‘University should be an assault on the senses’
Students must face up to clashes of perspectives if British institutions are to prosper, says Sam Gyimah
Sam Gyimah, the Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, is striding wide-eyed through London’s Science Museum, a broad grin on his face as he passes satellites, spaceships and steam engines. “I think I have one of the best jobs in government,” he says. “There are not many jobs in the world where you routinely meet people and see technology that leaves you awestruck.”
Gyimah is nothing if not passionate in his belief that Britain is heading towards a second industrial revolution, a place where the “brightest and best” will flock to study, innovate and “turn their ideas into reality”.
Yet he is concerned that some universities are fostering cultures where students are not properly instilled with the robust qualities needed in the future workplace.
The University of Manchester’s student union recently ruled that “jazz hands” be used instead of clapping as applause, while it emerged last week that University of Buckingham students who fell asleep in lectures would be mentally assessed. Others have introduced “safe spaces” where discussion of certain topics is banned.
“Our universities are second only to the United States,” said Mr Gyimah, a former president of the Oxford Union. “But universities are supposed to be places where we have the relentless search for the truth, and that should be the focus of a university education.
“They are also supposed to be an assault on the senses. You leave your town or your village and you go to an institution where probably for the first time you will be living away from home on a long-term basis, and you will meet people with different views and different perspectives.
“That should always be the core of our university experience if it is going to continue to be successful.”
It has been a difficult week for Mr Gyimah after 29 Nobel laureates wrote a joint letter to Theresa May and Jean-claude Juncker warning against a hard Brexit and urging “the closest possible cooperation” between Britain and the European Union. A survey of scientists at The Francis Crick Institute, Britain’s biggest biomedical research centre, also found that 97 per cent thought Brexit would be bad for UK science and many said they were thinking of leaving Britain.
Gyimah, 42, was born in Buckinghamshire but spent his early years in Accra, Ghana, after his parents split and so recognises the importance of countries working together and freedom of movement.
He himself voted Remain but is adamant that the Government can achieve a deal which puts the country in a better position after Brexit. “Nobody wants a chaotic Brexit and we are not planning for a chaotic Brexit, we are planning for a deal,” he said. “So we have got to deliver and there are going to be challenges … but the UK is in a strong place and we are doing everything we can to make sure there is no cliff edge for science. I voted Remain but what you don’t do is try to set aside the outcome of an election because your side didn’t win.”
In fact Mr Gyimah is confident that Brexit will open new doors for Britain and has been visiting research institutions in the US, India and Israel to foster new collaborations, as well as planning an imminent trip to China.
The Government will publish its international science strategy before Christmas setting out how it plans to work with its new allies. Closer to home Mr Gyimah believes Britain should launch a series of “moonshots” – grand challenges – which would see the country move towards Uk-built nuclear power plants, enter a new space age, build the first quantum computer and extend the healthy lives of Britons by five years.
“I think it is time for us to have some moonshots of our own as a country, ” he said. “Tackling big scientific projects that are difficult, that will have a huge impact when successful on our society and our economy.
“Britain is poised to lead the world in fusion technology. This is the safest, cleanest, sustainable form of energy and no one has the expertise that we have here. As a country we were a leader in fission but we didn’t capitalise on it enough and today we have other countries building our nuclear power stations. We are now at a point where again we have a lead in a sustainable form of nuclear energy and being able to get that power to the grid would be transformational for us.
“We are building spaceports so we can launch rockets from UK soil – that is incredibly exciting. We are looking at working with Nasa to develop joint initiatives as far as our space programme is concerned.
“We could set ourselves a national mission to build the first working quantum computer and that would be absolutely transformational.”
‘I voted Remain but what you don’t do is try to set aside the outcome of an election because you didn’t win’
‘It is time for some moonshots of our own. Tackling big scientific projects will have a huge impact on society’
As part of its commitment to science the Government has promised £7billion more in research and development, and has introduced new visas to make it easier for scientists to work in Britain.
All Horizon 2020 projects with the EU have been guaranteed funding in the event of no deal and an extra £80billion has been promised over the next decade.
“The brightest, the best, the talented and the entrepreneurial will want to come to Britain and that is because in the big changes that are happening in science, whether AI and data, whether the future of mobility, whether clean growth or healthy ageing, we are leading the world.”
There are few who doubt Mr Gyimah’s sincerity and enthusiasm for the task ahead, even if they are less sure of the outcome. So does he want to rise higher in government?
“My job is special,” he said. “I remember being on my way back from the Prime Minister’s speech at Jodrell Bank, and was sitting in the carriage talking to Greg Clark [Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy], and Venki Ramakrishnan walks by and says ‘do you mind if I join you?’ To be in a world where a Nobel laureate is asking whether he could sit next to you is pretty awesome.”