decade, the Tories plan to have one young person in three educatedto university levei- for less money. It is part of a remarkable offensive they have planned.
The polytechnics are now underfunded universities, aiso able to award degrees without outside scrutiny. Higher Education is more elitist: a larger proportion of students from private schoois go to university than 15 years ago.
While a smalllayer of top universities are protected, most universities are brought down to funding levels lower than that of polytechnics.
The latest attack is the two year degree. Eleven new universities introduce pilot schemes this year. While resources and teachers are over NUS reform is one of the-year teaching, space is created for one-third more students. The two year degrees in France, DEUG and DEUS. are cheaper but carry little weight.
When the economy was booming in the sixties, graduates were needed with the flexibility of thought needed to oversee the continual renewal ofindustry. In recession there is less need for intellectuallabour. The job market has seen graduates move from management to more clerical and administrative work. The goverment is making sure the universities change their education to suit the bosses.
While the binary divide has ended, a three-tier system is being introduced in the new universities.
There is a first-tier of fourteen research tions, seeks to colleges (like Cambridge, Imperial orthe London Business School) get about two-thirds of the national research budget.
Student numbers at these universities are not expanding, but students from the families of the ruling rich are being concentrated there. Fifteen years ago, for instance. 20% of students at Bristol University were from the elite independent schools. Today it is 45%.
A second tier of mainly small universites also have not been able to expand theirstudent numbersbut they have not gained extra research funding either.
The worst funded tier is dedicated to producing graduates on the cheap. j In polytechnics spending per student fell by 23% in the 1980's while student numbers rose by 21%. Universities in the bottom layer can stay open only if they take large numbers of students, putting their asking price for more students.
These universities are taking many students only for the token fees paid by local councils. So for each science student, forinstance,a university would get universities to call for £2.770 a year. The students to pay fees average cost of too. teaching is over £5.000 Today, only 13.7% of and that forces univer- universities recurrent sities to cut. income comes from At Keele, 40% of stu- the government. In dents are taken in real terms university return for fees only: at resources per student Swansea it is 36%: in 91/92 were 88% of Strathclyde and Heriot their level in 88/89. The Watt, 25%. This means united action of stuan increase in students dents and workers but with less teaching can end the decline. resource. It also forces