c/o http://www.mikebakereducation.co.uk/blog/
I was very sad to see that Aim Higher is to be shut down.
Not because I have worked alot with Aim Higher but for the young people who now have the fees problem to get over too.
It seems to me that higher education is going to becmome eliteist again.
A real shame for our society.
Mike continues…
The programme to encourage students from poorer homes to go to university – AimHigher – is to be closed down.
The Universities Minister, David Willetts, announced at the end of last week that funding will end in April and the programme will close altogether at the end of the academic year.
The government argues that AimHigher will be superceded by the Pupil Premium (which will target funding on poorer school students) and by the National Scholarship programme, which all universities charging fees of over £6,000 a year will have to join.
The University and College Union says, coming on top of the ending the Educational Maintenance Allowance for 16-19 year olds and the “tripling” of university tuition fees, this is a “triple whammy”.
The decision has also been described as “deeply disappointing” by the higher education group, Million+.
Its Chief Executive, Pam Tatlow, said: “AimHigher has been successful in raising the aspirations of students as young as 13 and 14, as well as the many older students it has worked with. It has to be a concern that the contribution AimHigher has made to widening participation in university is to be lost at a time when the Government is seeking to require universities to levy much higher fees”.
