A dramatic confrontation took place at Cambridge University this week, where anti-tuition fees protesters confronted Universities Minister David Willetts during an organised lecture and forced him to leave the stage, abandoning his speech.
As the tuition fees furore rages on and early figures indicate plunging numbers of university applicants, David Willetts has given an interview desperately attempting to defend his tuition fees policy. The results are far from convincing.
Police have revealed that the potential use of rubber bullets has been approved against those marching in the protest against rising tuition fees this Wednesday. The move, which could be said to implicitly criminalise the legitimate act of protest and suggest that students and young people are more likely to be violent than adult protesters, has outraged politicians and human rights groups.
With 28 universities announcing plans to revise their tuition fees arrangements, university applications have been thrown into chaos. Tens of thousands of students trying to navigate the already complex fees arrangements are now being forced to make blind decisions about where to apply. We explain the developments that have caused these problems, and who is likely to be worst affected.
As predicted by campaigners and protesters, the enrolment figures now prove that the government decision to slash the Education Maintenance Allowance has had a devastating effect on college enrolment figures amongst the poorest students. Read on for a detailed analysis of the facts and figures.
Worrying new statistics show that increasing financial support in the form of bursaries does not necessarily help attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply to elite universities. We ask what this means for the new tuition fees scheme and how we can address the problem of equal access to university for all.
Government plans to dramatically cut student visas have been heavily criticised this week. We look into the flaws in the plan and how they relate to other current higher education concerns.
In a historic move, academics from Oxford and Cambridge Universities seem likely to join forces to oppose the government’s new higher education policy with a ‘vote of no confidence’ in Universities Minister David Willetts. We look at the way the new tuition fees policy has gradually unravelled.
