My union, UCU has issued a special report on the effect of the government's reactionary and moronic education funding cuts. The good news is that The Hegemon isn't one of the four in serious risk of closure.
Instead, we're one of the 23 institutions at a 'high level of potential impact… 9-10 of the 12 'risk points'.
Brilliant. And here's me with a contract which expires in September. More seriously, we do a lot of good work. We provide a high standard of education, often for students who can't or won't go elsewhere: local students, ethnic minority students, the poor, mature students, students with families and working students. You don't get many of those at Oxford. In fact, let's compare: The Hegemon: 40% UK ethnic minorities. Oxford: 1 British-Caribbean student last year. Just one (and Cambridge University has no black members of the academic and technical staff).
If we get closed down, where are all these black people going to go? They've been herded into massive, teaching-led, urban institutions - partly because they're systematically disadvantaged in school too - the kind of places which don't own massive tracts of land, can't reach out to famous/rich/powerful friends for donations, and can't attract top researchers.
Simple. They won't go to university at all.
2 comments:
The Hegemon, eh?
Had to think of something.
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