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Why is Labour so timid on education? It makes the Lib Dems look radical

Holly Rigby

By Holly Rigby

As a party member I want to see Angela Rayner bringing forward election-winning ideas, not more of the same

I’ve been a teacher for the past five years at an inner London academy, and I’ve seen the injustices that education professionals, students and their parents face first-hand. State schools are chronically underfunded, while elite private school fees cost up to £30,000 a year. Ofsted and school league tables are used to enforce a narrow vision of education, and an Institute of Education report this week has found that teachers in England have the lowest job satisfaction of all English-speaking countries.

Perhaps most importantly, students are suffering: the OECD has reportedthat young people in the UK are among the unhappiest in the world. This is the result of 40 years of education “reforms” driven by a rightwing political agenda, favouring privatisation, obsessive testing and endless competition between students and between schools – as if these were things to be celebrated in themselves.

As an active Labour member I want to see radical ideas coming from shadow secretary of state Angela Rayner aimed at tackling these challenges. Labour’s flagship education policy, the National Education Service (NES), contains the seeds of this radical potential. But the idea remains an empty shell: there hasn’t been a single education policy announcement from Rayner since the NES idea was launched 18 months ago.

Layla Moran, education spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats and a former teacher, on the other hand, made a powerful speech to the Liberal Democrat conference this week.She promised to abolish Ofsted, league tables and SATs, to remove private school charity tax status, and subtly hinted at abolishing the 11-plus test for grammar schools, because they perpetuate “state-sponsored segregation”.

I have never voted for the Liberal Democracts and never will. But there’s no denying that they currently have the most radical offer on the table when it comes to education.

By contrast, Rayner in her Guardian interview this week insisted that her party’s policymaking on education would not be “ideologically driven”.

The trouble is, education policy has always been ideologically driven. So either Labour is going to challenge the particular neoliberal ideology that has created the current mess or it isn’t. And if it doesn’t, it won’t fix it.

Rayner claims that academies as such are not a problem. But academisation has led to a situation in which we now have a competitive market in education that pits desperate schools against each other to retain their “market position”. This has led to terrible examples of gaming the system and outright corruption, at the expense of the most vulnerable children. The recent education select committee report showed that disproportionately high numbers of special educational needs students are being “off-rolled” to improve league tables positions. The academy revolution promised that the market would improve schools for all our children, and yet the gap in attainment between working class children and the rest stubbornly persists.

Rayner is right, of course, when she says that many vulnerable, working-class young people are being failed. And everyone agrees that practical education should be more highly valued than it is by our elitist system. But simply saying that we need more “technical” or “vocational” training, as Rayner does in her interview, is not enough. Her suggestion that the study of history is too “abstract” suggests a dangerous anti-intellectualism. It also reproduces the snobbish belief that working-class children shouldn’t have access to high-status knowledge. The 2011 Wolf report made clear that vocational qualifications under New Labour were an abject failure. Not only did they not prepare young people for skilled work, but they also created a narrow, technical curriculum that meant students continued to be locked out of the powerful knowledge that teachers know can enable them to understand the social, economic – and dare I say it, historical – forces that shape their worlds.

When asked about private schools Rayner rules out abolishing them, saying that if we only make “the state sector good enough” then private schools will wither on the vine. She forgets the main reason many people choose private education is snobbery – they don’t want their children being educated with the “great unwashed”. Labour’s plans to impose VAT on private school fees was a step in the right direction.

But why not suggest that university admission departments must only accept 7% of their undergraduates from private schools, given that this is the proportion of students they represent in the country as a whole? Then you really would see parents flock to the state sector, and perhaps have a greater investment in improving it.

So while the NES remains a potentially radical idea, that potential is currently going to waste.

The Lib Dem policies don’t go far enough for me. They would only roll back the worst of the education reforms adopted under Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. But Labour should be offering a great deal more than that. Labour must have an exciting vision for the future, a vision for the NES inspired perhaps by Finland, where schools promote collaborative, creative and emancipatory learning, rather than endless competition for exam results.

