Why Disabled Students Should Support the Free Education Demo!
October 28, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
By Rachel O’Brien, NUS Disabled Students’ Officer On Wednesday 15th November, I will be supporting the demonstration for Free Education, running Demo HQ and encouraging disabled students around the country to attend, as well as making sure that Student Unions and the organisers make sure the demo is accessible as it can be. Why should […]
Tories to chain university research even more tightly to business
October 27, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
By Ben Towse, UCL, NCAFC Postgrad Co-Rep Universities minister Jo Johnson announced plans this month to develop a “Knowledge Exchange Framework”, to measure and incentivise universities’ commercialisation of research in England. Johnson says he wants universities to do more to ensure that their knowledge and research is being put to use in the wider world. […]
NSS Boycott 2018 – time to go bigger and better!
October 26, 2017 By admin Leave a Comment
This piece is written by NCAFC National Committee member Hope Worsdale. If you want any advice or support on running an NSS boycott on your campus, get in touch with us via [email protected]! Last year’s NSS boycott was a hugely successful campaign that engaged thousands of students on campuses across the country, caused waves in […]
“Universities under Labour”: a NCAFC workshop report from The World Transformed
October 10, 2017 By admin Leave a Comment
On Sunday 24th September, activists from NCAFC ran a session at The World Transformed entitled “Universities Under a Labour Government”. The session brought together around 60 participants with a range of experiences and perspectives on Higher Education (HE). The aim of the workshop was to collectively explore what an alternative HE system could look […]
The NUS leadership is selling out on free education
September 27, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
By Andy Warren, NCAFC member in a personal capacity It takes a special kind of bureaucrat to abuse your power to undermine a political aim you avowedly support but apparently wouldn’t piss on if it was on fire. Luckily, that’s exactly what we have in our esteemed leader Shakira Martin and the cowardly and pathetic […]
NUS President Shuts Down Debate About Fighting For Free Education
September 26, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
NCAFC submitted a motion to the National Union of Students National Executive Council (NEC) in support of our free education demo in November so that NUS could help us resource and build it. The President of NUS has unfairly ruled out the motion from being heard on the basis that conference voted not to discuss […]
Join the Free Education NOW speaker tour
September 26, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
This Autumn NCAFC will be running a speaker tour to spread our vision for education nationally and build for the Free Education NOW- Tax the Rich National Demo on November 15. Have the speaker tour visit you! NCAFC activists will be traveling all over the UK to different schools and unis to talk about our […]
****PRESS RELEASE**** TUITION FEE VOTE: STUDENTS CALL NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION BACKED BY MOMENTUM
September 14, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
TUITION FEE VOTE: STUDENTS CALL NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION BACKED BY MOMENTUM Government defeated over raising of tuition fee cap in Westminster vote Mass student coalition calls national demonstration demanding scrapping of tuition fees Momentum backs demonstration, and will “mobilise up and down the country” In the wake of the government defeat on tuition fees, the National […]
Order your freshers packs today!
September 14, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
Get ready for the new term and start building the Free Education NOW – Tax the Rich National Demo on Nov 15 at freshers with our packs which include our Autumn bulletin, a mobilising toolkit and a pack of demo materials NCAFC is printing as many of these as we can. We want to make […]
Only student-worker solidarity and free education can save FE
September 14, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
By Monty Shield The Government is leaving FE a dying sector. Repeated cuts to the Department of Education are responsible for thousands and thousands of courses being scrapped, an even higher number of staff redundancies, and predominantly working class people denied the educational opportunities they want and need. On top of this, private companies and […]
University marketisation sparks brutal cuts
September 14, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
By Ben Towse Across the country, university bosses are announcing brutal cuts to jobs, courses and departments. Teesside has forced all of its professors to reapply for their own jobs and banned their trade union from a meeting to discuss it. Durham wants to recruit 4000 more students while cutting staff. The Open University plans […]
Winning the argument for Free Education
September 14, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
In many countries, education is free as a right. And now, thanks to the huge popularity behind Labour’s pledge to abolish fees and bring back grants in the general election, we might be on the verge of seeing free education in the UK too. So what is the case for taxing the rich to provide […]
Victories for workers at SOAS and LSE
September 14, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
Last year saw two major victories for workers’ struggles at London universities. First, outsourced LSE cleaners and their union, United Voices of the World, won a ten month campaign for equal rights with other staff at the university. Their victory means they will be brought in-house in the Spring of next year. Soon after, SOAS’s […]
Grants Not Debt
September 14, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
By Shula Kombe In 2016 the government has now replaced maintenance grants with additional loans. This has saddled the poorest students with more debt than their rich counterparts because, without parental support, they now have to take out a much larger loan at the start of their courses. All the evidence suggests that maintenance grants […]
Why is my rent so f***ing high?
September 14, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
By Flavius McFlavourdale A consistent trend across universities is the skyrocketing of rent in university halls. Universities stay quiet about rent hikes and we assume they’re a weird force of nature. However, there is no reason why rent should be so high and increasing at the rate it is. So why is my rent so […]
Free Education is within our reach – if we fight for it now, we can win!
September 14, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
The snap General Election earlier this year has transformed the fight for free education. Labour’s pledge to tax the rich and fund free education was so popular that the Government are now on the back foot and feeling the pressure. As students and workers united together, now is the time to go on the offensive. […]
NSS Boycott: Open letter to NUS Leadership
August 22, 2017 By admin Leave a Comment
The statement below is an open letter signed by a range of student activists and officers from across the country in relation to the NSS Boycott campaign and the role of NUS within that. If you wish to add your name to the letter then please send your name and position/affiliation to [email protected], or message […]
NSS boycott first year makes a big dent: bring on round two!
August 17, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
On 9th August, the NSS results were released and it was confirmed that the NSS boycott had invalidated the data for 12 universities. This is something to celebrate and to build upon. NCAFC have been advocating for a boycott of the survey for years; and in 2016, its proposed link to the Teaching Excellence Framework […]
Free Education. Now is the time
July 19, 2017 By Admin Leave a Comment
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!
July 18, 2017 By admin Leave a Comment
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 […]