On the 21st November, students from across the UK will be marching through the streets of London.
The demonstration comes after years of turbulence in higher education and across society. We have seen increases in fees to £9,000 for home/EU students, an 18% increase at Warwick for international students and the attempted deportation of 2,000 international students by UKBA causing irreparable damage to the UK University sector.
We have seen an attempted introduction of fees in Further Education, the scrapping of EMA, a botched White Paper on Higher Education and we still find no solution to the postgraduate funding crisis, with graduate study slowly becoming the new private education system in which education is based on wealth and not on ability.
At home we see Warwick failing on widening participation, in which unambitious targets do nothing to include young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the Warwick experience. Tonight, 10,000 people across Coventry can only eat because of food banks, and young people a mile north of campus can’t even find a job, let alone dream of a university education.
Standing up against all this, promoting an alternative, and making sure the student voice is heard at a national level is vitally important.
Simply there is a lot to be marching for.
Warwick will be joining students from across the UK, and Warwick SU is sending coaches down. Tickets are £7 each, and can be bought at warwicksu.com/future.
Please spread the word, and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. Any questions, please direct to education@warwicksu.com.