Labour galvanised people with its manifesto in 2017 because it promised something genuinely different, yet this has not been reflected in Labour’s education policy to date. As a teacher, I know that my students and their parents deserve more from Labour: otherwise, the deep inequality that blights our education system is set to continue.

Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/21/labour-timid-education-lib-dems-look-radical

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Schools can’t be substitute parents, Ofsted chief warns

Michael Savage

By: Michael Saavage. 

Issues such as obesity are better handled in the home, says Amanda Spielman

Parents must not “abdicate their responsibility” by expecting schools to solve all the major problems children face, the chief inspector for schools will warn this week.

In a robust intervention attacking the increasing burdens placed on teachers, Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman will say schools “cannot be a panacea” for all social ills and will criticise some parents for neglecting some of the “most basic of parenting tasks”, such as toilet training.

While teachers “can play a role” in educating children about the dangers of knife crime and obesity, primary responsibility for these complex problems lies elsewhere, she will warn. When it comes to keeping to a healthy weight, she will say, “schools cannot take over the role of health professionals – and above all parents”.

In a speech marking the publication of her second annual Ofsted report, Spielman will say: “Our education and care services don’t exist in isolation from the local areas they serve. They are and should be a central part of our communities. But being part of a community means being very clear what your responsibilities are, and what issues, however worthy, can only be tackled beyond the school, college or nursery gates.”

Knife crime will be singled out as one of the most recent issues to place an additional burden on schools. “Most of our schools are safe, and we fully support measures, including zero-tolerance policies on the carrying of knives, to keep them that way,” Spielman will say. “But beyond that, while schools can play a role in educating young people about the danger of knives, they cannot be a panacea for this particular societal ill.

“Instead, preventing knife crime requires all local safeguarding partners to work together to protect children from harm while the relevant agencies tackle criminal activity and bring to justice youths and adults who cause harm to children.” Spielman said the obesity crisis was also “an issue which sits largely beyond the school gates”.

“Schools can and should teach children about the importance of healthy eating and exercise … their PE lessons should get them out of breath.

“But beyond that, schools cannot take over the role of health professionals – and above all parents. The answer to the obesity crisis, particularly among younger children, lies in the home, and parents should not abdicate their responsibility here.”

By the start of primary school, almost a quarter of children in England are overweight or obese, and the proportion rises to more than a third by the time they leave for secondary school. However, research by Ofsted has found no pattern to suggest that, on their own, interventions at school can be linked to a direct and measurable impact on weight.

Spielman will also chastise parents who allow their children to reach school without being toilet-trained. It comes amid growing evidence of children arriving at reception unable to use a toilet. “This is difficult for teachers, disruptive for other children and has a terrible social impact on the children affected,” she will say. “This is wrong. Toilet-training is the role of parents and carers, and should not be left to schools. Only in the most extreme cases should parents be excused from this most basic of parenting tasks.”

Spielman’s comments represent a blunt message to ministers keen to tackle topical issues by placing more responsibilities on schools even as they face cuts to resources in the face of austerity. Over the summer the Home Office issued lesson plans for children as young as 11 about the dangers of knife crime, which would involve them being told it is a “myth” that they will be safer with a weapon.

Plans were also announced to educate teachers on related slang.

Children’s minister Nadhim Zahawi said the lesson plans would “help illustrate the real impact of knife crime on young people’s lives” and that schools “up and down the country are taking advantage of them”. With evidence that the average age of knife crime victims is falling, some NHS doctors have called for school exit times to be staggered to reduce the chances of clashes.

There have been major concerns about teachers’ workloads and the impact on the numbers staying in the job. The Department for Education recently pledged to ease pressures on teachers in England after a report blamed an “audit culture” for causing stress among staff.

Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/dec/02/schools-parents-ofsted-knife-crime-obesity
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Educación inclusiva: La Justicia falló a favor de dos jóvenes con discapacidad y ahora deberán darles un título secundario con validez oficial

Agustín Porres

Por: Agustín Porres.

Cuando termina un año solemos hacer un balance de lo que pasó y trazamos los objetivos de lo que vendrá. Es una especie de vuelta de página de un libro que venimos leyendo y que continuará. Podemos reconocer lo que nos enseñaron no sólo los chicos y las chicas, sino también los maestros, los directores, las escuelas, los padres, los investigadores y la sociedad. Mirando a todos ellos, la pregunta sería qué nos dejó como enseñanza el 2018.

1- La mirada: Nos enseñó que hay que revertir el diagnóstico de que la educación está predestinada al fracaso, que no podemos asumirnos derrotados. La educación no es un problema, sino que es la solución a los problemas.

2- Construcción colectiva: Nos enseñó que aunque sea complejo mejorar la educación, miles de educadores lo están haciendo hoy mismo, trabajando en equipo y transformando el mundo de sus alumnos con sus esfuerzos cotidianos.

3- Confianza: Nos enseñó que tenemos que apostar a la confianza, recuperar la alianza entre los padres y maestros, maestros y alumnos, ministerios y docentes. Y desde ese lugar alimentar una autonomía que se de la mano con la responsabilidad y la exigencia.

4- Pensar en contexto: Nos enseñó que la educación tiene que ser pensada en su contexto, valorando la combinación de matices que representa cada región, cada escuela, cada alumno.

5- Estatus docente: Nos enseñó que el estatus del docente en la sociedad es fundamental para el cambio educativo. Hace pocos meses Fundación Varkey realizó un estudio en 35 países que da cuenta, por primera vez, delvínculo directoentre el estatus social de los maestros y el rendimiento del alumno. Como sociedad tenemos que valorar con justeza a nuestros docentes por su trabajo diario.

6- Motivaciones e innovación: Nos enseñó que en un mundo de información torrencial, los verdaderos educadores serán aquellos que ofrezcan sentidos y motivaciones claras, encendiendo de manera innovadora el deseo de aprender.

7- Foco en la pedagogía: Nos enseñó la importancia de reforzar el rol pedagógico en cada escuela, colocando al aspecto administrativo al servicio de lo pedagógico.

8- Todos pueden alcanzar aprendizajes significativos: Nos enseñó que todos los niños y niñas pueden aprender y alcanzar aprendizajes significativos si contamos con maestros que se animen a innovar en sus prácticas para. Para esto la formación continua juega un rol clave.

9- Sentido de urgencia: Nos enseñó que hace falta derribar el mito de que los cambios en educación tendrán un impacto en veinte años. Si mejoramos lo que hacemos hoy, el impacto será inmediato.

10- Orgullo y humildad: Nos enseñó que necesitamos orgullo y humildad. Orgullo de saber que si damos lo mejor, nuestra tarea transformará vidas. Y humildad para reconocer que tenemos que seguir aprendiendo, escuchando, poniéndonos en el lugar del otro.

El año que pasó tuvimos la oportunidad de ver cambios reales, escuelas transformadas, directores y docentes empoderados. Aún hay mucho para mejorar, es cierto, pero si hay frutos será oportuno recogerlos. En años decisivos para la educación la gran enseñanza es que la transformación educativa es posible y que puede cambiar todo destino; el de cada niño y el de todo un país.

Fuente del artículo: https://www.clarin.com/opinion/educacion-aprendimos-2018_0_EE4PdexaO.html

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Nearly 5,000 schools in England not given promised cash – union

Sally Weale

By: Seally Weale. 

 

England’s biggest teaching union has accused the government of breaking its promise to provide a modest cash boost to every school in England, claiming figures reveal that nearly 5,000 schools have received no extra funds or have even had their funding cut.

