NUS to keep fighting for fairer funding
(Thursday September 8, 2005)

As thousands of students get ready to embark on the last top-up fee free degree courses, the National Union of Students (NUS) has vowed to continue the fight for free education with a new campaign focused on the big issues facing education now and in the future.

NUS says the ‘On Course…for a fair future' campaign will aim to tackle the course closure epidemic which continues to sweep through universities. NUS aims to put Students' Union officers at the centre of its negotiations and the organisation says it will work with education providers to create a protocol to ensure students and their SUs are fully informed should a course face the axe.

The need for action is highlighted, says the NUS, by the recent news that Exmouth campus, part of Plymouth University , is set to close in 2008 despite fevered opposition from students, MPs, trade unions and the local community. NUS claims the problem of course closures is much wider spread than at first thought, with smaller local pockets of provision closing on a regular basis but not making the headlines. Last year, a number of courses were closed with funding shortages being cited as the reason rather than lack of interest or uptake from students. One of the most widely reported potential closure, Cambridge 's architecture department, was saved following a concerted campaign led by the Students' Union and teaching staff against the proposal.