UCU response to record university applications

The union said the rise in applications to university was encouraging, but the severity of the planned cuts and restrictions on student places meant many students would miss out on university. UCU further warned that those students fortunate enough to secure a place faced increased class sizes, less contact with lecturers and record levels of debt.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'You cannot make savage funding cuts without serious consequences, despite Lord Mandelson's insulting efforts to sell the cuts as an opportunity. The government is abandoning a generation who instead of benefiting from education will find themselves on the dole alongside sacked teaching staff.
 
'The government can come out with as many statements as it likes about the importance of education, how it will be protected from the recession and its own commitments to social mobility, but the hard facts and punitive cuts tell a much harsher and sadly more accurate story.
 
'Other leading economies are investing money in universities in order to help economic growth and widen participation, yet our government seems intent on doing the opposite. This approach is an insult and a snub to the thousands of students the government has been encouraging to reach for university for the entirety of their educational career.'
 
The full UCAS figures can be found at www.ucas.com.