The hard work of Sorana Vieru and other NUS and Students' Union members across the UK has begun to pay off
The hard work of Sorana Vieru and other NUS and Students' Union members across the UK has begun to pay off with Jo Johnson announcing recently that he plans to include student representation in the new Office for Students which will govern higher education procedures. The National Union of Students had been pushing this for months so it just serves to prove that campaigning really can make a difference even in the face of government austerity.
That said, our government is still planning to introduce a seriously problematic higher education bill that contains the proposed Teaching Excellence Framework or TEF as you may have heard it called in recent media. You may think 'Can we really persuade them to scrap it?' That's understandable, but we aren't aiming to instantly convince them to do a total u-turn as we know that's almost impossible. Our aim instead is to come together as a student movement and chip away at their plans until they are forced to reshape it in a way that respects the hopes and the futures of current and prospective students.
As it stands, the government have no respect for students, especially within the sphere of higher education and are trying to reduce our numbers and our strength. The upcoming bill would mean tuition fees of up to £12,000 a year and then further increases according to individual subjects which is ludicrous considering how much we already pay, the fact that international students pay even more than that and that the government have also scrapped maintenance grants in the last year.
It would also allow universities to be graded bronze, silver or gold based on irrelevant and distorted metrics, reducing the worth of all degrees and shutting down so many universities.
These are only a couple of the problems with the bill and while you are probably assuming you can't make a difference as an individual, that's not true. Our student movement depends on individual people getting involved and committing to the cause. Whilst I can't persuade all Royal Holloway students to attend the demonstration against this bill on Saturday 19 November, and you all have your own political beliefs and values and are entitled to those, I know that many of you will be worried about the impact.
Personally, I refuse to be part of the student generation who in years to come will be asked what they did to stop these decisions ruining the higher education sector, and have to nothing to say in response.
Tasha Barrett
President, Education and Campaigns
