Brighton Students Against Cuts are holding two events as part of their campaign against the coalition government’s higher education white paper.
The first is a screening of a documentary called College Inc tomorrow (Monday 24 October) at 5pm in lecture theatre L2 in the Cockcroft Building on the Moulsecoomb campus of Brighton University.
It looks at the impact of the way that privately run American universities operate and will be followed by a question and answer session.
The Q&A session will involve representatives of the National Union of Students, Unison, the UCU and Brighton University staff and students
Brighton Students Against Cuts said: “The government claims that the introduction of private ‘for profit’ providers will enhance the student experience and improve access to education for under-represented groups.
“The experience of the same educational model in the USA suggests otherwise.”
The second event is a discussion with speakers called Privatisation, Privilege and Impoverishment – the Government White Paper on Higher Education (and how to fight it).
It takes place a fortnight tomorrow on Monday 7 November at 6.30pm at the Sallis Benney Theatre in Grand Parade, Brighton.
Professor Bob Brecher from Brighton will chair the event with speakers including UCU national executive member Tom Hickey, from Brighton.
Brighton Students Against Cuts said that the coalition ministers – the Conservative David Willetts and the Liberal Democrat Vince Cable – have a fivefold aim:
- to shift the burden of funding for university teaching from the state to students
- to double or treble tuition fees, saddling students with a lifetime of debt
- to shift the focus of the academy from teaching and research to the marketing of products
- to create an artificial market based on fictional notions of “student choice”
- to facilitate the entry into the university system of “for-profit” providers through the deregulation of the sector
