Source: David Fowler/Shutterstock.com

Terence Kealey, vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham, which was awarded its Royal charter in 1983 with the then-prime minister¡¯s support, praised Baroness Thatcher¡¯s policies in the 1980s for transforming UK higher education.

Meanwhile, the universities and science minister David Willetts also paid tribute to her ¡°extraordinary achievements¡± in setting the scene ¡°for the world-class higher education sector we have today¡±.

Professor Kealey, a former adviser to Baroness Thatcher, who has died at the age of 87 following a stroke, said her reforms led to more transparency and accountability within the sector, while her push to liberalise rules on fees also had an immense impact.

¡°Before Mrs Thatcher, universities were very similar to public utilities ¨C run for the benefit of staff with government money. Now they are stellar,¡± said Professor Kealey.

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

¡°She was determined to introduce a much higher level of accountability for public funding and greater accountability for students as customers,¡± he said.

The introduction of full tuition fees for international students in 1981 was a good example of Baroness Thatcher¡¯s benign legacy to higher education, he said.

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

¡°It was condemned by almost everyone as a catastrophe for higher education when it was introduced,¡± he said.

¡°We were told no foreign students would ever come to Britain. What happened was that, after an initial one-year dip in student numbers, international student numbers continued to grow, providing an invaluable, independent source of income to universities.¡±

The introduction of the research assessment exercise in 1986 was another key achievement, he added.

¡°The process aligned government support with research outcomes and it transformed the system,¡± he said.

¡°The RAE [was] of huge benefit to British institutions, which are second only to those in America.¡±

He listed Baroness Thatcher, who was chancellor of Buckingham from 1992 to 1998, as one of the four great politicians of the 20^th century, alongside Lloyd George, Winston Churchill and Clement Atlee.

Mr Willetts, who worked in the former prime minister¡¯s policy unit before becoming an MP, said the ¡°sad news¡± was ¡°the right moment to reflect on Margaret Thatcher¡¯s extraordinary achievements¡±.

¡°I was honoured to know her and to work for her. As education secretary [from 1970 to 1974], she saved the Open University and presided over a big expansion in student numbers.

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

¡°As prime minister, she extended opportunity by introducing the first student loans and improved the research base by introducing the research assessment exercise. Those changes set the scene for the world-class higher education sector we have today.

¡°As a scientist she also understood the value of research, including blue skies research. That is why, as prime minister, she overruled official scepticism and made Britain a full contributor to the Large Hadron Collider.¡±

Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, who was chairman of the University Grants Committee, later the Universities Funding Council, between 1983 to 1991, also saluted Baroness Thatcher¡¯s impact on higher education.

¡°The instinct of a woman is to spring-clean and this country needed spring-cleaning, not least the university sector,¡± said Professor Swinnerton-Dyer, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge.

¡°She was a great prime minister and she did much to change the atmosphere of higher education,¡± he said.

¡°Universities were spending money wastefully, so¡­the [RAE] was essentially invented by me and was instituted so money could be divided up in a fair way.¡±

However, Roger Brown, professor of higher education policy at Liverpool Hope University, said her policies were ¡°the beginning of a long decline¡± for universities.

¡°The cuts in 1981 were a disaster for British higher education ¨C some of worst things that have ever happened to higher education,¡± said Professor Brown, a former head of the Higher Education Quality Council, the predecessor to the Quality Assurance Agency.

¡°She didn¡¯t actually have much interest in higher education, though she was upset at [her alma mater] Oxford¡¯s failure to give her an honorary degree.

¡°She was happy for Keith Joseph ¨C her secretary of state for education and her guru ¨C to run higher education. She trusted him more than anyone.¡±

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

Professor Brown, who worked with Baroness Thatcher while a civil servant in the Cabinet Office from 1980 to 1982, said some policies around research selectivity had a positive impact, but overall ¡°the general drift of her policies were not helpful.¡±

jack.grove@tsleducation.com