{"id":987,"date":"2016-11-29T14:46:03","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T13:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colindgordon.net\/?p=987"},"modified":"2016-11-29T14:46:03","modified_gmt":"2016-11-29T13:46:03","slug":"uk-universities-in-turmoil-students-and-lecturers-unite-against-education-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/2016\/11\/uk-universities-in-turmoil-students-and-lecturers-unite-against-education-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Universities In Turmoil: Students And Lecturers Unite Against Education Cuts:"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"img_0922\"<\/a>\u201cEducation is learning what you didn\u2019t even know you didn\u2019t know\u201d. For Daniel J. Boorstin, the University of Chicago\u2019s renowned former historian and an ex- Harvard & Oxford student, the opportunity to further expand one\u2019s knowledge represents the main justification and incentive for moving from High School to the College Campus.<\/p>\n

The Huffington Post\u2019s Gemma Parry, however, when compiling her list of the \u201cTen Reasons To Go To University\u201d, has been rather more pragmatic. Yes, she points out, you\u2019ll have three years enjoying yourself, meeting new people, attending courses you\u2019ve chosen rather than the ones imposed on you at school \u2013 but above all, you\u2019re there because you\u2019re well aware that, \u201cwithout a degree, finding a good, well-paid job will be tough\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Daily Telegraph journalist, Elizabeth Anderson, agrees with Parry that \u201cdegrees still matter\u201d. This opinion is based on research conducted by the job search website Adzuna which has indicated that jobseekers without a degree are likely to earn \u201cup to \u00a312,000 a year less than their graduate counterparts when entering the employment market\u201d \u2013 the equivalent of more than \u00a3500,000 during an average working life\u201d.<\/p>\n

The \u201cRent Strike Now\u201d campaigners, however, are somewhat less impressed by these statistics. In their leaflet handed out at the demonstration in London on Saturday 19th<\/sup> November against the Government\u2019s proposed education cuts, they declared that \u201cStudents are often told that they are privileged in society, yet the university is little more than a factory, an educational business that educates for business\u201d. In other words, the university\u2019s role now (they fear) is to prepare students for their future exploitation, charging them high fees for learning how to work in jobs that no longer pay a living wage, thereby \u201cconsigning them to a lifetime of bad employment and worse debts\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Times Higher Education (THS) correspondent, Jack Grove, highlighted in his report on the demonstration the fact that, among the estimated 15,000 plus people marching from Park Lane to Parliament Square were many faculty staff and lecturers. They had joined with the students to \u201cprotest against rising university tuition fees, funding cuts and the privatisation of education\u201d as well as their own perceived work insecurity and modest pay. The event was organised jointly by the National Union of Students (NUS) and the University & College Union (UCU) to oppose \u201cnew government reforms that threaten to impose higher tuition fees (\u201c\u00a312,000 by 2026\u201d), close down universities and allow private companies to award degrees\u201d.<\/p>\n

This was the dominant message of most of the banners and placards being carried by the marchers, though some of them also referred to other specific issues: The \u201cCollective of Students Against Brexit\u201d, for example, is demanding a second Referendum on the\u00a0 \u201cexit terms\u201d from the European Union and believes that \u201cany Brexit will be a disaster for the UK\u2019s universities, colleges and students\u201d. A handout being distributed on behalf of the NUS advocated a boycott of both the 2017 National Student Survey (NSS) and the Government\u2019s proposed introduction of a \u201cTeaching Excellence Framework\u201d (TEF\u201d).<\/p>\n

The annual NSS, launched in 2005, is officially aimed \u201cmainly at final-year undergraduates to gather feedback from students in publicly funded Higher Education Institutions across the UK about their experience of their courses\u201d. As the THS has noted, however, \u201canimosity towards the NSS has been brewing among the student body for some time\u201d, due to the fact that (for those in favour of a boycott), it symbolises the marketization of education. Because, adds the THS, the results are being linked to the possibility of putting up fees, it has become even more important than hitherto for educational institutions to ensure that their students complete the NSS form.<\/p>\n

The \u201cTechnical Consultation on TEF\u201d issued by the Department of Education & Skills in May contends that the scheme will \u201chelp to drive up UK productivity by ensuring a better match of graduate skills with the needs of employers and the economy\u201d, will \u201cprovide clear information to students about where the best educational provision can be found, should encourage providers to improve teaching quality and thereby reduce variability\u201d.<\/p>\n

Both the NUS and the \u201cNational Campaign Against Fees And Cuts (NCAFC) are infuriated by the prospect that universities will be allowed to charge \u201chigher different prices for degrees\u201d depending on whether they are awarded a gold, silver, or bronze \u201cmedal\u201d under the TEF rating system. This, they anticipate, will not only cause further tension between already fiercely competing institutions but will also be used \u201cwithin universities to justify departmental decisions and to discipline staff\u201d.<\/p>\n

The top echelons at the UK\u2019s universities currently face a variety of concerns In The Guardian on 17th<\/sup> November, two of its columnists, Aditya Chakrabortty and Sally Weale, depicted the university teaching profession in the UK as \u201cdominated by zero-hours contracts, temp agencies and other forms of precarious work\u201d. The figure they gave for academic staff employed on this basis at Birmingham University was 70.3%; at Warwick: 68.1%; Edinburgh: 66.6%; Oxford:63.7% – the consequence of which (they asserted) is that some of these lecturers \u201cdon\u2019t provide their students with the quality of teaching to which they are entitled\u201d<\/p>\n

.On the 24th<\/sup> November, the Vice-Chancellor of Bristol University, Professor Hugh Brady, in an interview with Sky News\u2019 senior political correspondent, Robert Nisbet, warned that some UK universities could close unless the Government provides them with guarantees regarding the Brexit negotiations\u201d. He argued forcefully that international students should be removed from immigration statistics and queried \u201cwhy we should want to jeopardise a system which is so important for our economic future\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to \u201cUniversities UK\u201d \u201cthe higher education sector is worth \u00a373 billion per annum to the UK \u2013 or 2.8% of GDP\u201d. The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) has recently issued data suggesting there has been a \u201c9% fall in early applications from the rest of the European Union for studying in the UK in 2017\u201d.\"img_0976\"<\/a>\"img_0979\"<\/a>\"img_0985\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"img_0935\"<\/a>\"img_0943\"<\/a>\"img_0955\"<\/a>\"img_0964\"<\/a>\"img_0966\"<\/a>\"img_0971\"<\/a>\"img_0974\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEducation is learning what you didn\u2019t even know you didn\u2019t know\u201d. For Daniel J. Boorstin, the University of Chicago\u2019s renowned former historian and an ex- Harvard & Oxford student, the opportunity to further expand one\u2019s knowledge represents the main justification and incentive for moving from High School to the College Campus. The Huffington Post\u2019s Gemma […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,13,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-immigration-visas","category-politics","category-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":999,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987\/revisions\/999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}