WHY LORD ADONIS IS WRONG ABOUT POLYTECHNICS

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged Anglia Ruskin University, class discrimination, course cuts, education, employer bias, employment, establishment, funding, funding cuts, government, higher education, House of Lords, job cuts, Lord Adonis, lower income backgrounds, politics, polytechnics, postgraduate study, rent, staff cuts, student accommodation, student debt, student loans, student welfare, tony blair, tuition fees, universities, vice chancellor pay, voters, working class.

This week, former education minister Lord Adonis decided to reopen a debate that was seemingly long-dead. During a report to a House of Lords Committee, he stated that the decision to allow polytechnics to become universities 25 years ago was “a very serious mistake”. This problematic claim reveals the real views of someone who has lately been seen as posing significant challenges of the higher education sector’s issues.

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PRICE HIKES AND RENT STRIKES – SOLVING THE UEA ACCOMMODATION CRISIS

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged accommodation, bunk beds, david richardson, direct action, league tables, lobbying, lower income backgrounds, petitions, price hikes, private renting, profit, rent, rent strikes, student accommodation, student activism, student life, student loans, student satisfaction survey, student unions, students, teaching staff, UCL, UCL cut the rent, UEA, UEA Vision 2030, university, university courses, university management, university rankings, zero hour contracts.

Whist chatting to a friend last week I found myself looking at the price of accommodation at UEA for the next academic year. I found that the prices are set to rise yet again, with the price of the most expensive undergraduate accommodation reaching over £5800 a year, or £153.30 per week if you want your shocks in smaller weekly doses rather than one big lump.

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OXFORD’S PUBLICITY STUNT WON’T CLOSE THE UNIVERSITY CLASS GAP

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged bill clinton, Boris Johnson, buzzwords, capitalism, class, consumerism, degree, discrimination, diversity, education, elitism, employability, employment, family, graduate, graduate employment, graduate jobs, graduate unemployment, higher education, history of art, inclusivity, language, law, learning, lower income backgrounds, margaret thatcher, marketisation, middle class, module guides, nss, NUS, Phillip Hammond, politics, pressure, publicity stunt, student as consumer, student debt, student experience, student life, student loans, student satisfaction, students, students' unions, SU officers, Sutton Trust, teaching, tef, theresa may, tony blair, transferable skills, tuition fees, UCU, university, university management, University of Oxford, white, working class, working class students.

This month Oxford University, in conjunction with the Sutton Trust, launched a summer school aimed at attracting more “white, working class boys” to the university. While this has received praise from some sectors of society, it does not address the real reasons why working class people (not just boys or men) are not attending universities like Oxford.

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