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Website URL : http://www.ucu.org.uk/5974
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 Course closures report media coverageUCU's damning report on the reduction in choice for students considering university this year received widespread coverage across the print and broadcast media. UCU's damning report on the reduction in choice for students considering university this year received widespread coverage across the print and broadcast media.UCU general secretary Sally Hunt was interviewed on the Today Programme (news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9698000/9698889.stm) - and on BBC Breakfast News: www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17137355. The Independent ran a huge two-page feature that picked up on what it called the 'tuition paradox' where you pay more money but get less choice: www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/the-tuition-paradox-you-pay-more-money-you-get-less-choice-7320527.htm. The Daily Mail concentrated on the decline in courses for young scientists and lamented the loss of science departments at Essex, Sussex and Reading in recent years: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2105181/Science-hit-axe-falls-20-000-degree-courses-bid-cut-costs.html?ito=feeds-newsxml. While Times Higher Education concentrated on the decline of some language courses in its coverage: www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419120&c=1. The Guardian detailed the differences between the home countries noting that England, which now charges fees of up to £9,000 a year, saw the biggest reduction in choice (31%), but that Scotland - the country with the most benign fee regime - saw the smallest drop of just 3%: www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/feb/23/universities-cut-number-of-degree-courses?CMP=twt_fd. The Telegraph carried warnings from two of the leading academics featured in UCU's report, Nobel Laureate Sir Richard Roberts and Professor Donald Braben, about the damage pursuing a market in higher education would do: www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9098953/One-in-four-university-degree-courses-axed-to-save-cash.html. Writing for the Left Foot Forward blog, Sally Hunt said that for all the government rhetoric about empowering students as consumers, the report exposes that students' options have actually narrowed considerably. She concluded: "We should be providing a broad and balanced education for university students, not paring back provision." See www.leftfootforward.org/2012/02/subject-choice-plummets-across-the-uk-as-the-government-fails-universities. UCU spokespeople from across the UK were quoted extensively on regional television and radio and in local newspaper. |
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![[image depicting] UCU - University and College Union logo](./images/common/toplogo.gif "UCU - University and College Union's Logo")
