UK students prepare for more protests

Students in the UK say they will occupy university buildings and hold more protests against the increases in tuition fees and cuts to higher education early in the coming weeks. This is according to the British newspaper, the Guardian.

The demonstrations will be a continuation of the protests against government cutbacks in November and December, some of which turned violent. The British government has cut funding by a massive 40 per cent to universities, raised a cap on tuitions, and steered the remaining funding away from the Humanities.

The protests are an attempt to convince university vice-chancellors (=corresponding to rectors, ed) not to raise fees to the new maximum of GBP 9,000, and instead to nearer GBP 6,000 a year, the students say.

Confront management in their offices

According to The Guardian, the protests and sit-ins will likely cluster around London. They will gain momentum when the upper house in Britain, the House of Lords, debates the scrapping of a so-called education maintenance allowance (EMA), helping poorer students, on 12 January.

Other major protests will take place on 29 January and 19 February. Clare Solomon, president of the University of London student union, urged students to »take the action up a notch«.

»I would like to see students directly confront university management in their finance buildings and prevent them from working by occupying their offices,« she says.

miy@adm.ku.dk