Against the backdrop of huge speculation over the Liberal Democrat position on University funding and tuition fees, at a fringe entitled “Higher Education: What will the Liberal Democrats promise students and universities?”, there was a heated exchange between the panel and Liberal Democrat members and activists speaking from the floor.
First up to address the meeting, and not being afraid to speak his mind, Liberal Democrat MP, and chair of the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee, Phil Willis MP made clear his position on Education Funding and urged the party and it’s members to consider carefully a graduate contribution to ensure the quality of the UK higher education system.
Forthright in his opposition to the current fee regime and dismissive of the groups of Vice-Chancellors calling for a hike in fees, Willis made clear that if the UK was to maintain itself as the finest Higher Education system in the world, increases in funding to the sector are vital.
Speaking about the shortage of university places this year, Willis certainly pulled no punches when he suggested to the audiences that perhaps some Universities in the Russell Group should have had less sherry and more students this autumn.
Next up NUS Vice President (Higher Education) Aaron Porter who reminded fellow panellist and Liberal Democrat Shadow University Secretary Stephen Williams that it was the student vote that got him elected to his Bristol West seat in 2005, and demanded that the Liberal Democrats make crystal clear their position on education funding ahead of the general election so as to avoid being part of the cosy coalition of silence currently being witnessed by Labour and the Conservatives. Porter urged people in the room to read NUS Blueprint and realise that it is a credible and progressive alternative.
We then heard from Stephen Williams who said that in order to address the challenges in universities we had to answer the following three questions “Who goes to University?, How many people go? and What do they study?”. In answering his own questions Williams made clear he supports University expansion as a positive economic driver, but questioned some of those ‘so called Mickey Mouse degrees’. In response to the question on the mind of everyone in the room ‘What is the Liberal Democrat position on University Funding and Fees’?, Williams made clear that he believed that the Liberal Democrat party had to look at Graduate tax, or a Graduate contribution as part of the debate on how to fund universities, and at the last general election the party campaigned for a 50% rate on tax for top earners, and that tax was essentially a graduate tax as many top earners are university graduates.
Demanding that university students and their families know the position of all three main political parties, Bedfordshire University Vice Chancellor and chair of the Million + group, Les Ebdon, made clear his commitment to widening participation in UK Universities, and supports NUS calls for a National Bursary Scheme. Warning that University Funding would be a door step issue in the next general election he called on the Liberal Democrats to be clearer in their position on University Funding. The comments from the floor showed a real divide from members and activists of the Lib Dem party, a split between their ideological commitment to free education, and those pragmatic voices who called for the party to provide a progressive solution to the challenge.
This will be a familiar debate for many NUS members, it was the position the organisation was in just eighteen months ago – and NUS members through the annual conference decided to provide a pragmatic and progressive solution, and the organisation urges the Liberal Democrat party to do the same. The review of higher education funding has all but officially started, and to be able to influence the debate a realistic position is needed.
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