By Luke Martell
Economic criteria get precedence over what’s good in human terms
The London School of Economics and Political Science - November 29, 2013
In 2010 the UK government announced 100 percent cuts to the funding
of most teaching at universities. To fill the gap, students’
contributions to fees in England trebled widely to £9000 a year or close
to that. 12 years earlier higher education had been free. The
government say the changes are necessary for deficit reduction, the
reason also given for cuts and marketisation across health, welfare and
local government.
But these cuts are not necessitated by budget deficits. Tuition fees, already low, are being abolished in Germany.
In the UK there isn’t less money involved. It’s just that students
cough up rather than taxpayers, without getting more for the greater
contribution they make. Loans and defaults might actually cost the
government more. And students could find interest rates hiked, so their
debt is retrospectively increased.
The marketisation of universities
is a political choice, made without a democratic mandate. Changes are
in line with conservative ideology to reduce, privatise and marketise
the public sector. They alter what a university
and society are all about. It’s argued that working class applications
haven’t been hit by students paying fees. But the data’s flawed. Since the Robbins Report more people from all classes are going to university but the relative chances for working class people have reduced.
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