not just a focus on one part of it.”

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com