Higher Education Crisis
SCRAP FEES! FIGHT CUTS!
Yesterday saw things heating up on colleges and universities across the country. The recommendation of the Browne Review to scrap the cap and rise tuition fees to £12,000 has enraged students. Spontaneous demonstrations captured the mood of students facing attack after attack on higher education. The Comprehensive Spending Review will announce plans to cut up to 80% (£3.9bn) of the annual teaching budget next week on October 20th.
At London South Bank University students blocked the road and occupied a lobby in protest against language department closure. At Leeds a protest of more than 100 students made Channel 4 news. In Birmingham, 200 students demonstrated. 150 people came to an anti-cuts meeting called at 24 hour notice at Sheffield Uni.
At every institution we should be calling demonstrations, rallies and Students’ Union general meetings to capture the mood to build the biggest possible turnout to the Education Activist Network conference on October 31st and the national UCU/NUS demonstration on November 10th.
Students in France show the way. They have now joined workers in the largest pension protests. More than 300 secondary schools were shut down yesterday. Their response to the crisis raises the question: ‘Why not here?’
At the Education Activist Network Conference backed by NUS, UCU activists and students will be raising the prospect of coordinating French-style mass action to defeat the cuts and the Browne Review and at the same time fight for an alternative vision of education. Come along!
The timetable for the conference is out now: http://educationactivistnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/timetable.pdf
The website: http://educationactivistnetwork.wordpress.com
Register for the conference:
http://educationactivistnetwork.blogspot.com/
If you want to have anything be added to the blog or have any queries please e-mail edcuationactivistnetwork@agitnet.com or mark.bergfeld@nus.org.uk If you want to put on a minibus or bring people down please get in touch with me.
In Solidarity,
Mark Bergfeld, NUS NEC on behalf of Education Activist Network Conference
Posted here by Glenn Rikowski
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