Mr. Peter Cassells:

I am not saying we have come to any conclusion on this issue. A national teaching and learning forum has been established for the first time and I know the HEA probably went through that process with members when they met the committee. The HEA is developing the whole area of teaching in some detail and supporting the whole teaching area.

I did not mention that during the consultation, people had drawn our attention to the fact that in some countries there is a professionalisation of teaching and qualifications and had indicated that we should look a this. I am not saying we will be looking at everything because we have to be very careful. We are looking at the funding and how future funding requirements will be financed but we are using the opportunity of that to see how the funding as it were can influence, incentivise or change the way things are done. We are approaching it from that direction and managing to stay within our terms of reference. Obviously if we are saying there should be more money for teaching, the obvious question is to ask for our view on how it is done at present.