Statement

Given the worrying lack of a pro-active student movement in the University of Salford to compare to that of other universities in Greater Manchester, the founders of this blog wish to register our concern that little has been done to bring together those who will be affected by the proposed cuts in the Salford area. Besides prospective undergraduates (many of whom will come from Salford and low-income households), academic staff, other workers in the University, and postgraduate students, this will include the residents of Salford.

In 1981, the last time the government made extensive cuts to the Universities sector, the result was a 44 % cut to Salford’s grant and the loss of 500 staff and around 1000 student places. Brian Iddon MP, then an academic in the Chemistry department, has since said that these cuts spelled "the beginning of the end of some very distinguished science and engineering departments". The cuts we face will impact on the university as a whole, but especially on the arts, humanities, and social sciences as public support for these subjects has been slashed by 100%. The cuts will impact not just on undergraduates, but on college students who want to go on to university, and on the postgraduate community.

The passionate commitment of FE students from local colleges to the campaign (students from Xaverian College, Manchester, especially) has been inspiring and they need the support of people who know from experience the true value of a university education. According to SalfordOnline.com, the EMA was granted to around 3,000 people in Salford last year. The government pay lip service to improving access to universities, but such 'commitments' are worthless if the working class is prevented from gaining A levels.

The Times Higher Education article, ‘Taught postgraduate degrees may soon be preserve of the rich’, of the 13^th January 2011 reminds us that the funding for taught postgraduate courses from the Higher Education Funding Council is unlikely to be unaffected when undergraduate fees are rising so dramatically. If taught postgraduate qualifications, which are the route to a Ph.D. and therefore to teaching posts in universities, are to become the preserve of the rich then lecturers from a working-class background will disappear from the universities within a generation.

It is imperative that we organise on campus as soon as possible, and that although the vote to increase fees has been passed we must continue to oppose it. It is now clear from the behaviour of the coalition government that we have little to gain from lobbying MPs alone; the situation demands action at grass-roots level. It is becoming clear as the movement grows that it is a social movement that goes beyond the single issue of raised fees; many other groups have voiced their support for the students’ cause seeing it as part of a broader attack on welfare, culture, and the well-being of society in general. Many trade unions in the Greater Manchester area, independent artists, Manchester University staff, UCU members, and members of the public have donated money and offered moral support to sustain activity at the recent occupation at the University of Manchester; this support will be available to Salford students too, who are arguably fighting to defend a more vulnerable institution. The current issue of Salford Student Direct, reporting on the candle-lit vigil on the day of the vote, carries the headline ‘Students Mourn Future of University Funding’. We refuse to mourn for a benefit we haven’t lost yet. We must fight now.