Movement 124

More documents

Recommendations

Info

first among equals? Gurrent UK reforms of hi$her education are putting a price on everythin$. By doing so, are they obscurin$ its real value? Tim Cobbett is an Executive Contmittee member of NUS Scotland, and former Vice President (Academic Affairs) at Edinburgh University students' union. He has also been a member of SCM's Ceneral Council, and wrote an SCM discussion paper about student finance which is available for download at www. movement.org. uk/policy L4 Over the past few months, I and many other student union sabbatical officers have finished off the aca' demic year each playing a small part in a national campaign which has seen a giant letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair tour the country from union to union, gathering signatures as it goes, and finding inventive ways of travelling the different legs of the journey from Clasgow down to London. There were many positives about this campaign: its journey meant it gained coverage in the local press, meaning members of the public who would rarely think of the funding issues which consume students had the chance to hear the arguments; and it created a sense of community and acting together in solidarity as many unions came together for the one end. But what was really stark was that the campaign wasn't against all fees, or for a grant, but to ask that the Covernment doesn't cave into the requests of some elite Russell Croup universities, who want to raise the cap on the maximum affiliation fee they can charge for an undergraduate course above the current f3,000 limit. ln Scotland, the Executive - a partnership between Labour and the 'anti-fee' Liberal Democrats - has introduced an additional fee for medical students coming from England to study in Scotland - supposedly to give more of the places to Scots who will stay and work in Scotland - and raised the fee for all non-Scottish students, due to a worry that fee refugees will travel north to escape higher fees elsewhere. How long Scottish students studying in Scotland will not have to pay fees is open to question. And down south, not only is there lobbying to increase the gap, but already there is a market-based system where different courses charge different fees' There will be debates about the limit, cross-border flows, bursaries, support grants and percentages of fee income used for widening access to education and used to reward staff (such as in the recent Association of University Teachers industrial action over pay), but these are in a sense debates around the edges. lf the battle was that higher education should be for everyone and also be free at the point of use, then that battle appears to be lost. No one near government gives it much credence, and as student campaigners we pick up the pieces and seek to limit the damage. But there is no obvious or simple ethical response to the myriad of changes there have been to the way that higher education is funded. The different measures brought in are all inter-related but subtly different, and whichever model is chosen from, there are both winners and losers. One cannot even say that to campaign for the principle of free HE for everyone is the socially just Christian response, because the whole debate is about complex political considerations in which you will always please some but not others. the government have set the two most important demands of the student movement uP against each other: the desire for education to be free' but also the need for more students to access univetsity coulses The government have always tactically set out a situation in which loans and fees are part of the need to widen access to education. By doing this they have set the two most important demands of the student movement up against each other: the desire for it to be free (and indeed funded through grants), but also the need for more students, particularly those from backgrounds traditionally excluded, to have the chance to access university courses. By continuing to argue for both these demands rather than prioritising or coming up with a viable alternative, the student movement has arguably lost influence. The complexities are numerous. Welcoming opportunity, there is the question of who should pay. Current fees only meet a small proportion of the extra money which universities in the UK say they need to compete with international competitors. lf fees rise it will put off even more applicants, but is it fair for the tax-payer to fund something that not everyone uses, especially when it gives an advantage to those who do benefit? And what about the quality of the provision? ls this being compromised in pursuit of targets on numbers, and at what cost? lf we can't fund a grant for all students, should we target grants to those who need them most, how can you do this without creating expensive bureaucracy, and how do you stop those in the middle being squeezed? ln theory, top-up fees that create income from those better off and use it to fund bursaries for those less well off are socially just, but the system of movement
