"Two-Left-Brains" Willetts gives his first speech as "Universities Minister" - where else ....?

[non sociopath skin]

... but at Oxford University.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/10278662.stm

... where, it seems, he is going to explain that we can save money by having students do their university degrees by attending the local FE college once a week.

I look forward to teaching my first Oxford philosophy course at Wallsend People's Centre. And the Don's salary will come in handy, too.

The Skin

[TheBigotBasher]

1. Well we should not be ashamed of Oxbridge

any more than the US should not be ashamed of their Ivy League Unis.

I found this interesting

"If fees were to go up, the government would have to lend people the money to pay for them - and that would push up public spending," he said.

"It's not just that students don't want to pay higher fees: the Treasury can't afford them. So the arrangements we have now are clearly unable to respond to the current economic climate."

Does this suggest a student income tax? Semi sensible but political dynamite. The proposal was sitting around the Dof E for decades and a Graduate Income Tax was also a Liberal Democrat proposal. In the 80's the technology was not there to implement it, nor was it very Thatcherite; the technology issue is no longer a problem as tax credits have shown. Variable tax rates and even regular "tax" payments are no longer administratively difficult.

On who do you implement such a proposal? All of those educated before the 1990's are a potential legitimate target - it can in some ways be argued they paid nothing. Those at Uni during and after the 1990's have had to repay loans. They paid back their charge (to a certain subsidised extent).

[non sociopath skin]

2. I don't think I said anything about being ashamed of Oxbridge.

It's just that it might have been a more tactful move for a government which seeks to shrug off an "elitist" tag to have chosen somewhere a bit less ... elitist.

And of course the States should be proud of the Ivy League. After all, it did produce George W. Bush.

A "student income tax"? Can't see where you get that one from.

The Skin