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Why is there a Demo? Why now?
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11 August 2012
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National Demo NUS NUS Demo
Why have the NUS called for a national demo I hear many of you ask? Didn’t we already lose the tuition fees debate? Whats the point, why should we try and fight it if we think it’s going to be a losing battle? Here, I will try and answer a few of your points.
As you are most probably aware, large public institutions have faced the end of the post Lehman Brothers banking crisis Cuts, and the reason for government cuts was that it was to try and slash the deficit so as to not require a bailout of some degree from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). First on the chopping order was higher education, with the increase in tuition fees seen as a way to cut the deficit; however, this argument was illogical in the first instance as the government would have to increase its annual loan from the Bank of England to handle the amount of money being paid to the Student Loan Company which in turn then went to the Universities. In this sense, the Coalition has in fact INCREASED the deficit via this move, and as students are unlikely to pay much of this money back, for example, on the lower loans scheme, the government had to sell off £6 billion worth of student loans between 2008-2011 (Ref. 1). This is a ticking time bomb for a future generation that this short sighted government has not thought of. In general terms, again, a government has kicked its problem metaphorical can down the metaphorical road of the future, to look as if a problem has already been solved in the present.
That was two years ago, so what is the present crisis? As has been mentioned a lot in online facebook forums (http://www.facebook....73254229474264/ or http://www.facebook....28296950590245/ ), the Government HE White Paper (Ref. 2) has been shelved until 2015, in which the main aim is to “turn students from learners into consumers”(Ref. 3). As Jim Wolfreys asserts “the document contains no information on how the experience of teaching itself will be improved – no detail on how class size could be reduced, or how contact between academics and students might be maximised, or how resources might be directed towards teaching. Instead, there is an over whelming pre-occupation, not with teaching, but with amassing data about it…. Despite much trumpeting about “empowering” students, these measures will not serve the public interest. Putting student surveys of courses online, for example, is less likely to “play a role in stimulating competition between the best academies” as cable and willets claim, than to produce a climate of fear and centralised monitoring”. This government white paper, which will undoubtedly be bought to the commons in 2015 before the current government goes to election, is not in the interest in universities, its students, or lecturers, but ensures that the marketization of universities will occur, in turn making smaller and less developed universities prey for corporations that could dramatically change the face of our Higher Education system.
Other areas that have affected students across the country have of course been the scrapping of EMA; a government fund that allowed students from poorer backgrounds to receive money to help pay for their education. I put it to the nay-sayers of the EMA system; have you had to attempt to get to a school, pay for the textbooks and information, appropriately clothe yourself at school in the harsh reality of your peers who will judge you for whatever you do from a family that is on a pay roll of under £20,000? Myself, my friends and others were not using EMA as a means for a “jolly” or an “easy ride”, but it was helping us access university. It is a crime that a scheme that helped thousands was scrapped by those who never had to experience it.
Again, another assault on a more local level; our access courses being scrapped. Prospective students will not follow hundreds of students who managed to enter the university through these schemes as these courses have now been scrapped at UoP.
The List goes on; students who applied to our arts courses not receiving what they paid for, and now students who will apply will not have the ability to use the creative services from their formers, including the renowned artist Grayson Perry.
I could continue on with more examples that have affected both students of all ages as well as young people who either chose not to enter HE, or are still waiting to find out if they are, but there is no more room for it. These are just a few examples of why a Demo has been called, on both a local and a national level. We have to realise as a local and national student body that planning a demo 4 weeks before a vote is due to take place is no longer good enough. We need to build the strength, the activists and the students who can say that this attack on a generation that is still learning and developing is wrong, and cannot be allowed to pass by political parties that lied to us.
Our generation has to enter a world made hostile by our parents and their generation, and for what reason? Their mistakes. I thought the idea of being a parent was to make things better for your children; apparently they don’t seem to bothered by that.
By Grant Clarke, VP Activities UPSU.
Ref 1 - www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN01079.pdf
Ref 2. - http://www.bis.gov.u...-next-steps.pdf
Ref 3 – Universities for hire – The Higher Education White Paper and the Marketisation of Academia. – Jim Wolfreys.
