University 'cuts' report met with anger
Report suggesting university student support should be cut has met with anger by student unions
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By Tom Powell. |  |
Monday, 21, Sep 2009 05:50
By Sarah Garrod.
A higher education report out today has been met with anger by key university institutions.
In the report, Confederation of British Industry (CBI) researchers said the government's target for 50 per cent of 18-30 year olds to participate in higher education (HE) should be scrapped and that increases in fees were "inevitable".
They also said university student support would need to be cut.
The report has been met with anger from higher education groups, who have called it "offensive" and the same "tired business rhetoric".
The CBI report said HE faced tough choices in the recession, saying "the rapid rise in student numbers, coupled with a severe strain on public finances, makes current public funding levels unsustainable". But the report, Stronger together- businesses ad universities in turbulent times, did recognise the vital contribution HE played in the UK.
Sam Laidlaw, chairman of the CBI HE Task Force and CEO of Centrica, said: "The UK has a world-class higher education sector.
"But it faces some urgent challenges including the changing needs of business, intensifying international competition, and constrained public sector funding. Universities and government cannot deliver a world class service alone.
"Effective collaboration between the higher education sector, business and government will be critical to the UK's economic recovery and sustainable international competitiveness. Business must also make a sustained effort in supporting higher education."
The report proposes more businesses should work with universities to sponsor students studying subjects relevant to business, such as science and technology, provide financial support to new graduates, through bonuses when they sign on with the firm, offer more opportunities for internships, placements, work experience or projects, and view working with universities as part of core innovation activity.
But it also highlighted that cuts would have to be made in certain areas. Richard Lambert, CBI director-general, said: "The economic downturn makes cuts to public funding for HE inevitable, so new sources of funding have to be found.
"On funding, our Task Force considered - and rejected - three options open to the government: cutting research funding, slashing teaching budgets and reducing student numbers. Instead, we say that savings should come from the student support system.
"Of course, it's never easy to ask students to pay more, but the UK's student support is on a par with some of the most generous in the world, and the priority must be to preserve quality as well as assisting those unable to pay to ensure that higher education remains open to all."
The National Union of Students (NUS) has condemned the report, calling it "offensive".
NUS president Wes Streeting said: "At a time of economic crisis, when many hard working families are struggling to support their offspring through university, I am astonished that the CBI should be making such offensive recommendations.
"Students are already leaving university with record levels of debt, while graduate job prospects are at an all time low. Instead of recommending that students are fleeced even more than they already are, the CBI should start looking at how they might put something back into the system themselves."
And the University and College Union (UCU) said the report added "nothing new to the debate on university funding".
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "The silence on the future of higher education from the main political parties is allowing tired business rhetoric to be viewed as a real contribution to the debate.
"The proposals in the CBI report offer absolutely nothing new and merely list the obvious ways to increase student debt. To suggest that a rise in tuition fees is inevitable because the CBI favours that approach is quite incredible, particularly with the country in recession.
"We need a fair system where every potential student has the opportunity to maximise their potential. Increasing fees, or the other financial barriers that so many students and parents come up against when considering university, is certainly not the way to deliver that system."