Of course, Labour have got it wrong. They say that only the people going to university should pay, and cite that the government spends more per capita on university students than those at secondary and primary levels. As such, in Charles Clarke's view, universities should come, at best, fourth place in education policy.
What Charles Clarke fails to tell people, however, is the knock-on effects that universities provide the country are far in excess of what is given to them by the government.
Today, over 60% of Higher Education (HE) institutions received less than half their funding from the government funding coucils, with areas such as funding from industry and commerce playing an increased role. Compare this with the 1960s when nigh-on all university funding came from the government funded University Grants Committee (UGC).
Yet, ironically, the government seeks to play an ever interfering role in the way universities are run and what they can and cannot do. Universities are traditionally highly independent institutions; that even when they were recieving most of their funds from the UGC retained their autonomy. Today, the govenment threatens that by trying imposing their own ideals upon a system of HE that has been immensly effective at organising itself.
Once again, the government projects a hypocritical voice to the nation. Clarke's comments that not everyone should pay for something they never use can be applied across the whole spectrum of government policy. Many people never receive state benefits, yet for their whole lives they pay for the benefits of others, who will never give them anything in return. Yet a university graduate, who say is payed for by all, will in all likelyhood go on to improve the economy and therefore be a boon rather than a leech to this country.
So in my view, top-up fees are a bad idea. Not because I do not think HE requires more funding, quite the opposite, but I feel that rather than placing the burden on individual students, the country as a whole should share the costs of something that can only make it stronger for all.
Sources:
BBC News Website
Universities UK
Person Research for MSc Dissertation
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