Master’s Level History Scholarships

Question

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the decline in the number of scholarships available for the study of history at master’s level.

My Lords, the study of history is of immense value, as it helps students to understand Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It also equips students to think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgment—all vital skills. Decisions on scholarships, bursaries or other financial awards are matters for individual providers and relevant funding bodies, but the Government provide support for postgraduate master’s study across all subjects, including history, through the postgraduate master’s loan.

I thank my noble friend the Minister for her constructive reply. I should declare an interest as the founder of the accomplishment scholarship in history at Queen’s College, Oxford. This year is the 250th anniversary of one of the huge achievements of the Enlightenment. This anniversary does not require a party in Washington or a new ballroom at the White House, and it is British. I am talking about the publication of the first volume of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon’s masterpiece. Since then, Britain has produced a succession of brilliant, world-leading historians: Macaulay, Carlyle, Trevelyan, AJP Taylor, CV Wedgwood, Eric Hobsbawm, Simon Schama, Bettany Hughes, Antony Beevor, Peter Frankopan and our esteemed colleague on the Benches opposite, the noble Lord, Lord Roberts, to name but a few. The educational pipeline to this greatness has come under severe pressure for funding reasons in the last few years, and it is essential that we steward history as a discipline through these challenging times. Does the Minister agree that history is a foundational subject? I think she does. Does she agree that it is the cornerstone of a civilised and democratic society, and will she ensure that government actively promotes the study of history in UK universities so that it can and will stand on the sunlit uplands—I am thinking of the Malverns on a summer’s day—as a beacon to the world for decades to come?

Yes, I agree with my noble friend, and I congratulate him on the personal commitment that he has made to supporting studentships in history at his former college. I feel confident that noble Lords across the House will be rushing to their copies of Gibbon to brush up on that bit of history. He is right. As I said in my opening response, history has a fundamental place at all levels of education, because it provides us with the ability to understand the history of our nation and of the world and the context in which we are operating now, and it develops critical skills, all of which are fundamentally important in our complex and contested modern world. I look forward to working alongside my noble friend to ensure that Britain’s leading position in the study and development of history scholarship is maintained.

My Lords, does the Minister share my concern that the decline in scholarships will disproportionately affect people from lower-income backgrounds? If she does, what steps will His Majesty’s Government take to make sure that people get to study based on talent and not their ability to pay?

If the noble Lord is making the case that it is not just at undergraduate level in universities that we need to promote wider access but at postgraduate level, I strongly agree with him. We made that point in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, and we have already begun work to support, for example, the promulgation of successful best practice in opening up access to postgraduate study. We want to do more on that issue.

My Lords, the wider, hugely worrying trend is the loss of humanities and arts courses more generally at the higher education level, one effect of which, as has been said, has been to widen the class divide in the study of those subjects. Do the Government have a strategy to reverse those long-term trends?

It is important, first, to ensure the financial sustainability of our higher education sector, which this Government have taken action to do by increasing the maximum tuition fee cap. It is also important, as we set out in our White Paper, that universities are able to think carefully about what they want to specialise in and the way in which they collaborate—something that has not happened enough in our higher education sector—to maintain access to important subjects such as history and humanities. In doing that, we will make it more likely that access to these important subjects can be maintained for students at all levels.

My Lords, I join from these Benches in congratulating noble Lord, Lord Barber of Chittlehampton, on all his work to support the study of history. Higher education resources, however, are under strain, and the IFS has reported independently that some courses have persistently poor outcomes and very high student loan write-off, of up to 70%—not history, but some other creative courses. What steps will the Minister take to ensure any future cuts are made first to those courses, rather than to the core disciplines and humanities, such as history?

I am sure the noble Baroness will be very pleased to know that we made an announcement this morning—which, for some unknown reason, did not get quite the attention I would have hoped—precisely about her point. For a vast majority of students, going to university is worth while for their learning and lifetime earnings, but there are some courses which are not providing that opportunity. We have already enabled the Office for Students to investigate and challenge where provision is not of a high enough quality; we will link any future increase in tuition fees to quality and we will take further action to enable the Office for Students to limit the availability of courses which are not providing students with what they deserve in the future. We will have more to say about that when, perhaps, more people are listening.

My Lords, under the last Government, social mobility went backwards. Does the Minister agree that we have to reverse that policy if we are not to see the tragedy of lost talent?

Yes, I agree with my noble friend, and that is why, throughout our education system, we have to tackle the elements that prevent children and young people fmaximising their potential in life from the very early stages. This is why we are investing in early years; it is why we have set a target to ensure more children are ready to benefit from school when they get there; and it is why we have focused on getting children back into school. It is why we are taking action to improve access to all routes of learning for young people post-16, and why we are widening access and participation in higher education for all students who can benefit from it.

My Lords, I was very encouraged by the Minister’s excellent Answer to the excellent Question from the noble Lord, Lord Barber. We do indeed need to remember where we are from, and history is a manual of what works and what does not. Can the Minister think of a single example—anywhere in human history—of where a wealth tax has raised more revenue than it has driven away, or where rent controls have ever failed to reduce the amount of rental properties, or where tariffs have ever made an economy more competitive?

My study was rather more in the area of economics than in history There are some interesting examples of where some of those have worked, but I am not going to rise to the noble Lord’s challenge. On the whole, I agree with his analysis about most of those proposals.

My Lords, we have rightly been very proud of our universities, but we have to secure their future, as the noble Baroness said. How are we supporting universities in this new era? What are we doing to ensure that we encourage those from overseas to come to study and research here, that they are not put off by an unwelcoming environment, as is so often the case, and that they are not counted in the immigration figures? We do not want the United Kingdom to decline and fall.

On the subject of history, it is well worth noting that today is the Windrush anniversary, and we should recognise the significance of that element of our history. We remain in this country and in our higher education system welcoming to international students. That is why we have many universities in the top flight of international universities. We are continuing to see and welcome students who want to come to this country to study and, in doing that, to make a contribution to our universities and those they study alongside.