Response to Lord Browne Review

Joanna Motion
CASE Europe
18 Oct. 2010

CASE Europe welcomed Lord Browne's Review of Higher Education. The report's recommendations addressed the need to reform England's higher education system and places students at the heart of the proposed changes.

The proposed lifting of the tuition fee cap would expose higher education to a competitive market for home/EU undergraduate taught programmes. This will have enormous consequences for universities, their staff and of course students.

Marketing and communications will take on an increasingly significant strategic role within institutions, not least in advising on market intelligence, pricing strategies and generating enhanced communications with prospective students, so that they can make more informed decisions about university and course selection. Institutions will need to substantiate claims about reputation, quality and return on investment with robust reliable evidence. Transparency and clarity in communications with students and stakeholders will be vital in a more complex fees environment.

The Browne review emphasises that improvements to the student experience must go hand in hand with the proposed increased individual responsibility for students to contribute to the costs of their higher education. The proposed student charter is a welcome development to enhance the relationship between institutions and their student community and clarify responsibilities.

CASE Europe welcomes Lord Browne's view that philanthropic gifts are an important part of the future of university funding and calls for support for universities to increase their ability to fundraise from former students and philanthropists. The proposed student giving model encourages universities to forge additional links with their alumni and underscores the establishment of a longer term culture of philanthropy. Fundraising can go a long way to increasing access to HE as well as delivering bursaries and scholarships for students from poorer backgrounds.

The organisational and cultural changes required to deliver the recommendations of the Browne review will ask much of our universities as a more competitive environment and increasingly demanding student audience emerge. The longer-term benefits including increased autonomy for institutions and the rebalancing of the relationship between universities and students are to be welcomed. CASE Europe will continue to support and work closely with professionals in alumni relations, development, communications and marketing within the higher education sector during this period of change.

Browne and the CSR: It is time for Plan B
Times Higher Education, 28 Oct. 2010

Lord Browne review welcomed by university fundraisers
Civil Society, 18 Oct. 2010