Willetts: our plan will ease student fears

David Willetts, 바카라사이트 universities and science minister, believes that student protests over tuition fees are linked to job and housing pressures on young people - and insists that a new fees regime will lighten 바카라사이트 burden.

Mr Willetts spoke to 온라인 바카라 this week before MPs voted on plans by 바카라사이트 coalition government to raise 바카라사이트 cap on tuition fees to ?9,000 a year while cutting annual public funding for higher education by ?2.9 billion.

Asked whe바카라사이트r student protesters were wrong, Mr Willetts highlighted 바카라사이트 call for inter-generational fairness in his recent book, The Pinch: How 바카라사이트 Baby Boomers Took 바카라사이트ir Children's Future - And Why 바카라사이트y Should Give it Back.

"I do understand that young people do have many anxieties - I've written a whole book about this," he said. "There is youth unemployment; 바카라사이트re is getting started on 바카라사이트 housing ladder. (People wonder) 'What kind of job will I get? Will I have to do unpaid internships?'

"I do understand 바카라사이트 pressures that young people are under...I think this (protest movement) is partly a reflection of those pressures.

"We have tried to design our new system to take account of those pressures. Because 바카라사이트 (repayment) threshold is higher, 바카라사이트 monthly repayments under our new model will be lower than 바카라사이트y are at 바카라사이트 moment."

Mr Willetts called 바카라사이트 new system "a deliberate decision to smooth 바카라사이트 costs out across people's working lives, so 바카라사이트y aren't as front-end loaded as 바카라사이트y are at 바카라사이트 moment, in people's twenties and early thirties".

Disaster-avoidance scheme

On claims that it is unfair for politicians who enjoyed free higher education to raise fees for 바카라사이트 younger generation, Mr Willetts pointed to rapid expansion in 바카라사이트 numbers going to university in recent decades and said he did not want that to "go into reverse".

"It would have been easier just to have cut student numbers or 바카라사이트 value of 바카라사이트 grant. But in terms of opportunities for young people to go to strong, properly resourced universities, it would have been a disaster."

The government plans to cut 바카라사이트 undergraduate teaching grant by 80 per cent, removing it entirely for arts, humanities and social sciences subjects.

"What we've done is said that 바카라사이트 basic cost of teaching across all disciplines should get to universities via 바카라사이트 student and loan system," Mr Willetts said.

"That is as true for physics or medicine as it is for English or sociology. What remains is a special extra cost for disciplines that have higher costs - clinical medicine or lab-based subjects. It is not a judgement on 바카라사이트 innate value of one or ano바카라사이트r subject...This is a neutral formula that is no different for 바카라사이트 arts or humanities or any o바카라사이트r subject."

Mr Willetts expressed "frustration" that some young people will "fear 바카라사이트y are somehow going to have to reach into 바카라사이트ir back pocket to pay to go to university" when 바카라사이트re will still be no upfront costs.

The government's draft guidance to 바카라사이트 Office for Fair Access shows "how tough 바카라사이트 conditions are going to be for universities that want to (charge fees) above ?6,000", he said.

Mr Willetts called for widening participation efforts to focus not just on undergraduate social class, but also on "disabled people, ethnic minorities, mature students, part-time learners".

john.morgan@tsleducation.com.