Consultation: | Young Greens AGM 2021 |
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Agenda item: | C Resolutions of Executive Committee Priorities |
Proposer: | Jane Baston (York) |
Status: | Submitted |
Submitted: | 06/19/2021, 00:54 |
C2: Delivering Justice for Students
Summary
This year has seen students pushed back into high-cost campus accommodation, left with minimal financial support from the government and a lack of wellbeing support. This resolution identifies some key areas for the Young Greens to campaign on to deliver justice for students.
Resolution Text
The Young Greens notes:
The FE and HE sectors are experiencing a financial crisis like never
before. The effects of neoliberal marketisation is causing senior managers
to push financial risk off onto students and staff.
In light of the financial crisis, and the over-reliance on tuition fees,
many universities are using metrics or hidden evaluation techniques to
implement large scale changes to their courses, shutting whole departments
and making large numbers of staff redundant.
Throughout the pandemic the government has offered very little support to
students, insteading leaving financial and wellbeing support to the
discretion of individual institutions.
According to the NUS three in five students say that Coronavirus has had
some degree of impact upon their income.1 Students have faced increasing
financial difficulties this year with around a fifth of students have
fallen into rent arrears with their landlord and a similar portion have
fallen behind on utility bill payments.
Students have been increasingly isolated due to the lack of socialising
which has exacerbated poor mental health and wellbeing. Universities
provide inadequately funded mental health support that is often
overwhelmed
Online teaching has been something that disabled students have campaigned
for in order to improve their access to their education.
The Young Greens believes:
That due to the neoliberal model of university funding, students are being
treated like cash cows, being milked through sky high rent on student
accommodation and extortionate tuition fees.
Education should be free and accessible for all.
That campaigning for reduced tuition fees strengthens the narrative that
education is a commodity that can be paid and has a monetary value.
That metrics should not be used to determine the worth of a course or use
to make decisions regarding the employment of staff.
That universities are institutions for the public good and shouldn’t be
focused on creating profits that necessitates severance of staff.
That students deserve full living grants and proper financial support that
allows them to focus on their studies while living a decent standard of
life.
That many decisions taken by university senior management have been to
protect the financial interest of their institutions and not the safety
and wellbeing of their staff and students.
The Young Greens resolves:
To campaign for the abolition of tuition fees, the introduction of living
rents for all, and a write off of student debt.
To stand in solidarity and campaign with UCU against any job cuts at
universities across England and Wales.
To stand in solidarity with student rent strikers pushing back on poor
treatment of students and staff.
To campaign with disabled students to ensure that education is accessible.
That online alternatives made necessary due to the pandemic are kept and
that appropriate support is put in place.
To campaign for robust academic support and simple mitigation policies for
all students.
To campaign for universities to prioritise student wellbeing by providing
comprehensive welfare support and mental health services.
To campaign for the democratisation of universities where staff and
students are properly enabled to make and enact decisions at all levels of
the university.
Supporters
- Billy Wassell (Cheltenham Green Party)
- Rosie Rawle (Oxfordshire Green Party)
- Daron (Brighton / Oxford)
Likes
- Kelsey Trevett
- Dylan Lewis-Creser
- Joshua Farrell
- Raphael Hill
- Natalia Kubica
Comments