In the wake of mounting concern among teachers and parents about a school budget crisis, the education secretary, Damian Hinds, told MPs last year that a new national funding formula would guarantee each school “at least a small cash increase”, a pledge repeated by the prime minister in the Commons last May.

The National Education Union argued the offer was inadequate given the scale of the school funding squeeze, but its analysis of recent government figures subsequently revealed that 4,819 schools had either received no extra funds or had had their budget cut.

“This is yet another failure and another broken promise by government on school funding,” said Kevin Courtney, NEU joint general secretary. “The fact remains that schools were never going to manage on the money promised by government.

“However, headteachers, teachers, school staff and parents will be dismayed that even the meagre amounts of funds supposedly allocated to schools will not be received by everyone. Parents and school staff simply cannot trust what the government says on education funding.”

The NEU compared the schools block funding allocations for 2017-18 and 2018-19 and found that a quarter of primary schools (25%) and one in six secondary schools (17%) either received no cash increase or suffered an actual cut to their funding.

Responding to the NEU analysis, a Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said that since 2017 the government had given every local authority more money for every pupil in every school in order to ensure fairer funding across the country.

“Government provides this money to local authorities and they have the freedom to work with schools to allocate their budgets in a way that best suits local needs,” the spokesperson said.

“While there is more money going into our schools than ever before, we do recognise the budgeting challenges schools face and that we are asking them to do more. That’s why we’re supporting schools and headteachers, and their local authorities, to make the most of every pound.”

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, total school spending per pupil in England has fallen by about 8% in real terms between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

While schools have been struggling to meet rising costs, many local authorities have been forced to divert money from the main schools funding block they receive from the government to their high needs budget in order to meet growing demand for special educational needs support – a move that has to be sanctioned by the DfE.

The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said Labour would end funding cuts and increase per-pupil funding. “The Tories have cut billions of pounds from our schools, which have seen their budgets falling for the first time in a generation,” she said.

“With rising pressure on class sizes and teachers leaving in droves, a generation of children is paying the price for Tory failure.”

Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jan/07/nearly-5000-schools-in-england-not-given-promised-cash-union

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Escuela y barrio

Lucía Mbomio

Por: Lucía Mbomío.

 

El Cervantes es uno de esos ‘coles gueto’ a los que nadie quiere ir. Entre sus consecuencias está que la ratio de alumnado por clase sea bajísima

“Cuando yo era pequeño, los profesores daban clase sobre una tarima y había que llamarles de usted”, dice Julián, docente de lengua en el Centro de Educación Infantil, Primaria y Secundaria Cervantes. Nuria, compañera de profesión, comenta que por eso intentan ser el profe que nunca tuvieron.

La pedagogía pretérita era cuestionable, a algunas ya no nos tocó sujetar libros contra la pared, pero no se atendía ni se entendía la diversidad como ahora. El recreo podía ser más salvaje que el más salvaje de los oestes y no tanto por las peleas como porque antes no teníamos un suelo blando para amortiguar las caídas. Yo diría que el 80% de mis cicatrices nacieron en el cemento del Vicente Aleixandre, un colegio que ahora es un parking, porque la natalidad es inversamente proporcional al número de coches. O no, pero ya me entienden.

De eso ya han pasado muchos más años de los que me gustaría y toca hablar del presente y de cómo se ha producido una evolución en las escuelas para adaptarse a un mundo diferente.

El Cervantes está en Alcorcón, aunque Carmen, otra de sus docentes, prefiere decir que está situado extramuros del Municipio, puesto que se erige al otro lado de la frontera natural que es el puente de la Renfe, lejos de todo. Julián explica que se trata de un ‘cole gueto’, de esos a los que nadie quiere ir. Lo cual demuestra que la distancia no tiene tanto que ver con los kilómetros, como con las murallas invisibles que se han levantado para apartarles.

