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Academic Assembly minutes including draft white paper response
Here are the minutes of the third academic assembly this academic year (Monday, week 4 spring term: January 30th). Below, you will find the action points from the last meeting, the academic officer's draft response to the government's higher education white paper, as was requested in the assembly, and a short outline the form and function of the academic assembly.
Action points concluded in this assembly:
1. Former LGBT officer and current Disabled Student's officer reported their findings from their consultation with their Campaign Networks on the implications of the higher education white paper.
Action points from earlier assemblies that need further attention:
2. Academic officer and union president to consider options for changing YUSU policy towards tuition fees and introducing policy opposing the use of fee waivers (deadline extended to next assembly).
3. Academic officer to consult with course reps about printer credits and raise e-assessment with the University (ongoing).
4. Academic officer to publish a statement on YUSU’s response to Government higher education policy before the officer elections (below).
5. Academic officer to provide the list of employers on campus to the next assembly as a part of the audit that it was agreed that the officer should push for together with careers service in the last assembly.
New action points:
6. Academic officer and Faculty Coordinators to review responses from the groupwork done in the assembly on Assessment and Feedback. These responses will be used in the planning of the next steps of the Assessment & Feedback strategy (deadline next assembly).
The detailed version of the minutes can be found here, including the officer report and the questions the academic officer was asked during Officer Questions.
If you have found these minutes interesting, please don't hesitate to come along to the next Academic Assembly, Monday week 9, March 5th.
Draft response to the government's higher education white paper
This afternoon academic officer Graeme Osborne sent me the following:
"Higher Education White Paper Response and the Future of Education Policy
The HE White Paper dramatically changed the course of higher education (HE) in England. Whilst it was not quite the fundamental philosophical change that came with the introduction of tuition fees, the impact on students and institutions is enormous. In this short response I will outline my views on the major structural changes to the HE environment in England.
The issue which has attracted most attention, of course, is tuition fees, so I’ll focus mainly on that. I accept the government’s argument that they simply can’t afford to continue the level of subsidy of HE which was in place when they came to power. My biggest concern however is in the implementation of the changes to funding. After the debate over student loan versus graduate tax, the white paper proposed a compromise which is essentially a time limited tax, which compromises the government’s key philosophical argument for wider reform: competition. Universities can charge whatever they like up to £9,000, but there is no difference in the monthly repayment amount (9% of income above £21,000). When this is coupled with the fact that many students are expected not to pay off the full amount (moneysavingexpert.com estimate that to pay the full amount back a student would have to start on £35,000 after graduation for £6,000 fees, and £45,000 for £9,000), then the competition is entirely false, simply a marketing exercise. Institutions are being encouraged to lure students in with a lower price, therefore demonising those charging higher fees to a level which is disproportionate to the final additional cost to students.
The second financial issue is fee waivers. Under the access agreements required to charge above £6,000, institutions have to put measures in place designed to ensure that students from widening participation (WP) backgrounds can still afford to go to university. The fact that a lot of students won’t repay the total amount of their loan and the fixed monthly repayments makes fee waivers have very little financial impact compared to bursaries. Fee waivers essentially reduce the ‘debt’ that students have when they leave university, whereas bursaries give students money whilst they are at university. Now when it comes to students actually staying at university, a £1,000 bursary makes much more difference than £1,000 off future debt, which is only repaid when earning over £21,000 and may well not be repaid in its entirety.
The future of HE reform is now in doubt with the postponement of the HE Bill. As students, students representatives and the student movement we need to make sure that this results in consultation and consideration of students’ interests before the issue is moved forward. We cannot allow this to result in back-door reform through unaccountable processes without public and student involvement.
Best regards,
Graeme"
The Academic Assembly
The Academic Assembly is a part of the new democratic structure of YUSU in the same fashion as the other three assemblies (Community, Liberation and Welfare and Student Development). They are desgined as open fora where students can interact with officers to form common policy, as well as holding said officers to account. The publishing of the assembly minutes is therefore an important part of the accountability process.
The next Academic Assembly meeting will be Monday week 9, March 5th. Please come along.
More information about the assemblies can be found at the assembly pages.
