Photo: CollegeDegrees360 via Flickr
The National Union of Students today put forward proposals for how university education could be made free to students.
In the report, called ‘Roadmap for Free Education’, the NUS argues that higher education could be funded by collective public investment through progressive taxation, with an increase on tax of the richest in society.
The union is also argues in favour of increasing business investment in higher education, and believes that a modest increase in revenue from businesses could then be channeled into higher education which would remove the cost burden from students, the government and the taxpayer.
The launch marks the beginning of a coordinated campaign that will see activity across the UK from the NUS in an attempt to put free education on the agenda. Megan Dunn, NUS Vice President (Higher Education), said:
“Not only is a publicly funded education system achievable, it’s also necessary in the current economic and political climate. Our roadmap seriously challenges those who want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that the current broken system can be fixed with tweaks and tinkering. The clear fact is that the current system we have is completely unsustainable.
“The Government’s own figures show that the prospect of a huge black hole looming over the budget is very real. It’s time the government started taking this issue seriously and committed to a new deal for students.
“We are told that we can’t tax the rich because they are the “wealth creators” but we know that the real wealth creators of our society are the teachers and lecturers who are building up the knowledge and the skills of our country. We should be investing in them rather than protecting those who have driven the economy to its knees.
“Forcing debt onto students as a way of funding universities is an experiment that has failed not just students, but our country. Politicians need to recognise that we will only achieve a sustainable higher education funding system if we abandon the discredited regime of sky-high fees and debts altogether.”