UCU delivers submission to government spending review

The union warns that cuts would see increased class sizes, a decrease in the quality of education and put the UK's international reputation for excellence at risk. UCU also warned that cutting access to education for people out of work or unable to find training or education risked consigning a whole generation to the scrapheap of inactivity.
 
As the country continues to suffer from the effects of the worst economic recession since the 1930s, the union says the case for renewed investment in the UK's public education system is overwhelming. UCU believes that colleges and universities are key drivers of economic recovery, since they are the main sources of the skilled workers and professionals on which that recovery will depend.
 
The union's submission puts forward the case for education and its crucial role in helping people improve their life chances in a country where social mobility has stalled. UCU says that improving access to education, and the quality of the education on offer, is the basis for the creation of a fair society. The union adds that that lifelong participation in education improves people's health and well-being and makes them more engaged as citizens, strengthening democracy.
 
The union reminds government that colleges and universities are the main source of critical thought, innovative ideas and both basic and applied research, and that they need to be protected. As one UCU member says in the submission: 'The birthplace of ideas is the student's mind, the midwife is the academic (lecturer or researcher), and the incubator is the university ... Don't cut education, it's our and our children's future.'
 
The full submission is available here:

UCU submission to 2010 spending review [356kb] | UCU submission to 2010 spending review [794kb]
 
Commenting on the submission, UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'We have delivered our submission to the government in a political atmosphere in which education is under serious threat. The talk is of cuts to public services, including education, of making students pay more for courses, of depriving some of our best researchers of funding because they cannot demonstrate an immediate economic benefit from their work.
 
'Most seriously and damaging of all are the huge increases in youth and graduate unemployment, large numbers of young people neither in education or employment, and the scandalous exclusion of tens of thousands of qualified applicants from our universities because of the government's refusal to fund sufficient places. We risk consigning a whole generation to the scrapheap of inactivity.
 
'The UK already lags behind many other western countries in educational expenditure and access, and it is interesting to note the emphasis placed on investment in education in emerging economies like China. We cannot afford the economic and human cost of weakening our education system at precisely the moment when we need to strengthen it to meet the demands of the future.
 
'Now is not the time to cut back on education spending. Instead, we should take heed of economic competitors such as the United States, France, Germany, India, China, South Korea and Australia and make plans for further investment in this most vital of sectors.'