Last week I put my GCSE grade C woodwork skills to good use and built a wall. However, it is not a normal type of wall used to partition or create a barrier. It is a wall that actually brings people together and creates strength of unity. That is because this wall is a sort of petition. It is a wall of student debt upon which students have been asked to fill out their personal debt, accountable to funding them through university, on a small form and pin it to the wall. In the few hours that I have had the wall out, once in the foyer of University House and once on Friday afternoon outside the Lady Hale Building, I have managed to fill up one side of the wall. With the sum of all the debts easily coming to well in excess £1 million pounds so far, the wall is a palpable statement that the issue of student debt is a massive problem, and will only get worse if the cost of tuition fees that students pay goes up.
This five foot by seven foot construction though is just a small part of a wider event that is taking place in Manchester this week to heighten the awareness of the future of higher education funding in this country. It is a Campaign called Town Takeover and is being run by the National Union of Students in collaboration with Students’ Unions from the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford. These city takeovers are happening all over the country with Liverpool and Bristol already done, and Sheffield on Monday and Tuesday; Manchester will be the fourth city to take part in this truly national campaign.
The major focus of the campaign is to highlight the unfairness of the current system that leaves many of today’s graduates leaving university with an average debt of £23,000. The campaign is well timed too, with a government review of the current system due to start soon, many different groups including University Vice Chancellors and the Confederation for British Industry are saying that students should pay more. Yet the issue of Higher Education funding still sits low on the political agenda, with the Liberal Democrats being the only major party to publicise a policy. That is why we are making statements about student debt now and that is why we are taking the campaign to our city. We want to show as many people as possible how bad student debt is and how it affects many different people, such as students, parents, college leavers, local communities and businesses. We want to say no to more debt and we want to put the issue on the political map by getting people talking about student debt and education funding and really making it an issue for the next general election. There are alternatives to tuition fees, and NUS have come up with their own plan to fund universities called the Blueprint, which is founded on a form of graduation tax. You can find out more about it here http://www.nus.org.uk/Campaigns/Funding-Our-Future-/Funding-Blueprint-launch-/ However, debates and discussion and advocates for free education will not be too far away from the centre of attractions this week either.
It has been quite heartening during the last couple of days speaking to students who are really concerned with this and are willing to get involved to do something to make education funding fairer in the future. It was also great when I met a Salford graduate from years ago who was here when education was free. She said she remembered how the government wanted to introduce fees whilst she was still a student and how they protested against it then and that she still thinks it wrong now. A contrast to the many politicians in this country who also benefited from free education but back top up fees now.
I really hope that as many students as possible come to get involved with the events in Manchester next week. There are all sorts of activities, such as flash mobs, street theatre and other stunts happening during the day on the Wednesday in Piccadilly gardens and a debate taking place in the Town Hall during the evening with a panel of guest speakers. The more students and supporters we get there the bigger effect we will have. So if you want to get involved and come along, then meet me and the other USSU sabbatical officers outside the front of University House on Wednesday Afternoon at 1:30, looking to leave for Manchester at 2:00. And of course don’t forget to add your contribution to our wall of debt, you will find me in Maxwell near the main entrance from 12 o’clock until 4 o’clock today, I will also leave some forms at our general office where you can fill them in and I will add them to the wall later.
I hope to see you all there on Wednesday.
Jim
For more info
http://www.nus.org.uk/en/Campaigns/TownTakeovers/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148053976904&index=1#/group.php?gid=160096289625
