Students from non-Russell Group universities miss out on high-powered jobs because of prejudice by employers, the vice-chancellor of the University of Bolton has said as he prepares to rename it the University of Greater Manchester.
Prof George Holmes, the UK’s longest-serving vice-chancellor, said graduates from Bolton struggled to be hired by prestigious law and accountancy firms as employers favoured recruiting from better-known universities that they or their family and friends had attended.
“There is an enormous amount of historical legacy associated with people’s perspectives and perceptions on universities, and it leads to thinking: ‘Oxford and Cambridge good, Bedford and Bolton bad’, just because they’ve not heard of us before,” said Holmes, who has been Bolton’s vice-chancellor since 2005.
Although the university traces its roots back to the Bolton institute, founded in 1825, Holmes said: “We still get the ‘is there a university in Bolton?’ question. Even after all this time, we still get that nonsense.
“And I genuinely think it affects our graduate outcomes … with the traditional ‘golden triangle’ of jobs in terms of the big consulting houses, the accountancy houses, the legal houses. I think they’re working to be better but … never underestimate the sad power of prejudice associated with these sorts of decisions.”
The university, which is ranked in the top 30 by the Guardian University Guide 2024, has also started the official process of changing its name to the University of Greater Manchester, by applying to the Office for Students.
Holmes said the idea originally came from students, including the last three union presidents, who said Bolton was not easily identified within the UK or abroad.
“They want a qualification that’s instantly recognised, and everybody in the world has heard of the city of Manchester and the region of Greater Manchester. So they’re thinking about it very clearly in terms of future recognition of their degree.
“In many cases, Bolton has not been heard of. When I go on holiday, when they ask me where I live, I say Manchester or Greater Manchester. I never say Bolton, because if you say Bolton the next question will be, where is it? So you might as well cut out the question and just say: actually, it’s Greater Manchester,” Holmes said.
He added that more than two-thirds of Bolton’s local students had home addresses in Greater Manchester rather than Bolton alone. The institution also has locations in Trafford and Manchester city, alongside branches in London, Greece and Dubai, educating the equivalent of 10,000 full-time students.
The Office for Students, the higher education regulator for England, will consult on whether the proposed name change would be misleading or confusing.
Holmes said two universities had already registered their opposition but was adamant: “We are in Greater Manchester and our students are from Greater Manchester and we’ve got sites across Greater Manchester. So that’s not misleading.”
As for confusing, Holmes points out that there are 17 universities in London that include the capital in their title, “and that seems to work perfectly well in London”.
Holmes attended the Labour party conference in Liverpool last week, and said he was “very impressed” after meeting Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, and Matt Western, the shadow minister for higher education, by their willingness to engage with universities and promote the sector.
That, said Holmes, was in contrast to ministers in the current government. He referenced Rishi Sunak’s speech to the Conservative party conference that talked of “rip-off degrees”. Holmes said he told his students: “There’s no such thing as a rip-off UK degree, it just doesn’t exist. It’s a nonsense.”
But the government thinks it is on to something, and has tasked the Office for Students with identifying courses with high dropout rates and substantial percentages of graduates who don’t go on to professional careers.
Holmes argues that a university education has benefits far beyond purely economic ones, and describes Bolton students who go into the voluntary sector and make substantial contributions to society.
“We have lots of students here who are going to do things with their degree afterwards which aren’t necessarily an immediate return on investment decisions, they are societal return on investment, that’s really important,” he said.
But as inflation erodes the value of domestic tuition fees – frozen at £9,250 a year since 2016 – Holmes foresees universities in England having to endure budget deficits for several years, no matter which party is in government.
“There isn’t an easy solution to this, because just asking for more money at a time when the public is struggling is not a smart move,” Holmes said.
