RAPID and wide-reaching policy reforms may have altered the face of post-16 education in recent years, but they have done little to improve the lot of students or staff in our universities and colleges. 

At the final TUC Congress before the 2015 election, the University and College Union (UCU) will ask the trade union movement to back its call for greater public investment in post-16 education. 

Shadow universities minister Liam Byrne recently set out a range of ideas for higher education reform. 

Although he said these ideas were not necessarily the basis for what we might see in the Labour Party’s election manifesto for higher education, he is to be congratulated for at least starting a conversation on the subject. 

Before the 2010 election there was not enough debate around how universities would be funded, and the Liberal Democrats’ U-turn on tuition fees prompted fears that politicians might try and avoid the issue this time round.

It is clear that the current system of £9,000 fees is not providing meaningful extra resources for universities or saving the public purse significant amounts of money. 

Students’ fees have simply replaced the money which universities used to receive directly from government. 

Worryingly, the system is costing far more than any minister conceded might be the case when rushing the reforms through at the start of this Parliament. 

As the public accounts committee highlighted earlier this year, there is now the very real risk that it may end up costing more than the system it replaced.

Furthermore, higher fees have had a devastating impact on part-time study — a vital route for many people who wish to study flexibly around existing family and work commitments — which has dropped by around 40 per cent since 2010-11. 

Byrne’s paper included a helpful recognition that there are different routes into higher education and his pledge to do more to improve the skills of people who choose a vocational path was welcome. He also noted that traditional three-year degrees are not right for everyone. 

We would like to see reforms which recognise that A-levels are not the only pathway to university, and which focus on the merits of alternative qualifications such as BTECs. Looking beyond A-levels is absolutely central to widening participation, as people from areas with the lowest records of people in higher education are also least likely to study A-levels.

While debates about the future of university funding may take the headlines thanks to the Liberal Democrats’ remarkable duplicity once they found themselves in government, higher education must not be viewed in isolation — it is part of a much bigger picture of post-compulsory education. 

Reforms which support the post-16 sector as a whole will be the most effective in bringing about meaningful change.

This government should be applauded for the emphasis it has put on apprenticeships, but we would like to see the next government go even further. 

We want to see apprenticeships which last three years and have education at their heart. 

Alongside the specific skills and theory necessary for their chosen field, apprentices should also study employability skills, citizenship education and rights and responsibilities at work. 

It is also time for apprentices to be paid at least the national minimum wage — some currently pay less per hour than paper rounds, which is no way to reward the valuable contribution that apprentices make to businesses across Britain.

In staff terms, it is totally unacceptable that many tutors and lecturers in British universities and colleges are on zero-hours contracts. 

Not only do these contracts result in staff contributing hours of unpaid labour for preparation and marking, they limit the opportunities for collaboration and professional development which keep staff at the cutting edge of their field. 

They also reduce the quality of the student experience by cutting access to lecturers outside of timetabled contact hours. 

With all this in mind, and the general election just nine months away, UCU has launched a series of six tests against which we will judge all new education funding policies. 

The tests are designed to determine if new policies: 

• Make it easier for people to reach their potential
• Make it less costly for individuals to study
• Increase our academic capacity and research base
• Make Britain more attractive to academic staff
• Broaden the range of subjects available for study
• Heighten quality and reduce fragmentation in the post-16 education sector

There is never a shortage of warm words from politicians of all stripes when it comes to the work staff in our colleges and universities do. 

However, rhetoric alone will not allow them to thrive. Colleges and universities must be better supported to play their part in developing the education and training we need to provide the high-skill, high-wage jobs that we will require to be able to compete globally in the future. 

Sally Hunt is general secretary of UCU.