特蕾莎·梅德比大学演讲(2018年2月)

特蕾莎·梅德比大学演讲(2018年2月)

2018年2月底，英国首相梅姨发表重要讲话：太多人因为家庭背景或阶层差距，而遭受教育和就业阻碍，我们要让阶层差距成为过去时，要让每个年轻人都获得最适合自己的高等教育！

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Now, I took my very first steps into elected politics as a local councillor in south London. For two years, I was the chairman of the education authority in Merton.

It was an experience I will never forget because I saw how vital good schools and colleges are to a community; how the hopes and aspirations which parents have for their children and which young people have for their futures are bound-up with the quality of education on offer.

A lot has changed in the last 20 years, but that core principle that the needs of every child and every young person deserve to be met still drives my vision of the education system our country needs. And the need for such a system has never been greater.

And if we consider the experience which many young people have of our system as it is today, it’s clear that we don’t have such a system today.

Now, imagine two children currently in secondary school and thinking about their futures. One is a working class boy from here in Derby. He aspires to a career as a lawyer, but he doesn’t have a social network to draw on with any links to the profession, and he doesn’t know if someone like him can make it. The road he will have to take to achieve his dream is much more challenging than the one his counterpart who is privately educated will face.

Almost a quarter of the students at our research-intensive universities come from the 7% of the population who go to private school. And the professions which draw their recruits primarily from these institutions remain unrepresentative of the country as a whole, skewed in favour of a particular social class. For the boy from a working-class home here in Derby, the odds are stacked against him. And as a country, we all lose out when we do not make the most of everyone’s talents and ability.

And now imagine a second child. She is a girl from a middle-class background, who is privately educated. Her dream is to be a software developer, and she wishes she could go straight into the industry. But she faces another set of pressures, which tell her that studying academic A-levels and making a UCAS application to a Russell group university is what the world expects of her. 

The idea that there might be another path just as promising and better suited to her individual hopes and dreams simply doesn’t occur. In each case, the system is not working for the individual or for our country.

Most politicians, most journalists, most political commentators took the academic route themselves, and will expect their children to do the same. And there remains a perception that going to university is really the only desirable route, while going into training is something for other people’s children.

If we are going to succeed in building a fairer society and a stronger economy, we need to throw away this outdated attitude for good and create a system of tertiary education that works for all our young people.

That means equality of access to an academic university education which is not dependent on your background, and it means a much greater focus on the technical alternatives, too.

The latest annual figures show that fewer than 16,000 people completed higher qualifications through the further education system. That is compared to almost 350,000 undergraduate degrees which were awarded last year.

This imbalance has an economic cost, with some businesses finding it hard to recruit the skilled workers they need.

But it also has a social cost in wasted human potential, which we too often ignore.

So now is the time to take action to create a system that is flexible enough to ensure that everyone gets the education that suits them. And that’s what the review which I am launching today sets out to deliver.

Our universities are world-leaders and jewels in Britain’s crown. 16 British universities are in the world’s top 100, and four are in the top ten.

The competitive market between universities which the system of variable tuition fees envisaged has simply not emerged.

All but a handful of universities charge the maximum possible fees for undergraduate courses. Three-year courses remain the norm.

And the level of fees charged do not relate to the cost or quality of the course. So we now have one of the most expensive systems of university tuition in the world.

The review will now look at the whole question of how students and graduates contribute to the cost of their studies, including the level, terms and duration of their contribution.

Our goal is a funding system which provides value for money for graduates and taxpayers, so the principle that students as well as taxpayers should contribute to the cost of their studies is an important one.

I believe – as do most people, including students – that those who benefit directly from higher education should contribute directly towards the cost of it. That’s only fair.

So by focusing on these four key priorities, making tertiary education accessible to all, promoting choice and competition in the sector, delivering the skills our economy needs, and getting value for money for students and taxpayers, we can give every young person access to an education that suits their skills and aspirations – one which opens up possibilities for their future and helps them into a rewarding career.

Almost thirty years ago, when I was in charge of that local education authority, an incoming Conservative Prime Minister, who, like me, went to a state school said that the great task of the coming decade should be to ‘make the whole of this country a genuinely classless society’.

Eighteen months ago, when I became Prime Minister, I spoke of my desire to make Britain a Great Meritocracy. Today, our ambition for the Britain we will build outside the EU must be just as great. And it must be matched with a determination to turn that ambition into reality.

We need to make Britain a country where everyone can go as far as their talents will take them and no one is held back by their background or class; where education is the key to opening up opportunity for everyone. 

The vision I have for the Britain we will build is of a country which is fit for the future, delivered through bold social and economic reform.

If we get it right, we can build a country that truly works for everyone.

A country where your background does not define your future, and class distinctions are a thing of the past. Where a boy from a working-class home can become a High Court judge, thanks to a great state education. And where a girl from a private school can start a software business, thanks to a first-class technical education.

That’s my vision for a fairer society and how we will deliver it. A society where good, rewarding work is available for everyone. An economy with the skills it needs to succeed. Britain as the Great Meritocracy, a country that respects hard work, rewards effort and industry, where a happy and fulfilled life is within everyone’s grasp.

Thank you.