The week of protest, lobbying and debate will focus around a national walkout on Wednesday 14 March at midday on campuses in every part of the UK and will see students take part marches, rallies, teach-ins, discussions, petition signings and other campaign actions.
Amongst many other actions around the country students at Kings' College London will hold teach-ins and stunts on Wednesday; students at University of Sussex will walkout on Wednesday and hold discussions about the white paper before lobbying local MPs on Friday; students from University of Liverpool and Liverpool Hope University will hold a rally on Wednesday; and throughout the week students at University of Manchester will be asked to sign cheques and add them to a money tree stating how much they have to pay for their education.
Students will demonstrate their anger at ministers who have not made clear their plans for increased marketisation of higher education, or how they will fix the student support system that sees the gap between government support and the cost of being a student rising to over £8,000 a year, and are pushing universities towards partial fee-waivers rather than the bursaries that help vulnerable students when they need it most.
Students will also be protesting about the hidden costs of university education such as books, trips, and other essential equipment like lab coats which universities don’t make clear students will be liable for.
NUS President, Liam Burns, said:
“We need a national debate on changes to higher education and this week we will remind ministers that we are watching what they’re doing.
“When the government quietly dropped plans for a higher education bill earlier this year they didn’t drop their plans. They simply removed the opportunity for the kind of scrutiny that has been afforded to changes to the NHS.
“Students, parents, lecturers and anyone with a stake in education wants to know what the government and our institutions have in store for higher education and demand that they come clean.”
Find out more about Come Clean here.