No national demo against higher top-up fees
There will not be an NUS demonstration this year against raising the cap on variable tuition fees, it was confirmed yesterday.
The decision not to hold a march was originally taken at the annual national conference back in April, although apparently by deliberate omission rather than by actually voting against it. Last night the National Executive Committee met and voted not to put on a national demonstration this year, but it left the door open for one in 2006.
National demonstrations were once regular fare for the NUS, and not just on tuition fees. However, getting large numbers of students to London is a challenge when many are unwilling to commit the time or money to a cause that won't even affect them – no current student will pay top-up fees on their course, and the £3,000 cap is not going to be reviewed until 2009 at the earliest.
Despite this, some student campaigners still wanted to hold a demonstration. Andy Higson, Communications Officer at the University of East Anglia Students' Union, warned the NUS not to repeat its past failures in campaigning against fees and called for a "high profile, tooth and nail fight".
"If the maximum level at which top-up fees are allowed increases or the cap is removed, then it will be said that the failure of the NUS started with yesterday's decision," he said. "A national demonstration must be part of a wider campaign from now and for the next three years until the cap is reviewed."
In contrast, officers at the University of Essex Students' Union backed the NEC decision: "As a team, we felt that a long-term, structured and engaging approach to this campaign was needed. The outcome of the NEC meeting was very much in line with our suggestions, and we are pleased that National Conference, as the sovereign body of the NUS, will get the chance to make the final decision."
One of the concessions introduced into the variable tuition fees legislation was that the £3,000 cap would not be reviewed for at least three years, and that it can only be changed with the agreement of Parliament. Some vice-chancellors would like it raised as high as £10,000 or removed altogether.
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