Entre sus consecuencias está que la ratio de alumnado por clase sea bajísima. Nuria, que imparte la asignatura de inglés, comenta que en una clase de 2ºde ESO tiene únicamente catorce estudiantes de ocho nacionalidades distintas y que en otra de 1º de secundaria, solo diez, provenientes de una decena de países. Antonio, el de Historia, apunta que los debates mediáticos sobre educación se encallan en asuntos superficiales, cuando uno de los pilares educativos debería ser lograr que hubiera menos personas por aula.

Salma, una ex alumna del Cervantes, de origen marroquí, quedó entre las quince mejores de la Comunidad de Madrid en el concurso de matemáticas Pangea y en 2018 el centro recibió el Premio Nacional de Educación para el Desarrollo Vicente Ferrer. Detrás de estas cifras, hay esfuerzo, creatividad, vocación y una convicción que se ha traducido en la implementación de multitud de programas. Los hay centrados en el medio ambiente y también en la convivencia, como el de mediación, en el que las y los propios estudiantes interceden para resolver los conflictos que se producen en las aulas, evitando así que se den casos de bullying. Nos lo cuentan Eric y Domilena, que se sienten felices ayudando. Y se nota. Buena parte del alumnado no tiene la oportunidad de pasar tiempo con su familia porque trabajan muchas horas al día, de modo que en la escuela sienten que están en casa y en ella, reciben charlas como la de la monologuista feminista Pamela Palenciano o la visita de la laureada fotógrafa Angélica Dass, de cuyo proyecto, Humanae, ha donado una parte al centro.

Las etiquetas, tanto en las personas como en la ropa, es mejor cortarlas porque molestan y casi nunca sirven para nada.n

Fuente del artículo: https://elpais.com/ccaa/2019/01/04/madrid/1546596566_514120.html

 

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Los hombres que odian a las mujeres

Cristina Fallarás

Por: Cristina Fallarás.

Sobre la estrategia de odio, es decir, de violencia hacia las mujeres y la lucha feminista, por parte del machismo supremo evidenciado en la acción política por parte de partidos de derecha y ultraderecha en distintos países como Brasil, España, Italia, EEUU…

 

Recuerdo cuando leí la novela de Stieg Larsson Los hombres que no amaban a las mujeres. Me interesó mucho cómo la violencia machista más brutal cruzaba todo el relato. Y también recuerdo que pensé que había dos fallos, desde mi punto de vista. El primero estaba en el título. No se trata de que “no amaban” sino que “odiaban”. El segundo, en la trama. Larsson necesita justificar el asesinato de mujeres y crea un argumento de nazis contra judías. No era en absoluto necesario. A las mujeres se las viola y se las mata porque se puede, y las violaciones contra la protagonista lo dejaban bien claro.El ultra brasileño Jair Bolsonaro, en su primer discurso tras jurar el cargo, ¿contra qué ha arremetido? Podía haber elegido muchas de sus bestias negras, y sin embargo lo ha hecho contra las mujeres. Lo primero que ha querido dejar claro es que se va a dedicar a “combatir la ideología de género”. Lo que él llama así no es otra cosa que los avances de las sociedades para paliar la violencia que se ejerce contra las mujeres, una violencia que es familiar, social, económica, estructural; una violencia que nos supone agresiones a diario, que supone asesinatos de mujeres a diario, violaciones de mujeres a diario.

El mismo día en el que nos enterábamos de las siniestras intenciones de Bolsonaro, el partido español de ultraderecha VOX ha dejado claro que ellos pueden ir más allá: Darán su apoyo a los gobiernos que lo necesiten siempre y cuando no se luche contra la violencia machista. “Esos pactos que los suscriban con PSOE y PODEMOS. En política social todos siguen, con sumisión lanar, los mandamientos de la dictadura de género. ¿Dónde [está] el cambio? Vox no aceptará los acuerdos firmados por PP y C’s para impulsar leyes de género en Andalucía”, escribía Francisco Serrano, su portavoz en el Parlamento andaluz.

