Worthy News: Hughes in higher education role

Tuesday 28 December 2010

Hughes in higher education role

Students protested outside Simon Hughes' office

Students protested outside Mr Hughes' office earlier this month

The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, Simon Hughes, is set to be appointed as a so-called "special advocate" for access to education.

The government wants him to explain its policies on higher and further education, especially to young people from poorer backgrounds.

Mr Hughes was one of the MPs who refused to support the government's policy of raising tuition fees.

The government voted to almost treble university tuition fees this month.

Tuition fees for English universities will increase from £3,290 per year to a maximum of £9,000.

Announcing the unpaid appointment, the prime minister and his coalition deputy Nick Clegg renewed complaints that the true impact of the move had been "obscured" by the political row over the Lib Dems breaking a pre-election pledge to oppose rises.

In a letter to Mr Hughes, Messrs Cameron and Clegg said it would be a "tragedy for them" if young people from disadvantaged backgrounds were wrongly put off applying for a degree because of that "misinformation".

During the six-month term, Mr Hughes will go into schools to canvass the concerns of less financially well-off teenagers and devise with them publicity campaigns to persuade as many as possible to consider higher education.

He will also contribute to work on finding a suitable replacement for the educational maintenance allowance - the axeing of which he has also criticised.

Accepting the role, he said: "It is a privilege to be asked to take on this role, and I will do so with urgency, enthusiasm and determination.

"Parliament has settled the maximum university fee level in England from 2012 and we now have a critically-important task to ensure that every potential student has access to all the facts about the costs, benefits and opportunities of further and higher education.

"I will work with every person of goodwill to ensure that from 2011 we have the best system of educational advice, information and support in place, designed to benefit all potential students and to ensure that disadvantaged young people increasingly gain access to further and higher education."

Mr Clegg said Mr Hughes was "ideally suited" to the role as a champion of young people from deprived backgrounds.

"I know Simon will be tireless in seeking the best ways to communicate the opportunities open to young people, just as he will be a strong advocate for them to government."

David Cameron said: "I am pleased that Simon is taking on this important role, listening to young people and working with them on how best to communicate and explain the opportunities open to them."

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