Free Education. Now is the time
Now is the time. The General Election and its aftermath has put free education back on the agenda. Thousands and thousands of people turned out to vote inspired by the idea of a publicly funded education system and degrees that don’t come with a burden of debt. Education funding is making front-page headlines and becoming […]
NCAFC Summer Training 2017: REGISTER NOW!
After the surprising Labour success in the General Election, on the most left wing platform in a generation, we are closer than ever to winning free education. Labour won seats on a manifesto that promised to scrap tuition fees, build social housing, and create a free National Education Service. The Tory leadership is increasingly becoming […]
Teaching Excellence Framework Ranking Released
Today the rankings of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) were released. TEF is at the heart of the ruinous Higher Education and Research Act (HE Act) that was voted into legislation in April 2017. It’s important to remember why as activists we have rejected the TEF and how we can fight the HE reforms. What […]
Final motions & amendments document for Summer Conference
Please take a look at the final motions document – now complete with the amendments proposed – that we’ll be debating and voting on tomorrow, here at our Summer Conference! Printed copies will also be distributed to everyone present. Click here for the document
After the General Election, let’s keep free education on the agenda
This is a comment piece written by NCAFC National Committee member Ana Oppenheim. In the 2017 General Election, over 40% of voters backed parties which committed to scrapping tuition fees. The biggest of these was obviously Labour, which after almost two decades of supporting student fees (indeed introducing them in 1998), made a U-turn and […]
Motions for Summer Conference 2017 – amendments submission now open
In the run-up to our 2017 Summer Conference, 17-18 June at University of the Arts London, members and affiliated groups have submitted the following motions about what NCAFC should be campaigning on and how the National Campaign should be run. All members of NCAFC can submit amendments to these motions – just email them to [email protected] […]
#GE2017 Debate: the case for voting Labour
This is an opinion piece on the 2017 General Election, written by NCAFC activist and UCL sabbatical officer Mark Crawford. You can read an opinion piece presenting the case for voting Green here. Want to join the debate? Send your opinion pieces to [email protected]! Something rather remarkable has happened over the last two years. […]
#GE2017 Debate: the case for voting Green
This is an opinion piece on the 2017 General Election, written by the Young Greens Equality and Diversity Officer Georgia Elander. You can read an opinion piece presenting the case for voting Labour here. Want to join the debate? Send your opinion pieces to [email protected]! It has never been more important for young people to […]
NUS NEC report – Ana Oppenheim
On May 30th was the last NUS NEC meeting of the academic year. I haven’t been great at writing NEC reports so far, primarily because NEC meetings are rarely interesting. The majority of time is spent on reports and presentations. Accountability is mostly performative, with questions pre-written by officers and sent to friendly council members, […]
Occupation at Chelsea College of Arts: CCW Rethink the Restructure!
By Marianne Murray, a student campaigner from University of the Arts London (UAL) On Wednesday 24th May 2017, a meeting of students was held at Chelsea College of Arts to discuss a plan of action to oppose a ‘restructure’ of UAL colleges Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon (CCW). The planned restructure was first brought to our […]
Labour Students targets NCAFC members
Alex Stuart, Chair of Surrey Labour Students and NCAFC South-East Co-Rep, writes about the attack on his Labour club by the Labour Students leadership. If you’d like to write an opinion piece for anticuts.com, get in touch. See below for NCAFC’s comment. On Saturday 27th May, Labour Students held a ‘Transitional Conference’ to elect national officers […]
Labour’s manifesto: free education and a National Education Service
In this article a NCAFC activist explains why the Labour Party’s Manifesto commitment to free education and a National Education Service is important and badly needed. But a free, democratic and emancipatory education is something we’ll need to fight for to win whatever the outcome of the general election. Got an opinion and want to […]
NCAFC Summer Conference 2017 – democracy deadlines
At this year’s NCAFC Summer Conference in London there will be democratic sessions where members will discuss, debate and vote on policy put forward by our members, which will set the political and strategic direction of our organisation. Motions can be submitted by activist groups affiliated to NCAFC or alternatively by a group of at […]
Tory “Teaching Excellence” in action: UoM cites TEF as motivation for massive cuts
Just days after the passage of the Conservatives’ higher education reforms through Parliament, the University of Manchester has announced plans to axe 140 academic jobs and 31 support roles, placing 926 workers at risk. You can read the UCU trade union’s press announcement about the cuts here. UoM isn’t facing a financial crisis. In 2015-16 […]
Identity politics: the possibilities and limits
This is an opinion piece written by a NCAFC activist who wishes to be named as Sleepy Commie. If you want to write an opinion piece for the NCAFC website, get in touch with us via [email protected]! I am a queer, disabled woman of colour, and I want the left to talk about identity politics. […]
Positive Visions for Education – End Learning Factories
This is an opinion piece written by a NCAFC activist who wishes to be named as Flavius McFlavourdale. To contribute to NCAFC’s discussions building a vision for a National Education Service, take a look here and get in touch! Education everywhere, all the time. When it comes to radically changing our education a really significant issue is how […]
Higher education reform bill passes: we’ll fight to repeal it
Hard-won concessions have blunted and delayed some parts of the ruinous reforms, but they’re not enough. Now we fight to reverse it and win a democratic National Education Service. Parliament has rushed through the Conservatives’ Higher Education and Research Bill – the legislative vehicle for their ruinous agenda of fee-raising, university-privatising reforms – in advance […]
NCAFC endorses Malia Bouattia for NUS President
Last year, we recommended a vote for Malia Bouattia who ran and won against the incumbent Megan Dunn, becoming the first woman of colour to serve as NUS National President. Bouattia ran on an explicitly leftwing platform, promising to campaign for free education and against Prevent, to defend international students and support liberation campaigns. Unlike […]
NUS LGBT+ 2017: When virtue signalling trumps fighting for liberation
NCAFC activist and UCL student Ben Towse writes about last month’s NUS LGBT+ Conference. This is an opinion piece – what do you think? If you want to write a response or another article on this or another topic, get in touch via [email protected] NUS LGBT+ conference this year was a surreal experience, and one […]
NUS National Conference Priority Ballot
NUS national conference 2017 is taking place on 25th to 27th April in Brighton. At the conference, delegates will vote on NUS’s strategy for the coming year. However, only a minority of motions submitted to the conference will be discussed – and it is very important that delegates vote in the priority ballot (which is open NOW […]