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Students protest against rising tuition fees
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Students from the higher educational institutions in Canterbury marched through the town high street last weekend in protest against the proposed raise in tuition-fee caps from around £3'000 per year to over £5'000.
Organised by Canterbury United, an inter-union political group, the protesters gathered in Pound Lane car park at around 12 o'clock on Saturday. In attendance were students from the four higher educational institutions of Canterbury: The University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury College and The University for Creative Arts. In the car park free T-Shirts with the slogan and the Canterbury United logo on them were distributed along with tickets to a public debate in the town hall scheduled after the march.
The attendance of some political societies from the Universities’ unions caused some consternation as some organisers seemed to be attempting to confiscate banners with ulterior political messages. Ultimately however, this proved to be a minor incident, and with their slogans and chants such as “Love Canterbury, hate debt” and “come clean on tuition fees!” well practised, the march got under way.
The students made their way through Canterbury city centre, escorted by a minor police presence and donned in their free shirts, chanting and waving placards. While some people in the town centre were surprised and somewhat concerned by the angry crowd of students, there was a good attitude throughout the march and many passersby seemed interested in the students’ cause.
It was in the Dane John Gardens that the march came to an end; here the protesters were addressed by Aaron Porter, vice president of the National Union of Students, who expressed how pleased he was with the turnout and pointed out that if the tuition fee caps were lifted then more people would choose their university places on the basis of their costs rather than the suitability of their courses and teaching.
Helen Wood, the Kent Union President, agrees with Porter’s sentiments and is committed to opposing the proposed fees stating that “students should choose where they want to study due to their passions and interests, therefore, Kent Union is opposing any rise in fees”. Kent Union Education VP, Daniel Curran, added that current tuition fees “do help to improve standards of education at institutions, however, these haven't proven to be as effective as once proposed” he also pointed out that “with fees, student expectations have gone up, but the quality of certain aspects of their educational experience has not” and “higher tuition fees will disadvantage students from a lower-income background”.
The protest came at the end of a week of events designed to put pressure on politicians and raise awareness of the proposed tuition fees rise. On Thursday, students went Salsa dancing in the centre of Canterbury and on Tuesday there was a “Future of Fees” debate at Canterbury College, amongst other events. Meanwhile, across the UK, student unions are expressing resistance to any form of a fees increase. At the University of East Anglia, protesters gathered on campus to say “f**k fees”. While the Student Union of Southampton University has formed an official stance against any rise in fees after an extensive student consultation found that a sizable majority of students opposed the proposals.