Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education!

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bromley mum
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Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education!

Post by bromley mum »

Simon Hughes is to be appointed as a Special Advocate and his job will be to explain government policies on further and higher education, especially to young people from poorer backgrounds. He was one of the MPs who did not support the rise in tution fees, so it will be interesting to see how he explains a policy he does not agree with. Someone, somewhere has a weird sense of humour, me thinks, or they are just punishing him for daring to disagree!!
magwich2
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Re: Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education

Post by magwich2 »

Perhaps he will be able to explain to Miss Magwich (young person from a poor background) the following (amongst many other issues):

Why so many places at our better universities are taken up by individuals who do not reside in Britain and never intend to do so. We can all see the arguments for brilliant students being able to pursue postgraduate studies here but undergraduates are only taking from the system rather than giving anything back. Miss Magwich was at a university interview a couple of weeks ago where a considerable number of applicants were from elsewhere whilst very considerable numbers of home students were rejected. It was very irritating.

Why secondary schools STILL cannot get children to a reasonable standard by the end of 13 years of full time education and we need all these "access" policies.

It willbe interesting.......
bromley mum
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Re: Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education

Post by bromley mum »

magwich2 wrote:Why so many places at our better universities are taken up by individuals who do not reside in Britain and never intend to do so.
That, I think, is to do with the hefty fees foreign students pay to get into these universities.
Loopyloulou
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Re: Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education

Post by Loopyloulou »

deleted
Last edited by Loopyloulou on Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Loopy
WP
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Re: Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education

Post by WP »

Loopyloulou wrote:Really I think British (well at least English :roll: ) students ought to have the right to be classified as "overseas" if they are willing to pay full "overseas" fees.
What difference would that make? Only the number of home students is subject to a quota, and this is unaffected by the number of overseas students. It's not that LSE are taking up to 50% overseas students, but that they have doubled their intake (and rather more than doubled their teaching income) by supplementing their home quota with overseas students.
Loopyloulou
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Re: Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education

Post by Loopyloulou »

Apologies for the length of this post, but I think it is worthwhile.
A particular course might have an entry requirement of, say, BBB. There is a quota of, say, 100 places for home students (that being all the government is prepared to pay for) and the course is oversubscribed. Therefore home student offers are made at say AAB to reduce the number accepted to 100. But there is no quota on overseas students - indeed they are encouraged because they are profitable - so overseas students will be given places provided they meet the entry requirement of BBB. Experience suggests that in this way the course will end up with, say, 120 students and the department is staffed accordingly. (It is actually a little more complicated since the quotas are multi-disciplinary, but the illustration is fair).

There might well be a home student who scores, say, ABB. She will be rejected, but if she had applied as an overseas student she would have been accepted. Alternatively (especially at Oxbridge, eg St Edmund Hall) she might score AAA but never have received an offer at all, whereas an offer might have been made had she been classed as an overseas student.

It seems madness to deny our own children the same chances of a good UK education as we make available to foreigners. Of course, if one thinks of the political consequences to any party of allowing the "purchase" of a university place, one can see why we are in this mess :roll: .
Last edited by Loopyloulou on Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Loopy
bromley mum
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Re: Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education

Post by bromley mum »

I may be wrong but my understanding was that the fees paid by the foreign students help the Unis to run courses. If unis were not to take foreigh students then either the fees for the home students would have to rise enormously or the course won't be offered. So, I view the foreign students as a "necessary evil" (No ofence intended).
Loopyloulou
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Re: Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education

Post by Loopyloulou »

Quite right bromley mum. But my point is we should allow our home students to be treated as foreign students (thereby paying higher fees, but having more chance of being accepted) if they so wish.

Actually I think it's a brilliant idea :lol: - think of the public subsidy which would be saved!
Loopy
sp
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Re: Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education

Post by sp »

I've also heard that EU students( not including UK) can get loans which should be paid back on earning a certain level of salary. However many of these students return to countries where they could never earn that amount and so the loans are forever outstanding! Does this system also apply to UK students studying in other countries? My DS is only in Year 11 so not quite at the Uni stage but I'd just be interested to know the answer.
bromley mum
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Re: Simon Hughes: "Special Advocate" for access to education

Post by bromley mum »

Loopyloulou wrote:...my point is we should allow our home students to be treated as foreign students (thereby paying higher fees, but having more chance of being accepted) if they so wish.
Oh, I don't know about that! Won't this create a system where if you are rich enough to pay the foreign student fees, you get in and if you aren't then you don't?
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