Friday, May 27, 2005
Top up Fees continued
The reaction of Professor Theresa Rees to the resolution of the Assembly to oppose top-up fees for Welsh domiciled students gets curiouser and curiouser. In this article she is quoted rather patronisingly as asking "I wonder how many AMs know the fees are deferred?".
Obviously she is upset that the nine months of work that she and her commission has put into their report seems to have gone down the swanney. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. The report contains some valuable recommendations on part time students and a National Bursary Scheme that I am sure we will be anxious to take forward. It also identifies the fact that a separate fees regime can be applied for Welsh domiciled students. That shows that the motion we passed on Tuesday can work if we are prepared to fund it.
Her problem is that firstly, the report actually comes across as indecisive on the funding options, offering two proposals without really plumping for either of them, and secondly, her increasing stridency is giving a number of people the impression that she is speaking more on the side of the Education Minister than for the members of her commission, most of whom seem to be taking a very low profile.
Obviously she is upset that the nine months of work that she and her commission has put into their report seems to have gone down the swanney. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. The report contains some valuable recommendations on part time students and a National Bursary Scheme that I am sure we will be anxious to take forward. It also identifies the fact that a separate fees regime can be applied for Welsh domiciled students. That shows that the motion we passed on Tuesday can work if we are prepared to fund it.
Her problem is that firstly, the report actually comes across as indecisive on the funding options, offering two proposals without really plumping for either of them, and secondly, her increasing stridency is giving a number of people the impression that she is speaking more on the side of the Education Minister than for the members of her commission, most of whom seem to be taking a very low profile.
Labels: Fees
Comments:
<< Home
Hmm. Don't the members of her Commission include Rob Humphreys,President of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, who has signed up to the Rees Commission recommendations?
Yes they do, but as I said in my post the only person speaking out is Professor Rees. I do not think that collective responsibility applies to Commissions.
It is not at all true that graduates paying back their fees would be earning a substantial amount more than their non-graduate peers. Graduates entering graduate-only public sector jobs such as teaching earn less than the average UK salary and continually earn less than other graduates, meaning they pay back more and for longer. That system is fatally flawed in that it penalises the less well off, as ever.
The fundamental principle here is that Education should be free. It is an investment in the future of this Country and as such it should be funded by the state. That is why the opposition parties will be using their weight to force Labour to back down on top-up fees for Welsh domiciled students, in line with the motion that was passed last Tuesday.
Rob Humphreys was on the Rees Commission as Chair of NIACE Dysgu Cymru. He was not a representative of the Liberal Democrats and I am sure he will be supporting party policy and the party in fighting this iniquitous measure.
Rob Humphreys was on the Rees Commission as Chair of NIACE Dysgu Cymru. He was not a representative of the Liberal Democrats and I am sure he will be supporting party policy and the party in fighting this iniquitous measure.
I am not conducting a negotiation through the medium of this blog. There will be talks over the next few weeks to see what can be achieved. However, the motion that was passed on Tuesday was quite explicit in saying that Welsh domiciled students should not pay top-up fees.
Post a Comment
<< Home
