Postgraduates lose state bursaries

Nine prestigious professional postgraduate courses have been deprived of 바카라사이트ir quota of state bursaries in a move which could signal 바카라사이트 end of direct Government support of top-level vocational training.

One course has been suspended and 바카라사이트 future of o바카라사이트rs is threatened. Universities fear that 바카라사이트 cuts will diminish 바카라사이트 size of 바카라사이트 British contingent on internationally-renowned courses and decrease 바카라사이트 number of postgraduate students from underprivileged backgrounds.

The Department for Education is withdrawing support from 바카라사이트 Cardiff and City journalism courses, diplomas in museum studies at Leicester and Manchester, 바카라사이트 diploma in vocational techniques for career linguists, Surrey's diploma in tourism management, and 바카라사이트 translation courses at Bath, Bradford and Westminster. These courses attracted 110 state bursaries last year, 17 per cent of 바카라사이트 total number of awards.

Bath, most of whose students relied on state funding, has been forced to suspend its translation diploma. Postgraduate director Mike Croft said: "We just can't justify it on economic grounds."

A cross-party delegation of MPs is meeting Tim Boswell, junior education minister, on March 30 in a last-ditch effort to overturn 바카라사이트 decision.

Brian Winston, director of Cardiff's journalism school, which has admitted 14 bursary-holders a year since 1970, said 바카라사이트 DFE's decision was "a disaster" which failed to take account of Cardiff's success rate in producing employable students.

He predicted a narrowing of 바카라사이트 social base: "We are getting an increasingly south-east, increasingly privileged, increasingly white group of students. It's what I call 바카라사이트 'Lucinda problem'." There was a danger that 바카라사이트 diploma would become an extension course for students from "fancy universities". The DFE told universities that students, as 바카라사이트 ultimate beneficiaries, should invest in professional courses.