million+ urges politicians to make a commitment to students and universities that the recent clearing debacle will not be repeated
As this frantic clearing period for students and universities comes to an end the university think-tank million+ is today (Saturday) calling for all political parties to reach a cross-party consensus to guarantee a place for all students who want and are qualified to go to university in 2010. The think-tank believes that a national summit should be held in the Autumn to formulate an agreement on funding the teaching costs and student support of such an offer.
Professor Les Ebdon CBE, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and Chair of million+ said, “As clearing draws to a close with the vast majority of courses full and 36,000 well-qualified applicants likely to be turned away, million+ are calling for political parties to guarantee a place for all students who want and are qualified to go to university in 2010.
“The Government did the right thing by finding the funds for student support for 10,000 additional places, but it was a sticking plaster solution that was too late and didn’t go far enough to meet the mismatch between supply and demand. The aspirations and attainment of would-be students of all ages have been raised by this Government; it is now the time to find the funds to meet the rhetoric.
“Anything less than this would be a waste of talent and opportunity that the UK can ill afford. This is why we are calling for a national summit to be held in the Autumn so that stakeholders and political parties can reach an agreement on how to fund expanded university places in 2010. This is the least we should expect in a general election year.
“Many universities acted in the national interest during a recession, by taking on students without the teaching funds from Government, this is simply not sustainable if we are to preserve the quality of our world-renowned higher education system. All political parties must commit to investing fully in students and universities if we are to have the highly skilled workforce the UK needs to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
“Too many talented students have been disappointed this year, they and others do not deserve to be disappointed next year. This is now an important issue and one on which all parties will need to make a clear commitment.
“In addition, the Government could be doing more in the coming months to ensure more well-qualified students can get a place at university. Many modern universities recruit again in January and February and there would always be more that could be done for disappointed applicants.”
Notes to editors:
- million+ is a leading university think-tank, working to solve the complex problems in higher education. www.millionplus.ac.uk
- For more information please contact Gemma Tumelty, Public Affairs Officer on 0207 7171655 or 07900 277819 or Pam Tatlow Chief Executive on 07795 645241