Mon 3rd October, 2011
The University of Bedfordshire’s Vice Chancellor Professor Les Ebdon CBE DL spoke about fees and funding at a joint million+ and NUS fringe meeting at the Labour Party Conference.
In response to John Denham, MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Professor Ebdon said: “For our part, million+ has always been clear that the 80per cent cut in funding for teaching which comes into play in 2012 was a choice that the Coalition Government did not have to make.
“This cut is the reason why fees will increase significantly in 2012 as universities seek to balance the funding of outreach work, bursaries, the National Scholarship Programme – which incidentally is neither national nor a scholarship – together with the need to replace funding for the teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses and of course, fund the long-term investment to support the student experience.
“So I welcome the statement by Labour that they would restore at least enough teaching funding to pull fees below £6000 as well as the proposal to look to business – in this case the banks – to contribute to higher education funding.”
To read the full speech, click here.
Latest news» 2011» September» Vice Chancellor speaks at Labour Party Conference