Esos pactos que los suscriban con PSOE y PODEMOS.En política social todos siguen,con sumisión lanar,los mandamientos de la dictadura de género. Dónde el cambio?

Estamos viviendo un paso sustancial, un cambio terrible en el discurso contra las mujeres. El que media entre el machismo y la misoginia.

Aquí, la RAE:

Machismo

De macho1 e -ismo.

  1. m. Actitud de prepotencia de los varones respecto de las mujeres.
  2. m. Forma de sexismo caracterizada por la prevalencia del varón.

Misoginia

Del gr. μισογυνία misogynía.

  1. f. Aversión a las mujeres.

El machismo se caracteriza por no hacer nada contra la desigualdad entre hombres y mujeres, contra la discriminación que sufren éstas en todos los ámbitos, por aprovecharse de ellas y por lo tanto desamparar a las mujeres. Es una forma de actuación pasiva. No es exactamente la práctica de la violencia, sino su justificación. No es exactamente una acción sádica contra las mujeres, sino la inacción ante las múltiples formas que el crimen adopta contra nosotras. O sea la tolerancia y por lo tanto la colaboración.

Pero otra cosa es la violencia en sí. O sea el odio contra las mujeres. Este es activo, dolorosísismo, y se llama misoginia.

El machismo empapa toda política realizada hasta ahora, todos los partidos sin excepción y todas las instituciones. Así es y así queda demostrado tras cada crimen que conocemos, tras cada sentencia pública, o por el simple hecho (fíjate que poco) de que las mujeres cobremos menos que los hombres por el mismo trabajo, algo sencillísimo de solventar y cuya solución nadie ha puesto en marcha.

Ah, pero lo que se avecina son palabras mayores. No ha existido hasta ahora, en esta democracia reciente española, un discurso abiertamente articulado, institucional y beligerante contra las mujeres y sus derechos. Pues bien, acaba de aparecer. Y no solo es el de VOX, sino el de todos aquellos que les han votado y les votarán, de la misma manera que han votado a Bolsonaro y a Trump.

Era de suponer que una nueva forma de machismo sucedería a los últimos movimientos feministas. Era de suponer que una parte de la sociedad se revolvería contra el avance de un feminismo poderoso que pone en cuestión una masculinidad ligada a la idea de virilidad, basada en la violencia, la jerarquía, la idea tradicional de familia y las innumerables ventajas ligadas al hecho de ser varón.

Era de suponer, pero se nos escapaban tres factores: su rapidez, su universalidad y su virulencia. Y un cuarto, a mi modo de ver el más peligroso: el odio contra las mujeres. O sea misoginia.

Que lo primero que enarbolen Bolsonaro o VOX, por encima del nacionalismo paleto, por encima de cualquier consideración económica, sea revertir los derechos (magros derechos) que hemos alcanzado las mujeres, dice mucho de la potencia política del movimiento feminista. Pero sobre todo dice mucho de la confianza que tienen en que gran parte de la población está de su lado. Podría detenerme en argumentar hasta qué punto popularizan la criminalización de la lucha contra la violencia machista, pero eso ya es lo de menos. Llega un tiempo en el que van a retratar los matices como debilidades de una socialdemocracia temblorosa.

Han llegado el odio y la violencia contra las mujeres. Esto no ha hecho más que empezar y, como ya escribí en mi Carta a los hombres, no creo que contemos con los apoyos necesarios para enfrentarlos.

Lo siento mucho. Muchísimo. Y más nos vale no olvidarnos de algo: la misoginia es aversión, odio, o sea violencia sin paliativos.

Fuente del artículo: http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=250959&titular=los-hombres-que-odian-a-las-mujeres-

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Universities raise alarm over no-deal Brexit and EU student enrolment

Sally Weale

By: Sally Weale. 

University leaders have said that a no-deal Brexit would constitute “one of the biggest threats” ever faced by the sector, as figures revealed a further decline in EU student enrolment, particularly in postgraduate research.