i bursaries is complex and many of those who would qualify don't apply because they believe the debt levels will apply to them too. Many people of an SCM persuasion will find themselves even more torn than most in the debate about who funds education and for whom. While on one hand we may wish to reject the drive towards targets and the notion that we all must reach the same level, we care about the individual and their opportunity, and that feel that'one size fits all'. At the same time, an interest in social justice on a wider scale means we must acknowledge that the market can be brutal, and some individuals need intervention in order to have the opportunity to realise their potential. lt is a difficult balance to try and strike, and one not recognised by the rhetoric of mainstream pol itical parties. But in a debate that tends to go round in circles, SCM as a movement, and the members who make it up, perhaps have a responsibility to highlight some of the deeper issues here that are not always discussed. One such issue is debt. Student debt has become significant culturally because it sets up young people to begin their adult life in debt, a debt that only then ever increases through their life in the form of credit cards, loans and mortgages. Just a couple of generations ago, debt would have been considered something to avoid at all costs and to pay back quickly when acquired. Now it has been normalised, it is assumed that you should speculate to accumulate. But this is wrong - not only because while graduates do benefit economically from their degrees on average, the nature of averages is that some won't, but also because of the way debt stifles personal freedom and creativity and overwhelms individuals and whole communities, Peter Selby's book on the subject, Crace and Mortgage, has much more to say here. Likewise as a thinking movement, we surely will want to resist attempts to suggest that higher education is purely about getting skills for the workplace. Yes, the skills we get should be varied and useful, but it shouldn't be a choice between employability and the value of learning for its own sake. The marketisation of education is about reducing courses to a simple equation of worth based on supply and demand, but the worth of the experience of challenging beliefs and preconceptions, asking searching questions, meeting new people, taking on new roles and acquiring confidence has been transformational for many in a quite vital way. Access to education means access to all these opportunities, not just a qualification, and if university isn't for all, then as a society we need to look at other ways of helping people achieve this. Beyond this, SCM as an organisation concerned with student life but also with spirituality and reflection should recognise our particular contribution to this debate and not be afraid to be counter-cultural in speaking up on education. O what do you value in hi{her education? We asked a number of students. graduates and Friends of SCM (former members who may have been students many years ago): What is it that you value most about you studies and your experience of university life? 't thLwkz the thLwgs that (ve ewloged awd vaLued lznost as a sb,tdewt arethethLwgs I wever expected to do - boththLwgs that were Tart of nLU cot^yse awd thLwgs that werew't. t lzwow Lt sowwds reaLLg oorwu, bvct I thLwlz wwLversLtt4 Ls a fawtasti,o opovtwwLty to exTLore govtrseLf, t4our Lwterests awdwhat gowreaLLywawttobe/do - awd, of oourse, twawA qeoqLe vwa4e sovwe frLewds for LLfe owthe wag.' 'lw the eayLu L96o.s I wAs actLve Lw ScM, beoovwLwg brawch secretarr4for a t1ear, awdthatwas a qyeatLwfLwewoe ow.'wl deveLoTtl"ewt. I rent"evwbey n/Law1 thLwgs frovw that tLrmet a oo,rw,rwL&,ee weektwd Lw Dwwdee, where we heLd a rovcwd-tabLe oovw,'wr,twLow; vweettwgs wLth Kaes Maxeu, thew scottlsh seoyetayu (hls wLfe sheLLa has reoewtLy beew Moderator of the v+wLted etforvwed chwroh); dLsottssLow gro,,c1s Lw qLasgow awd at swawwLclz where we argwed ovey awd weye LwsTLred bg books LLEe t-ta*Lw Bvcber's 'l Awd Thow' awd )ohw eobLwsow's 't+o^,estto qod'; awd Lots of socLaL evewts where we ?L(t the worLd to y'vghts as weLL as ewlogLwq owyseLves. of oourse, I stwdLed A Lot too, vwade Lots of frlewds (LwoLvtdLwg wy wLfe), joLwd other socleli,es awd a&ewded wwLow debatx. t tr4 stttdLes Trqared n*e for n'"g acadewLo cayeey bvtt I vaLwe jrl.st As t'wwoh aLL the other aotLvLtLes that deveLoTed twe as aTeYsow.' 't ewlog beLwg a stwd.ewt beoawse I have the tLvwe to exTLore wew ayeas awd Learw sleLLLs that I wovtLdw't have Learwed otheywlse. tt Ls aLso a qyeat tLvwe to vwalze Loads of wew fi,ewds awd dLsoover what govt aotwaLtg LLfze doLwg.' 'What I vaLvce vwost abo,"tt beLwg a stwdewt'r,s ,'wg aLoohoL dlsooutwt oard. t thLwk,the stwdewts' wwlowTerforvws a vLtaL fwwctLow Lw TrovLdLwg aLoohoL at svtbsLdl,sed rates.' 'For vwe, Lt's aLL abovtt the exTerLewoe. lt hasw't beew the ex- Tertewce t LwLtLaLLg expeoted. tt's aw exTerLewce so far that has bvtLLt ,+ wA faLth Lw a wau that t wevey exTeoted Lt to, awdhas chawgedthewag t Look attheworLd aLreadg, evew Lw vwt4{Lrst UeaY.' 't thLwk owe of the truost Lvw1o*awt awd vaLvtabLe qav+s of the stvtdewt exTerLewoe Ls the ohawoe to Learw Lwdqewdewoe. whew I was a stwd.ewt to tIeays ago, the vcwLversLtt4 aclzwowLedged thLs bg provLdLwg (t wawcLaL assLstawoe to ewswye that LocaL stwdewts dLdw't have to LLve at hovwe. t thLwlzLt's a terrLbLe shavwe - for stwdewts awd fortheLrTarawts - that the growLwg (vwawoLaL devuawds ow studewts tweAw that n*ore Awd wLoye are beLwg forced, to LLve at hot+t"e Lwto theLr &vewttes.' movement 15
Page 1 and 2: t. ,.termly maElazine of the studen
Page 3 and 4: editorial 'Value' is a loaded term
Page 5 and 6: scm glrassroots reporl: peak retrea
Page 7 and 8: i gt?#L?g#ffGam working, to set aII
Page 9 and 10: steve collins on alternative worshi
Page 11 and 12: I So, how would he like to see thin
Page 13: dippin$ toes in the sea of laith a
Page 17 and 18: a resurgence? Signs of hope for stu
Page 19 and 20: apply. Financial help can sometimes
Page 21 and 22: ties and binds principalities, powe
Page 23 and 24: wood ingham's tales from the world
Page 25 and 26: who were inspired by self-governing
Page 27 and 28: writing about culture (popular and
Page 29 and 30: the latest series of the a0prentice
Page 31 and 32: Da Vinci consPiracY? Well, this sum

Movement 124

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?