HIGHER EDUCATION AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE by REG SHORE
Young people I have spoken to are deeply passionate about what kind of a world we are all creating; they want a release from the chains of the old ways; they demand change.
They seek a fairer world built upon honesty and principle; a place where they can use their talents to help build a brighter tomorrow; free from speculators who gamble with our economy for the want of a fast buck. They seek a country that invests in young people because it recognizes their worth; a country that is safe, progressive and forward thinking.
The future of this nation lies in their hands and Governments seem to be making it more difficult to get on.
Labour promised 50% more people into universities. We now learn that hundreds of thousands of potential students will miss out on places this year due to higher education spending cuts. Targeting universities for cuts in this way is setting us up to see record numbers of bright young people turned away this summer. The Conservatives have sat back and let this happen. They have done nothing to oppose these cuts, because their own education policies don’t bear close inspection.
The extent to which Labour has let down young people, casting them onto the scrapheap of insecurity and unemployment, will surely be one of its most shameful legacies. As an educationist I am appalled by the present state of education funding and this includes tuition fees, student loans, compromised bursaries and cuts to Higher Education.
Remember Blair’s warcry, ‘Education! Education! Education!
We now know the truth behind those words. Students will pay higher tuition fees, they will suffer increasing debts and have less choice. More and more people now decide not to go to University because they cannot afford to. It is laughable that a socialist government offers discounts for those who pay off their loans early when only the well off can afford to do this.
A young lady, relatively fresh out of university, works for me. She attended Brunel University and had to take out a £20,000 loan in order to fund her studies and this was despite help from her father. She recently started to repay that loan which has risen, in a few short years, to £25,000.
You will be burdened with paying off debts, at times in your lives when you can least afford it.
Some hold out a blind hope that the Tories will rescue this. Unfortunately, from their track record, they will tell you one thing and do the other. They have rules for the rich and others for the poor. But they don’t put those in their manifestos. For example, access to top universities for students from poorer backgrounds is still woefully inadequate. Conservatives prefer selective Grammar Schools, which overwhelmingly favour the better off. I do not hold out much hope that they will come to the rescue of state Higher Education.
Liberal Democrats’ biggest spending commitment is to education. We will Scrap Tuition Fees, as we have already done in Scotland, so that new graduates will not be saddled with thousands of pounds worth of debt at a time when they are already struggling to find a job and make ends meet. Liberal Democrats believe that a university education should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go to university and not be put off by the cost: We have a fully costed plan to do this over a six year period.
Liberal Democrats believe that people who find themselves out of work should also be helped to find suitable training courses without worrying about the costs so that adult learners can access the training they need.
Recently, a relatively young ‘mature’ student in Lincoln, who under-achieved at school and was out of work, decided to try to build a future for himself. He was accepted for a prestigious level 3 Music course in London, which offered later access to a degree course. He could find no source of support whatsoever.
Without parents to help him and Government schemes proving impossible to access, despite being eligible for and being awarded an Adult Learning Grant, he got nothing.
It was later discovered that the college had tried several times to register for this particular scheme but was told that all funding was exhausted and therefore students would have to ‘whistle’.
As well as studying for a full time course he was also working, virtually full time, just to exist. He was recently offered an unconditional offer from Leeds University – but this struggle exemplifies what young people have to go through to get on.
Liberal Democrats believe that high quality education and training, accessible to all, is crucial to the achievement of a fair, free and open society, by helping people to gain the skills, knowledge and aspiration to move onward and upward. It improves the productivity of the nation and our employers and above all, it widens people’s horizons and opens up new choices and experiences to them
We say education is important because we mean it.
The educated or skilled citizen will access higher pay and therefore return higher level of tax payments. There is of course the added value of their positive input into society. I believe that the value that young people can add is priceless.
I believe that young people the right to reach their full potential and denying that opportunity is immoral and shortsighted.
There is an issue about the impact H.E. cuts will have upon research and development in Universities, especially as this Government is presently advising that these budgets could be used to support maintaining courses.
In a world where we need to maximize our ability to compete with global competition, it is essential that we have people with the tools to strengthen and then maintain our position as a potent force, with the strength and depth to help generate the new industries essential to our nations future.
We need to rediscover our talent for making things as well as placing bets on the international money markets.
What kind of a society do we want to see?
More of the same?
Beware, the old landlord is on his way back, having simply been out to change his clothes.
The choice is ours!
Reg Shore
Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate LINCOLN
