Conference notes:
1. That the forthcoming cuts to and planned reform of Higher Education will be potentially devastating for university students and staff. They are likely to result in bigger courses with fewer staff in fewer institutions;
2. That the cuts will entrench inequality in HE with elite institutions attracting super-high fee paying students from privileged backgrounds while those institutions that attract the less privileged will suffer the most.
Conference instructs the HEC urgently to:
1. Gather data and undertake research to explore further the inequities for staff and students in the proposals contained in the White Paper;
2. To organise persistent lobbying of Parliament in the run up to the publication of the HE White Paper and subsequent Bill;
3. To develop and send a campaigns pack to each branch containing a checklist of action required with relevant materials to build support and momentum for a sustained industrial campaign.
Passed unanimously on 3 November 2010
Discussion: Research should also be carried out at a European level.