British university reforms "final nail in the coffin" for affordable higher education

[ed miliband]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11519545
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=413837&c=1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/oct/12/what-browne-review-means-students

After three years at university a student might end up in £21,000+ debt, and that cost only covers the course; not rent, food, drink, entertainment, travel, etc. Factor all that in and 21k looks quite modest. I am hoping to attend university next September and these reforms are unlikely to have any impact on my application, but for my sister who will be applying in two years time the picture is not as pretty. I hope to see students in both secondary and tertiary education uniting with education workers against these reforms.

[ed miliband]

And: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8059307/Lord-Browne-review-university-teaching-budgets-slashed-by-80.html

I know student politics is sort of scoffed at (and usually with reason), but these reforms will destroy many educational facilities, cost hundreds of jobs, and reinforce class privilege to an absurd degree.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

Utter shit, but it was only a matter of time before Cable showed his Tory side. Scottish system stays the same, but the fight for places up here is only going to get worse...

[Quail]

Our students union held an emergency meeting about this earlier, urging us to send angry letters to our MPs and demonstrate in London on the 10th. I'm not sure whether that would really acheive anything, to be honest. I think that students (undergrads and postgrads) and staff need to unite together; students will lose the quality of their education, postgrads will suffer trying to get funding and staff could lose their jobs. I think that strikes and pickets would be a more effective approach to showing our dissent than writing angry letters.

[ed miliband]

Our students union held an emergency meeting about this earlier, urging us to send angry letters to our MPs and demonstrate in London on the 10th. I'm not sure whether that would really acheive anything, to be honest. I think that students (undergrads and postgrads) and staff need to unite together; students will lose the quality of their education, postgrads will suffer trying to get funding and staff could lose their jobs. I think that strikes and pickets would be a more effective approach to showing our dissent than writing angry letters.

Oh, without a doubt. It seems that many students seem to be clinging on to this bizarre idea that the Liberal bloody Democrats (and Labour) are going to rebel in parliament for them (lol). I disagree that just undergrads and postgrads should unite together; sixth form students and GCSE students should also be involved. A large-scale student walkout in sixth forms coupled with strikes and pickets, etc. It'll never happen though...

[Quail]

I disagree that just undergrads and postgrads should unite together; sixth form students and GCSE students should also be involved.
Yeah I agree. I totally forgot about school students for some reason when I was writing my reply. Having their support is definitely important because they're the ones that will end up being affected by these changes if they go through.

[progressive_lefty]

'Education is a privilege not a right' <- how can Conservatives get away with saying that?

[Mather]

I think that strikes and pickets would be a more effective approach to showing our dissent than writing angry letters.


Your right. Letter writing is useless, as is corporate style 'lobbying' which seems to be the NUS preferred method these days. Strikes and occupations are what is needed for students to have any chance of fighting back against the attacks and cuts in higher education.

Students who are politicised and active within struggles on campus will also have to think about the NUS itself and how best to carry out a struggle based on strikes and occupations, as such a struggle will most likely be opposed first and foremost by the NUS and it's leadership.

The NUS leadership is right-wing to the core, the current NUS president (Aaron Porter) and his predecessor (Wes Streeting) are both 'New Labour' hacks and Wes Streeting and the rest of the leadership pushed through the 'reforms' to the NUS constitution in 2009, which will turn the NUS from a democratic union into a corporate style lobbying group with no democratic accountability for students.

Students engaged in struggle and campus politics really need to take a long hard look at the NUS and decide whether it can still be of use to those students in struggle.

Also, as some other poster have said, widening the struggle to include university staff (not just teachers/lecturers but everyone from admin to cleaners), A-level and high school students is essential, as the cutbacks and attacks on higher education will effect everyone in education. Solidarity is the biggest and most powerful weapon the working class has.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Mather is right, the NUS is about as useful to the Socialist cause as the CPUSA.

It looks like there is little we can do, besides a bit of marching, street protesting and highlighting the economic case for opposing top-up fees full stop (bear in mind that even without tuition fees, students are still paying several thousand per year in accomodation and living money).

This Conservative government is going to take us back to the worst days of the 80s. It's a myth that anybody will benefit from this government - 90% of us earn under £44,000 and over half the population earns under the median average wage of £23,000 or so. The working class in this country is huge, but dormant.