Further reading –
http://www.timeshigh...code=420273&c=1 - NSS can severly damage morale.
http://www.guardian....tics?intcmp=239 - Free education – time to fight not negotiate
http://uclu.org/statute18 - UCLU campaign to stop the removal of lecturer rights.
As you are most probably aware, large public institutions have faced the end of the post Lehman Brothers banking crisis Cuts, and the reason for government cuts was that it was to try and slash the deficit so as to not require a bailout of some degree from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). First on the chopping order was higher education, with the increase in tuition fees seen as a way to cut the deficit; however, this argument was illogical in the first instance as the government would have to increase its annual loan from the Bank of England to handle the amount of money being paid to the Student Loan Company which in turn then went to the Universities. In this sense, the Coalition has in fact INCREASED the deficit via this move, and as students are unlikely to pay much of this money back, for example, on the lower loans scheme, the government had to sell off £6 billion worth of student loans between 2008-2011 (Ref. 1). This is a ticking time bomb for a future generation that this short sighted government has not thought of. In general terms, again, a government has kicked its problem metaphorical can down the metaphorical road of the future, to look as if a problem has already been solved in the present.
That was two years ago, so what is the present crisis? As has been mentioned a lot in online facebook forums (http://www.facebook....73254229474264/ or http://www.facebook....28296950590245/ ), the Government HE White Paper (Ref. 2) has been shelved until 2015, in which the main aim is to “turn students from learners into consumers”(Ref. 3). As Jim Wolfreys asserts “the document contains no information on how the experience of teaching itself will be improved – no detail on how class size could be reduced, or how contact between academics and students might be maximised, or how resources might be directed towards teaching. Instead, there is an over whelming pre-occupation, not with teaching, but with amassing data about it…. Despite much trumpeting about “empowering” students, these measures will not serve the public interest. Putting student surveys of courses online, for example, is less likely to “play a role in stimulating competition between the best academies” as cable and willets claim, than to produce a climate of fear and centralised monitoring”. This government white paper, which will undoubtedly be bought to the commons in 2015 before the current government goes to election, is not in the interest in universities, its students, or lecturers, but ensures that the marketization of universities will occur, in turn making smaller and less developed universities prey for corporations that could dramatically change the face of our Higher Education system.
Other areas that have affected students across the country have of course been the scrapping of EMA; a government fund that allowed students from poorer backgrounds to receive money to help pay for their education. I put it to the nay-sayers of the EMA system; have you had to attempt to get to a school, pay for the textbooks and information, appropriately clothe yourself at school in the harsh reality of your peers who will judge you for whatever you do from a family that is on a pay roll of under £20,000? Myself, my friends and others were not using EMA as a means for a “jolly” or an “easy ride”, but it was helping us access university. It is a crime that a scheme that helped thousands was scrapped by those who never had to experience it.
Again, another assault on a more local level; our access courses being scrapped. Prospective students will not follow hundreds of students who managed to enter the university through these schemes as these courses have now been scrapped at UoP.
The List goes on; students who applied to our arts courses not receiving what they paid for, and now students who will apply will not have the ability to use the creative services from their formers, including the renowned artist Grayson Perry.
I could continue on with more examples that have affected both students of all ages as well as young people who either chose not to enter HE, or are still waiting to find out if they are, but there is no more room for it. These are just a few examples of why a Demo has been called, on both a local and a national level. We have to realise as a local and national student body that planning a demo 4 weeks before a vote is due to take place is no longer good enough. We need to build the strength, the activists and the students who can say that this attack on a generation that is still learning and developing is wrong, and cannot be allowed to pass by political parties that lied to us.
Our generation has to enter a world made hostile by our parents and their generation, and for what reason? Their mistakes. I thought the idea of being a parent was to make things better for your children; apparently they don’t seem to bothered by that.
By Grant Clarke, VP Activities UPSU.
Ref 1 - www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN01079.pdf
Ref 2. - http://www.bis.gov.u...-next-steps.pdf
Ref 3 – Universities for hire – The Higher Education White Paper and the Marketisation of Academia. – Jim Wolfreys.
Further reading –
http://www.timeshigh...code=420273&c=1 - NSS can severly damage morale.
http://www.guardian....tics?intcmp=239 - Free education – time to fight not negotiate
http://uclu.org/statute18 - UCLU campaign to stop the removal of lecturer rights.
