A good friend of mine left this link on my Facebook page today. To sum it up, Lord Mandelson has essentially told Universities that students should complete their degrees in two years. A million thoughts sprang in to mind after I’d finished reading it. As a tax dodger currently studying politics, I think its a bloody terrible idea.
Bah humbug, you might say. Whining students should get on with it, work a bit harder for two years and get it done. Well fair enough. If university was all about the degree I’d definitely agree with you, but it ain’t. University life is multi-faceted. You have a degree to acquire as well as societies to establish, friends to socialise with, beer to drink and union politics to engage with. There is much that is valuable outside of the academic element of university. We acquire other important skills along the way and reverting to two year degrees would be disastrous for student communities.
More importantly and I hate to say it, this desperate move is endemic of the government’s failed policy on higher education. It talked about 50% targets and didn’t fund universities properly. When universities across the country bust a gut to admit more students they were punished for it. The Labour party, a social democratic party, should be opening up access to universities and making the social case for higher education. Hell, if we want to adhere to the neoliberal agenda, we can even make the long term economic case for higher education.
So come on Lord Mandelson sort it out. I have an awful lot of respect for the dark lord. He is a competent minister. But he is slowly losing the confidence of vice-chancellors, academics and students across the country. Start making the social and economic case for higher education. Then tax as appropriate. Britain will be better in the long term for it.
