In the wake of the government’s controversial decision to raise tuition fees in England to £9000 and subsequent withdrawl of some of their key access schemes, top accountancy firm KPMG has unveiled plans to cover the cost of tuition fees for school leavers entering university as part of their training program. Will other businesses follow suit, and will this be a positive move for access to higher education in England?
Following the controversial vote to raise tuition fees in England to £9000, the government has been quick to backtrack on the generous aid and access packages they outlined whilst desperately drumming up support and votes for the policy in Parliament. Latest to be thrown into doubt is the scheme whereby the government would waive a year’s fees for free school meals students, which now seems unlikely to be implemented.
Having raised eyebrows with his refusal to vote for the coalition government’s controversial tuition fees policy, Simon Hughes has hit the headlines again with his new appointment as advocate for access to education. Is his appointment a genuine effort by Cameron and Clegg to boost input and support for those from underpriveleged backgrounds, or a highly cynical publicity stunt to mollify outraged voters and protesters? And has Hughes himself abandoned his principles by accepting the position?
A wave of allegations and legal claims have begun against the Metropolitan police amidst concerns that their heavy-handed treatment of peaceful student protesters was unlawful. Legal experts claim that the use of police violence and the tactic of immediate ‘kettling’ as students demonstrated against higher tuition fees and unversity funding cuts represented a serious breach of their human rights.
A startling report this week revealed that a mere 0.8% of Oxbridge students come from disadvantaged backgrounds, making them 55 times less likely to get in to Oxford or Cambridge University than private school pupils. We ask whether the government’s plans for a huge increase in tuition fees, along with their contraversial decision to axe the Aim Higher university access scheme, will result in an Oxbridge education truly being accessible only to the most rich and priveleged students.
Fresh on the heels of its controversial policy to raise university tuition fees in England to £9000, the government has now announced cuts of £400 million to university teaching budgets. These cuts will take effect long before the rise in tuition fees comes into force, leaving universities desperately struggling to make ends meet and striking a further blow to students and higher education.
Following the outbreak of violence at the recent tuition fees protests, questions have been raised about the level and necessity of violence used by the Metropolitan Police force against students. Whilst heavy-handed resistance is understandable in the case of the very small number of protesters acting violently themselves, disturbing accounts have come to light describing the brutal treatement of innocent bystanders and peaceful student protesters as well.
A study released by the lecturers’ union has shown the devastating predicted impact of the government funding cuts and rise in tuition fees on some of the top UK Universities. The worst hit will be those offering innovative and cutting-edge arts and culturally creative courses and, most worrying of all, those offering the greatest number of places to students from disadvataged backgrounds. A third of UK Universities have been labelled “at risk”.
