Study into University Inequality

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/03/university-access-social-exclusion

This article reveals the results of research, based on postcodes, which will surprise nobody. Students from rich backgrounds go to the universities which receive the most government funding, whilst the poorer and more numerous students are left scrabbling for the smaller pots of money. This shows that cultural capital has a direct result on a persons life chances. Not only will the child of a parent from a rich postal area go to a better university but they will as a result have better employment prospects, due to the fact that it is people from these universities which compose the business elite.

The government must act now to dismantle groups such as the Russell group or the 1994 group who ensure that they monopolise all the funding whilst the majority of universities receive next to nothing. It is all very well to talk about excellence in research but this does not reflect exellence in teaching. Wealthy parents know this and push their children to enter a prestigious university knowing full well that the name on the degree will count at the end of three years, despite the student experience being virtually the same.

Attempts to promote diversity by the New Labour government are failing, possibly due to the fact that they do not represent the majority of the population themselves. The technocrats have failed to reduce inequality in the system. Whilst millions of pounds go into the bankers bulging pockets university departments struggle for cash and attempt to reposition themselves in the meaningless league tables. The idea that quality could be quantified is a complete aberration. DIUS is not fit for purpose. A more equal distribution of HEFCE and research council money is needed, allowing each university to provide excellence to its students who are situated at their particular institution because of one thing: Class.

This government declared that class does not exist, it was woefully wrong. Over the previous ten years class inequality has grown and whilst women's rights, racial issues and the rights of LGBT people are, quite rightly, acceptable topics, class has been ignored by a party which once claimed to represent the Working Class. Higher Education requires a bailout of the proportions given to the bankers so that it can produce intelligent workers capable of innovating their way out of recession. Alongside this must go training opportunities for all people, whatever their age. Adult literacy classes must be free and must grow. Apprenticeships, which pay a fair wage and give real qualifications to people who do not see themselves as academically minded, must be introduced. Equal opportunites at post graduate level must be given to those who enter their institution because of class, and the ability to pay made available to those whose parents can not afford to pay. All this could be done for a fraction of the money given to bankers whose greed caused the collapse of the economy, let education help us out of it.