Government raises fees and freezes grants: what a fucking surprise

STOP PRESS! NUS strategy of begging like an obedient puppy for scraps from the government’s table and then rolling over in utter, abject capitulation when it gets nothing has actually worked! The government has decreased tuition fees, raised grants and released a joint statement with education sector bosses promising further reductions in future as part of a transition to a fees-free system!

Oh, hang on… I think we might have that a bit back to front…
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“Can we win free education?” - NUS President Wes Streeting debates Daniel Randall ENS

2.10pm, Saturday 11 July
School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square (Russell Square, Euston or Goodge Street tube)

With the £3,000 cap on top-up fees up for imminent review, British students are facing the nightmare of an unrestricted marketplace in Higher Education, with university bosses clamouring for the right to charge tens of thousands of pounds per year for the privilege of studying.

How should the student movement respond? Is it time to accept the reality of fees, and simply fight for them to be capped at manageable levels? Or can we fight for them to be abolished altogether? And, as the capitalist crisis bites, where does the struggle against fees fit into a wider struggle against the rule of profit in the education system and society as a whole?

Where should the student movement be going?

Wes Streeting is the president of the National Union of Students and a member of Labour Students.
Daniel Randall is a supporter of the Education Not for Sale network (http://www.free-education.org.uk). He sat on NUS National Executive Committee from 2005-6 and this year was elected to NUS’s new Trustee Board - having promised to bring it down from inside.

This debate takes place as part of Ideas for Freedom, an annual weekend of socialist debate and discussion hosted by the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty (see here). We will ask those who do not have a ticket for the event to make a small, voluntary contribution (to book a ticket go to here).