2010- the year that mattered to students

A year ago, I couldn’t tell you what was going on in the world of politics, but I could tell you who was snogging/marrying/avoiding who on Eastenders. This year, I’ve been thrown into the stuff head first.  I’m not sure of the exact point when I pricked up my ears and began taking a keen interest [...]

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Diary of a disadvantaged student: the debate

I’ve taken part in an Intelligence Squared podcast debate on the subject of tuition fees.

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Students! Don’t lose your head in all the protest hype

More protests and demonstrations are planned for later this month, which is great. You may be involved in the planning of something along those lines. Perhaps you’ve even seen this facebook event, that recommends students to ‘walk out of  your school, college or university’ in protest to education cuts. Earlier this week, about 40 Manchester [...]

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So- what exactly happened at #Demo2010?

I couldn’t tell you what happened at Millbank yesterday- I wasn’t there. I and other UCLan students were due to catch our coach back to Preston at 3.30pm- in fact, many students had been coached down to London as part of their student unions. None of us had time to hang around in London burning things. But [...]

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Diary of a disadvantaged student: starting below zero

Recently, much has been made of disadvantaged students in the press. I’m not ashamed to say I’m one of them- currently, I receive the maximum maintence loan and grant payments from the student loans company. I received £60 combined from each parent on the very first day of uni, and made my own way from there. I’m [...]

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The future’s bleak, the future’s blue: the reality of higher education cuts

If you’re studying a degree anchored in the arts, humanities or social sciences, prepare to rip up your text books- because according to the coalition government, your degree is worthless. As a result of the comprehensive spending review, English universities are facing a 40% cut in central government funding. Courses including but not limited to [...]

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Hands up if you feel betrayed!

In light of our new Conservative universities minister, Mr David Willets, branding university students ‘a burden on the taxpayer’, it was only a matter of time before the tuition fees debate reared its ugly head again. As soon as the Conservatives chose to form an alliance with the Liberal Democrats rather than forming a minority [...]

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