UNIVERSITIES MINISTER DAVID WILLETTS SHOULD APOLOGISE TO STUDENTS

DAVID Willetts, the Universities minister, has recently claimed that students' degree courses were "a burden on the taxpayer that had to be tackled".

He makes these comments ahead of the Browne report which is due out in the summer, and is expected to call for a raise in top up fees for students. These comments come despite Willetts telling the NUS Higher Education conference last October that the “case has not been made” for lifting the cap.

There are many students who live in Derby who will be disappointed and offended by these comments. I have therefore written to David Willetts asking him to retract remarks and apologise.

The average student graduates with a debt of around £23,500 and to suggest that this personal debt is a burden on the taxpayer, is completely misleading.

The Con/Dem coalition government’s plan to introduce more flexible options is also very concerning because it will inevitably create a two tier education system. It will allow those from more affluent backgrounds to have the full University experience but force people from poorer backgrounds to make do with second best.

This is so wrong, but typical of what one might expect from the Tories. It also provides further evidence that the Liberal Democrats are fast becoming the very antithesis of progressive politics with their support for the Tories’ reactionary approach. Check my last blog http://miniurl.org/dhz for further evidence of their reactionary tendencies.