OU Students, Staff & Alumni Against Fees & Cuts motion for trade union branches & trades councils

This trades council/branch notes:

• The publicly stated commitment of the Open University to “promote educational opportunity and social justice by providing high-quality university education to all who wish to realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential.” Is being severely undermined by the announcement of £5000 tuition fees for 260,000 working students who comprise the UK’s largest university.
• The importance of Higher Education Funding Council for England funding to achieving this commitment.
• The cuts to this funding introduced by the current coalition government are ideologically driven and have not at any stage involved consultation of students, the students union, tutors or Open University affiliated unions such as the UCU.
• The recent announcement from the Open University of an increase in tuition fees to £5,000, with existing research showing that debt deters students from poorer backgrounds from applying to university.
• The potential for the Open University’s new transitional arrangements to discriminate against students who need to take breaks from studying because of disabilities, caring responsibilities or financial need will place poorer students into even greater financial difficulty and will deter many from commitment to further education, particularly later in life, which the Open University was founded for.

This trades council/branch agrees to:

• Affiliate to the Open University Students, Staff and Alumni Against Fees and Cuts campaign.
• To send delegates to a national demonstration on September 17 in London.