UCU says Mandelson needs to listen to academics, not insult them

Responding to the business secretary's speech earlier today, the union said it was outrageous that the government was slamming the door of opportunity in the face of students it had previously spent 13 years encouraging to aspire to university.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'It is quite outrageous that 18-year-olds who have been told by this government to aspire to university their entire school lives are now having the door of opportunity slammed shut in their faces.
 
'Academics care a great deal for their institutions and for higher education. They are understandably frustrated and angry at the business secretary's failure to grasp the severity of his planned cuts. Cuts have consequences and Lord Mandelson would be better off listening to academics' concerns instead of rudely dismissing them.'