TEF and the HE Bill - Update from Academic Affairs Officer

Tuesday 07-03-2017 - 13:51
Academic

Yesterday, following lobbying from the NUS and Students' Unions across the country,the House of Lords passed an amendment to the Higher Education and Research Bill that would mean there is no link between raising tuition fees and the government's Teaching Excellence Framework (you can read more about this here). This is a major setback for the project of rising tuition fees and the politicisation of international student visas. HOWEVER the vote on the amendment will still go back to the House of Commons. Therefore this is only a step in what will be a longer journey.

Last November, Durham students voted at Assembly to mandate me and the officer team to lobby against raising tuition fees and to advocate for measures that will mitigate any negative effects on students. This is part of the wider work we've been doing to address the accessibilty challenges that we all know are an issue here in Durham, and the fight to improve the financial support available for students for whom the financial burden of studying at Durham can be deeply stressfull, if not prohibitive.  We've already been doing this in attending protests, talking to our local MP, and lobbying the Vice Chancellor, and passing SU policy to ensure this work continues, but its time to cast the net wider. If you're interested in these issues and would like to join me in contacting MPs, please send me an email and you can join the crew. No prior knowledge of politics or anything is needed! #team 

 

You can also read and article from Alice in November on the issue of the HE Bill here.

Related Tags :

More Durham SU Articles

More Articles...