Thousands of young adults from the National Union of Students (NUS) took to the streets of London on Saturday, Nov. 12 to protest a controversial bill that would raise fees on university admission.
The National Union of Students is “a voluntary membership organization which makes a real difference to the lives of students and its member students’ unions”, according to the European Students’ Union website.
In opposition to the students was the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU), which is made up of professors.
If the U.K.’s Conservative Party’s Higher Education Bill passes, schools that rank high on post-graduate education rates and scores of students’ satisfaction will cost more. The bill would also make it easier for schools that cost more to be registered as universities.
Supporters of the Higher Education Bill say that it will make universities more competitive. The bill could also help make curriculum more challenging.
However, according to the NUS, the bill is an attempt to privatize higher education.
"The struggle for an open, accessible, and critical education, is crucial in determining what tomorrow will look like,” NUS president Malia Bouattia said. The union also said that the bill could put certain departments, such as art, at risk because they make less money on average than IT fields.
Students had last come out to protest on the streets in 2010. The Conservative Party had been recently elected at the time. And they had raised the cost of a university education from $3,700 to $11,000, which drew outrage from the students.
At the 2016 protests, Danny Nasr, the NUS president of Goldsmiths University of London, spoke. Nasr said that some of the protestors would likely escape higher costs. However, he explained they wanted to stand in solidarity with future students who, if the bill passes, would have to pay higher costs.
"They recognize that it might not be for them, but it's about the idea of solidarity. . .standing in the face of injustice when it comes to accessing education for future generations,” Nasr said.
