Nouse.co.uk » Battle for tuition fee caps sharpens as NUS adopts more pragmatic policy

Battle for tuition fee caps sharpens as NUS adopts more pragmatic policy

October 29, 2008
Henry James Foy

The NUS, it seems, is changing. A fresh team appears to be taking a fresh look at Union policy, specifically the NUS’s oldest but most ignored demand: free University education.
Aaron Porter, NUS Vice-President for Higher Education, feels that the time for overblown and far-fetched dreams of a degree without expense is over, and wants to focus on making sure they don’t get any more expensive.

“In my eyes, historically the NUS hasn’t been good enough and has lost lots of campaigns due to outlandish positions based on ideology rather than a pragmatic opinion of the political landscape,” says Porter, who is visiting York during his first year as an NUS officer.

“Both the NUS President and I are committed to the principle of free education, but are pragmatic enough to enter the actual debate that will happen in the House of Commons. That debate will be about how much students will pay and by what mechanism. It is simply not winnable, in the next two years, that higher education will be free,” he adds.

It is a tone that does not sit well with the die-hard lefties in the National Union of Students, but has been welcomed by those who feel it must evolve and adapt to the current economic and political climate.
“We’re in the second year of a three-year campaign,” Porter explains. “Last year we spent a lot of time speaking to MPs and Vice-Chancellors to try to work out who supports the NUS and who advocates fee rises.”

Porter and the NUS will have their work cut out. While all the major political parties appear to be currently erring towards a rise in tuition fees, opposition to retaining the £3,000 cap is not limited to Westminster. Many Vice-Chancellors from the prestigious Russell and 1994 groups of Universities are thought to be strongly in favour of increasing fees for full-time undergraduate students.

Porter states that the 1994 Group, which includes the University of York, have so far remained tight-lipped on the issue, but he anticipates that they are likely to support a system that allows them to increase their income.

“Ultimately, they don’t care where [the money] comes from, whether it’s from government, students or business. I think that they think the easiest place, the most likely place it’s going to come from, is students. So, I think it’s inevitable that universities like York and the Vice- Chancellor here will be pushing for an increase in fees,” he predicts.

The former Leicester SU Officer believes that York Vice-Chancellor Brian Cantor may even be lobbying for the cap to be scrapped completely. “York could be one of the Universities that are looking not for the cap to be lifted above £3,000, but to be scrapped altogether,” Porter claims.

“There are lots of Vice-Chancellors that are rampantly and unashamedly already lobbying MPs to raise the cap on fees,” he adds. “Sometimes it’s easier to deal with VCs that are more honest. We have robust exchanges, and it’s not uncommon for me to have quite a forthright exchange with VCs that are clearly pushing for fees to go up.”

Although he hasn’t met Cantor, Porter relishes the chance to dispute the grounds for a rise in fees. “I challenge every single Vice-Chancellor, including the one at York, to happily confront them in public debate. Many have accepted that debate. I’d be more than happy to take on [Cantor] in a public debate in front of students,” he says.

For him, the reasons behind a hike in fees will seriously compromise the UK’s higher education provision: “I have serious question marks over whether an increase in fees will lead to the increase in student numbers needed [to take the UK to the required level of 40% of adults with degrees].”

“Short term increases in fees are detrimental to individuals as it would create a system where some universities will begin to charge maximum fees,” he says, explaining: “If [certain students] are not willing to take on that level of debt, then they will decide not to attend those universities. There is a potential problem where the leading universities will not necessarily recruit the most intelligent students.”

“We are seeing countries like India, China and Australia outstripping us in terms of the numbers of students in higher education, and I think this seriously jeopardises the UK’s position in terms of the international economy,” Porter adds.