Monday 14-11-2016 - 14:05

Where will the new HE bill leave Durham? Is it right that attending a University as prestigious as Durham will have additional financial barriers? Are those barriers not big enough already? As President of Durham Students’ Union, these are questions that are of huge concern to me, and which I believe should be on the minds of all students. That’s why I’m attending the National Demo, taking place on Saturday November 19, in London. Want to join me? Express interest here.

 

I’m sure a lot of you will agree with the popular rhetoric and comments describing proposed changes to UK higher education as some of the most drastic we’ve ever seen. Along with others in the student movement, I agree that the changes proposed in the ‘Higher Education and Research Bill 2016-17’,’ which is currently awaiting the Report Stage in the House of Commons will represent huge changes for education. Not all the changes put forward in the Bill are negatives, and some may well have a positive impact (thanks Jo Johnson!). However what I wish to discuss here, and what is the focus of my opposition to the Bill, are  the policies surrounding increasing cost of education. These  include: changes to the process for institutions obtaining degree awarding powers, increasing competition in the HE market (in this bill the world of HE is very much, if not primarily, a market) and obviously, increased fees. If the allowable fee increases are linked to the quality of education, this leaves us open to potentially uncapped fees.

 

No matter your political views, these are quite drastic changes.  As an engaged student leader within a higher education institution, I don’t agree with these changes, and fundamentally believe that the linking of fees with quality will cause damage. We’re all at a quality institution (unsurprisingly Durham will do quite well in the new fee regime), which will be able to charge higher, potentially unregulated fees, for proving that they have a high level of ‘teaching excellence’. Most of us know that Durham already has a poor reputation for failing to attract students from diverse social and economic backgrounds. The recent announcement of an intention to increase fees as soon as possible has further added to this reputation.

 

Unsurprisingly students’ unions across the country and the National Union of Students are working very hard to influence and engage with politicians and HE leaders to try and lessen these damages. Durham Students’ Union will be holding an extraordinary student Assembly meeting on Wednesday 3 November 23, 19:00 (hope to see you there!) to discuss what these changes mean for us and what we should do.

 

I believe there is a limit to the impact that we can have on a local level, as the root cause of these changes lie within national politics. One national initiative that we, as students, can support is a demonstration, taking place on Saturday November 19, in London. At the SU we’re keen to support this, so if you’re interested please let us know here. As I said at the start of my rant, these are exceptional times with a potentially devastating outcome and we can’t afford to sit by and let this happen to future generations of students. See you in London!