Liam Byrne: we need to put higher education at centre stage of policy

From new technical universities to a postgraduate loan, Claire Shaw talks to shadow universities minister about Labours plan for the sector

• Unis could get cash for every poor student, says Labour
• Labour warns UK will lose global science lead without more investment

Liam Byrne, shadow universities minister, has today outlined some options for reform of UK higher education. In the pamphlet, entitled Robbins Rebooted a reference to the Robbins report on university expansion in 1963, Byrne calls for drastic changes to be made to the sector.

He says we either watch the university system slowly go bust and lose its place as a global science leader, or choose a different path. Unless we get smarter as a country, we will get poorer, he adds. But with big reform of our university system, not big spending, we can build a richer, fairer country.