According to the Russell Group of universities, there was a 9% decrease in the number of EU postgraduate research students enrolling at its institutions this academic year. The fall follows a 9% decline the previous year, and has potential consequences for Britain’s research capacity.

Dr Hollie Chandler, a senior policy analyst at the 24-strong group of leading universities, described the decline as “troubling” and said that were the UK to leave the EU without a deal, it would only increase uncertainty among prospective students from the rest of Europe.

Overall, the number of EU students who enrolled for the 2018-19 academic year at Russell Group universities fell by 3%. Last year, there was a 1% increase in overall EU student numbers, after years of healthy growth in recruitment.

Although enrolment of EU27 citizens at undergraduate level grew by 1% this year, at taught postgraduate level it fell by 5%.

The figures come as an open letter from leaders of 150 universities to MPs said the impact of a no-deal Brexit could lead to “an academic, cultural and scientific setback from which it would take decades to recover”.

“University leaders are united in the view that the UK leaving the EU without a deal is one of the biggest threats our universities have ever faced,” the letter says. “As a sector which contributes over £21bn to UK GDP every year and supports 944,000 jobs, it is critical to the national interest, to the economy, communities and wider society, that the UK’s universities thrive post-Brexit.

“To do so, our government must demonstrate the required ambition, put the right measures and guarantees in place, and, crucially, avoid the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal on 29 March.”

University leaders are particularly anxious to secure a guarantee from ministers that research funding for which the UK may become ineligible after Brexit will be replaced. Funding from the European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme (MSCA) will be worth an estimated €1.3bn (£1.2bn) to the UK over the next two years, investing in projects to fight cancer and combat climate change.

Dame Janet Beer, the president of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said time was running out.

“While we welcome the assurances that the government has already provided about the continuation of Horizon 2020 funding in a no deal scenario, it is critical that similar guarantees are extended, without delay, to cover ERC and MSCA funding,” said Beer, who is vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool.

“Without cast-iron assurances, world-leading academics and researchers may leave for countries where access to ERC funding is not at risk, and those currently considering relocating to the UK may think again.”

Dame Nancy Rothwell, the vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester, said vital research projects at her university risked being disrupted, including work on proton-beam therapy for cancer patients and Nobel-prize winning work on graphene.

“Researchers who have already spent months or even years preparing funding bids would be left high and dry, including those whose application would be stuck in the middle of the evaluation process,” she said.

Commenting on the EU student enrolment figures, Chandler said that although the Russell Group universities remained popular study destinations with strong global appeal, the figures cannot be ignored.

“It’s fair to assume that uncertainty over Brexit and the UK’s future relationship with Europe could be a significant factor. The drop in postgraduate research courses is especially troubling – these students contribute directly to the UK’s research capacity,” she said.

“If we leave the EU without a deal, the uncertainty felt by prospective European students will only get worse.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: “Science recognises no borders and the UK has a proud record of welcoming the world’s leading scientists and researchers to work and study here. This will not change when we leave the EU.

“Through our modern Industrial Strategy we are investing the highest ever level in research and development in UK history and we are committed to seeking an ambitious future relationship on science and innovation with our EU partners. We are also guaranteeing, in the event of a no deal, money for EU programme-funded research and innovation projects agreed before the end of 2020.”

Shadow Higher and Further Education Minister Gordon Marsden added: “Despite consistent warnings from Labour and the University sector, the Government has continued to ignore the impending damage, especially the drift to no deal, Brexit could cause to our world class Universities and FE Colleges.

“Today’s letter from the sector reiterated everything we have been saying over the past two years about the threats facing students, staff and research but DfE and the Education Secretary has been abysmally negligent in ensuring those concerns and a deal on them should be put at the top of the negotiations table.”

Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jan/04/universities-raise-alarm-over-no-deal-brexit-and-eu-student-enrolment

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