And the Department of the will start the year by moving from one of the ugliest buildings in Europe to a new

And the Department of the will start the year by moving from one of the ugliest buildings in Europe to a new, relatively eco-friendly headquarters. Let’s hope it is an omen.EducationBy Judith JuddUniversities will be centre-stage in 1997, whoever wins the election. Sir Ron Dearing’s review of higher education, which reports in June and has Conservative and Labour backing, will recommend that students should take out loans for at least part of their tuition fees. At present loans are just for living costs and the taxpayer funds fees.A Conservative win at the polls will bring a lurch to the right in education. Gillian Shephard will be sacked as secretary of state and replaced by a right-winger who will be less kind to teachers.The new government will redouble its efforts to privatise education, inviting companies to take over and invest in schools. A growing number of schools will take advantage of new legislation to select more of their pupils by ability.If Labour wins the election, its first budget will disappoint parents and teachers.David Blunkett, the new secretary of state, will be so tough on standards and bad teachers he will make his Conservative predecessors look like wimps.TechnologyBy Charles ArthurIn the worlds of science and technology, 1997 is likely to be the year when the Internet finally makes people realise that phone-in polls are a waste of time.

This year the BBC TV Sports Personality of the Year and a poll about the Duke of Edinburgh’s opinion on gun control were exposed as deeply flawed, because highly opinionated “voters”, rather than interested members of the public, were encouraged to make their voice known. Perhaps other polls in 1996 were also “fixed” – who knows?More families will buy connections to the Internet, raising more fears about “child pornography” until they understand it. Meanwhile, any PC bought at Christmas will be out of date within months, especially as Intel plans to launch a faster processor chip in January.In science, meanwhile, expect more research strengthening the link between BSE – mad cow disease – and the fatal human illness Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease (CJD). Sadly, there is little hope of any therapies for about 10 years.EmploymentBy Barrie ClementThose expecting that the economic recovery will at last translate into higher paid, more secure jobs will be disappointed.

Whichever party forms the next government, Britain faces global competition which dictates that people will have to be flexible whether they are accountants or production workers. The rich will get richer and the poor will get the blame – as they always did.Britain has been unable to fulfil its ambition to raise the quality of its goods and therefore occupy lucrative niche markets for specialised products which sell for high prices. The much-vaunted revolution in vocational training has not happened and we will continue to compete with the Pacific Rim, where wages are normally lower, and increasingly China, where they are lower still.If Labour forms the next government, employees can expect a little more protection. But most jobs created next year will continue to be part- time and temporary. Late in the year, after deliberation by the new Low Pay Commission and the Labour Cabinet, there will be a statutory minimum wage, set at a relatively low level, around pounds 3.25 A million or so of the very lowest paid will benefit.