Government should bail out universities

Submitted by martin on 26 August, 2020 - 11:41
uni

The A-levels fiasco will have perverse effects on universities.

High-tariff universities have had their limits on student numbers lifted, and been pushed to accept more students than they've planned for. Some are offering money to students who will defer their places for a year.

They will probably try to shift more of their increased teaching load onto casualised, insecure, low-paid staff.

They will siphon off students from low-tariff universities, which may offer better teaching but rank lower in Britain's university-snobbery system. Some of those low-tariff universities will be at real risk of bankruptcy.

The labour movement should demand that the government "bails out" those universities, rather than letting their long-term assets be wrecked by this fiasco.

• See also Catherine Fletcher's Guardian article: "This half-baked fix will leave most UK universities struggling"

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