---

Higher Education

My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of the court of Leeds University. I particularly welcome the references in the Statement to potential, to serving all who benefit, and also to universities’ contribution to their local communities and the important part that that plays within the life of the towns and the cities of this country. I have two specific questions. First, the Statement seemed continuously to stress economic growth and creating wealth as the chief aim of higher education. Will the Minister also affirm the tremendous contribution that particularly research departments make to, for example, pain research and the way in which the quality of life for the sick has been enhanced so greatly, especially by collaboration between our universities and the NHS? Secondly, is the Minister prepared to say anything about the equivalent and lower qualification rules, which have been referred to a couple of times in this discussion, and about the way in which they damage widened access because they create considerable difficulty for people who seek to change their careers during their life?