Rise and whine
A RISE IN U.K. university applications by almost 8,000 last year has been welcomed by the government - but has provoked lecturers into threatening to undermine the government's target for greater participation in higher education.
The rise in applications has not been accompanied by a similar rise in the number of lecturers, or the level of funding, and according to a new report has pushed lecturers' workload and stress-levels unacceptably high.
The government aims to increase participation in higher education to 50% of all 18 to 30-year-olds by 2010. But lecturers warn this cannot happen without a major cash boost in the forthcoming comprehensive spending review in July.
The demand for more cash comes at the same time as Sir Richard Sykes, former chairman of GlaxoSmithKline and one of the government's leading science advisers, has said top universities must be allowed to raise student fees if the U.K. is to remain a world-leader in science. This would give staff more competitive salaries to teach and do research.
Sykes' suggestion has been condemned by the NUS for widening yet further the gulf between rich and poor students at UK universities.
The cost of higher education has further been on the agenda this week with OUSU Council reacting to the current renegotiation and expansion of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) - which could have big implications for UK higher education.
GATS is first and foremost an instrument for the benefit of business, though it has implications for education, and OUSU believes GATS threatens the UK system with increased privatisation and commercialisation, and could even spell the end of state financial support for UK students.
OUSU Council has mandated the President to write to MPs Estelle Morris (Education & Skills) and Patricia Hewitt (Trade & Industry) to express concern about the inclusion of higher education in any current or subsequent GATS negotiations. OUSU VP (Women) and the Ethics Committee have also been mandated to undertake research into the implications of GATS for Oxford.
13th Jun 2002