Peter Scott points out that the party conferences have had little to say about higher education.

One paragraph is quoted to show where the MOOC is not mentioned

But there is little scope for other cuts, because that would mean cutting support for high-cost subjects such as science and engineering or cutting what is always lauded as world-class research. Neither would be compatible with the platitudes of (all) politicians about the role of higher education in the global knowledge economy.

Not sure about this. There can be research about technology that is not based on massive budgets. Just enough to extend arts and humanities towards web design. And the "global knowledge economy" includes social media and e-learning.

Maybe the research universities will be left alone and can largely ignore Futurelearn and soforth. This seems to be what Peter Scott is expecting as there is no mention of anything like this in his policy review.