Nigel Thrift, chair of the Institute for Public Policy Research Commission on the future of higher education, said polytechnics should be reintroduced. He said: “Polytechnic status would carve out a distinctive place in our tertiary education system for institutions that focus on providing higher level vocational qualifications. While many universities also provide such qualifications, a different title would protect a distinctive role for higher vocational learning that was lost in 1992. Polytechnic status would be a mark of vocational excellence.”