- Conference
- 2016 Higher Education Service Group Conference
- Date
- 16 October 2015
- Decision
- Carried
Conference has long stood against the tuition fee model in higher education which has been used to marketise our workplaces, eroding terms and conditions, whilst unfairly burdening millions of young people with extraordinary debt.
Conference notes that, as well as tuition fees being set to continue at £9,000 per year, and rise with inflation, the Tories intend to scrap the student maintenance grant in 2016, and replace it with a loan-based system. This will be a double whammy for students from poorer backgrounds, making it harder for them to access Higher Education to begin with, and then loading them with further debt if they do undertake a degree.
Conference was therefore heartened to see clear opposition to the tuition fee model form part of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership campaign, a campaign which was notable for how many young people it engaged and galvanised.
The Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Gordon Marsden, has since said that scrapping tuition fees won’t automatically become Labour Party policy, but will be subject to a policy review which does not rule out any options including the existing model.
This Conference sends a clear message – “don’t do a Clegg!” Young people and our members in Higher Education have been betrayed before; it’s time to stop the rot in politics and stand up for future generations and UNISON members.
Conference calls on the Higher Education Service Group Executive to:
1)Work with Labour Link to ensure the feeling of members in Higher Education is represented;
2)Write to all Labour MPs to reiterate the opposition of our members to the existing tuition fee model, including the proposed scrapping of student maintenance grants, and our clear wish to see free, fully funded education and defence against harmful market forces;
Provide branches with publicity highlighting problems the ‘free market’ tuition fee model introduces to our workplaces and provide thoughts on alternatives.