A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
However, whilst the economy shrunk, university intake continued its seemingly exponential increase in applicants. The popularity of the universities, still surrounded by a plethora of promises for better employment prospects and lessons in life, led to an increasingly diverse pool of peoples who could systematically be exploited to support the failing economy. The two spheres thus became irrevocably intertwined last year amidst a contentious bill to increase the student fees to 9k.
Due to the level of controversy over the cuts, it was somewhat impossible to be ignorant of the demonstrations and protests that were organised nationwide and specifically in London. As images of defaced monuments and attacked royal cars emerged, there was a great social disapproval of what appeared an unruly group. Contrary to depicting the injustice of government proposals, the unfolding occurrences marred support.
As the measures come into force then, many questions are unresolved. How will the student be able to adjust to such a staggering increase in cost? How will this ensure education is available to all those who wish to pursue it? Will this not impinge upon University expansion and research?
Nine thousand pounds per annum makes Britain’s university systems one of the most expensive around the globe. In fact, the changes come as Britain has begun a decline down the tables of World University ratings. As such, there could be argument that the increases ensure that one is paying more for an inferior service. There is no other industry where such a correlation between price and provision would be openly tolerated.
Part of the problem is that students have been afforded an image that only breeds discontent and impassivity from important members of the social circle by consequence of the actions of a minority. However, in the economic recovery, we are expected to reimburse the state with an enormous sum after graduation. This is in addition to the fact that our active participation in University generates sufficient amounts of income for the state via research output and the involvement in the local community. These are not exhaustive examples by any means. Furthermore, students support the teaching profession itself and by consequence of further education output, there are more qualified peoples to ensure expansion of diverse enterprises. Thus the student already provides a key crux in economic stability without having to carry token burdens.
“Governments want to use universities to upgrade their workforce and develop hi-tech industries” says Philip Altbach, director of the Centre for International Higher Education Universities, proving that the government has just as much invested in the success of the University scheme as the students themselves. He reaffirms that “in the rich countries, Universities are making big bucks”. This is something that is readdressed by the UK's universities minister, David Willetts, who continued to advocate that "developed economies are already highly dependent on universities and if anything that reliance will increase.” We should focus on the word ‘dependent’ here. How should this dependency rise?
Recently, a BBC article suggested that the way in which we judged a country’s power and influence was under a flux of change. Whilst one hundred years ago, it may have been Empire, two hundred past it would have been developing industrialisation, it is now fast becoming the student themselves. Hardly surprising, the student is the centre of research activity, of professional output, of cultural change. In undertaking degrees in what has become a globalised scheme, the adults are able to gain knowledge, experience new influences and take note of other world systems that all mix together in a melting pot to fuel social revolution. Consequently, the student is at the forefront of discovery, of modern social mobility and continued economic growth.
‘Dependant’ as a term to describe the economy in relation to the student is quite a powerful chip to possess. To say that the county and the world as a whole is largely dependent on the student domain is to infer that the untapped potential of the teenage sphere could create a great tumult if it were to approach the fee changes in a much more cerebral manner.
Considering the level of support the student already provides, imagine the extent of potential damage should the demand for education dry up in response to the unnecessary exploitation of this social group. Hypothetically, if students for 2012 entry were to withdraw applications so that the university system collapsed, a viable market would be closed. For these students who would sacrifice their education, no doubt will there be great unease. However, with fewer graduates, employers would face no other alternative than to encourage these youngsters into the workplace to compensate for demand. If they refused, economic decline would only further ensue.
The result of such defiance? With a reduced market, the government not only has lost valuable income, but the reputation of English research would be put in jeopardy. Through this, the student will have proven their integral part of the economic recovery without having coloured people against their plight. Government officials would be obliged to reconsider their unjustified increase in fees in order to sustain economic recovery.
Currently, it is estimated that LSE spends about £0.5billion each year. Oxbridge is said to be slightly more, top Russell group establishments slightly less. This is only the disposable income of each institution: they actually sit upon funds much more numerous than that. Just more than 480,000 students are expected to start as freshers in the academic calendar 2011/2012. If we take this figure for the following year, the first year students alone would provide £4,320,000,000 in tuition fees alone. Imagine that figure trebled in three years. By no means can this be justified. Withdrawing our applications would see hundreds of billions of pounds stop circulating – from the education department, to local businesses, to research output. Stagnating such a gross figure would cut deep into the spending plans of government and reveal the true potential of the student class.
Combined pressures from exams, loans and often job burdens have seen students addressed as one of the most vulnerable groups in society. It is concerning that the government should therefore only add to the inevitable woe of the scholars in order to achieve a quicker, more haphazard, recovery. Students should be encouraged of a much more drastic approach in order to have their opinion counted: if the country is to withhold status on an international scale, the value of its (under)graduates should not be undermined or doubted to any extent.
More general information on the globalisation of universities and generated wealth can be read here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12597811
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