University Funding - What Should Have Happened!

So the government is having a bit of a crisis over HE funding. Because of the taxpayer providing tuition fee loans up front, and the average fees from 2012 looking to be substantially over the government's estimate of £7,500, there will be a significant shortfall of funds in the universities budget.

This means that Universities Minister, David Willetts, has come up with a plan to allow HE institutions to recruit additional students above the current cap, and institutions will be allowed to charge these students anything up to their fee level for international students, whcih is generally anywhere between £10,000 and £20,000.

These students will not be eligible for tuition fee or maintenance loans, and therefore they would pay their fees up front. So what you're getting is a way to buy yourself into university!

What Should Have Happened
If the government wanted to give universities the incentive to charge less for their courses, one of the options could've been where an institution charges £6,000 or less, the government would provide £1,500 extra per student.

Because the government grant to universities has been cut this would leave most institutions standing still in terms of funding, which is all most of them wanted, whilst decreasing the overall amount that the government had to shell out up front. The problem for many Vice Chancellors currently is if they need to charge £7,500 in fees just to stand still then they might as well go the whole hog and charge up to £9,000. They'd still be under the regulations from the Office for Fair Access whether the university charged £6,001 or the full £9,000!

The irony of this is more public money will be going to universities under the new system, should the government not be able to mitigate the effects of the rise in fees on their budgets!

JR

Labour's Bittersweet Election

I don't mean to say I told you so but, I told you so!

Last week I predicted that election night would bring a good result for the Conservatives. I argued that the party would be expected to lose a significant number of councils and seats, simply because of the high tide mark that was set when this year's seats were last fought in 2007. As it was the Tories gained control of more councils than they lost, and ended up increasing the number of Conservative councillors.

Considering the good fortune of the Tories; Labour's gains were mostly constrained to Lib Dem councils in the north, where the Liberal's vote collapsed, and in Wales the party gained a workable majority in the assembly. However in Scotland, Labour was crushed by the Scottish National Party who now have an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament.

The SNP benefited wholesale from the collapse of the Lib Dems, but Labour also gave votes to the nationalists when they would be expected, and indeed they assumed, to profit from Lib Dem switchers. This isn't to say that Labour weren't aware of a possible SNP win, as Milliband warned his party just last week, but the Labour campaign machine was unable to counteract the popularity of SNP leader Alex Salmond.

Labour's lukewarm UK performance, coupled with the Tories' unexpectedly favourable results and the SNP's huge win, is not what the party was looking for one year into the coalition government's austerity measures, that had been talked about so much by the unions and Labour themselves. Perhaps Labour have forgot they're preaching to the converted when complaining about the reduction in public sector funding. Labour say that the cuts are yet to hit the pockets of ordinary people, and this might be true, but all they've done is help to manage the expectations of the public; almost exactly what the government wanted.

It's not the cuts that have lost the Lib Dems votes, but the fact they went into coalition with the Conservatives, and although some will never return to the party, a significant number of voters will come back before the next general election. Labour will hope that won't be at the expense of them.

JR

I'm Voting Yes

If you hadn't already guessed, I'm voting Yes in today's referendum on the Alternative Vote. For my reasons why, you can read my blog post on the subject; or you can watch this brilliant video on how AV works (using cats and dogs).

Polls have just opened, and will remain that way until 22:00. So make your voice heard and choose positive change in the referendum today. Vote Yes to AV.

There are also local elections happening in England (except London), assembly elections in Wales and Northern Ireland, and elections to the Holyrood parliament in Scotland. Go out and use your vote!

JR

Thursday Will Be a Good Night for the Tories

So on Thursday we have the referendum on the voting system, the local elections in England, and elections for the devolved bodies in the nations. I predict, in my new found impartiality as a non-aligned moderate, that it will be a very good night for the Tories.

As it stands, it looks like AV will be defeated in the referendum; in itself a boost for the Conservatives. Labour will gain ground in the English councils, but proportionality more of these gains will be in Liberal Democrat wards, and councils where the Lib Dems hold or share power.

Undoubtedly Labour will also gain seats from the Tories, and more seats then they'll gain from the Lib Dems; but since the Tories had many more councillors to begin with, this won't be a shock to CCHQ.

In Wales and Scotland, the Tories have not much to lose, and generally seem to be holding their current position.

Remember, the Conservatives received 36.1% of the vote in last year's general election. Recent polls have the Tories hovering around the 36/37% mark. If the Conservative share of the vote is anything like 36% on Thursday, it will show that support for the party is consistent at worst and CCHQ will spin the numbers as support for Conservative policies despite the best efforts of those on the left to rubbish them.

Labour will have hoovered up Lib Dem votes and will very likely top the poll on Thursday, but the Tories will be quite happy with the result.

JR

Stephen Fry on AV

Yes, it's another video; yes, it's about the Alternative Vote; and yes, you should watch it.



A very good example of YestoAV supporters making an excellent video.

JR

Find Us on Facebook

I've just created a page for this blog on facebook. This will mean that my facebook friends that aren't interested about what I write can now stop being annoyed that I share every blog post on my wall, and those that aren't my friends have a place to find my latest musings!

You can like the page either by visiting it on facebook, or using the box in the sidebar on the right!

Always happy to be of service!

JR