3
The Founder | Wednesday 26 October 2011
News
Record number European G.M. Watch Students in British GM Harder universities, but non-EU students still pay the price David Bowman Editor
Jessica Phillipson News Editor In a new report from Universities UK, it has been revealed that a record 125,000 students from the European Union were awarded places at higher education institutions in Britain last year – 35,000 more than ten years ago. The total number of students – both undergraduates and postgraduates – in the UK has increased by 28 per cent over the last decade to just under 2.5 million. The report provides statistics from over 130 institutions of higher education across Britain. As EU students contribute towards the maximum number of university places, they are in direct competition with UK students. Despite the increasing number of British students applying for university places every year, the percentage in-
crease of those going to university is less than that of EU students, with a 20 per cent increase in British students and a 40 per cent increase in EU students over ten years. In addition, EU students are entitled to the same government subsidised loan as UK students, causing concern as figures show the amount of money owed by European graduates increased from £42m in 2008 to £167m just a year later. However, EU students still only account for 5 per cent of the total student body and many students from the UK are able to enjoy easy access to enriching exchange programmes due to our friendly relations with the rest of Europe. The report also revealed that the largest rise in admissions came from foreign students outside of the EU who do not count towards the cap on places and can be charged much higher tuition fees – in some cases
eight times as much as students from the EU and the UK. Approximately 280,760 international students were admitted to universities in the UK last year, which is more than double the number ten years ago. At Royal Holloway in the 2009/10 academic year, 20% of our students came from outside of the EU, but contributed £22,096,000 in tuition fees, which is more than the £21,882,000 contributed by UK and EU students combined. Royal Holloway is not unique in this respect; many British universities are increasingly relying on the tuition fees from overseas students to make up the deficit in higher education budgets. As university fees in the UK increase and the international university market becomes more competitive, British universities risk losing their global status for academic excellence.
High times on the Green Jessica Phillipson A 36 year old man has been arrested after police raided his house on Elmbank Avenue and found approximately 23 suspected cannabis plants growing in the garden. This ended two weeks in which four raids were carried out in Addlestone, Chertsey, Egham and Englefield Green, all producing similar amounts of cannabis plants. Despite this, police maintain that the incidents were not related and argue that Runnymede does not have a drug problem. Inspector Nield insisted that these incidents were the result of tip-offs from the community which coincidentally came at the same time. Egham Residents’ Association spokesperson, Genna Clark, said: “It’s great that the police are getting results and closing in on these people but it is still very disappointing to have this sort of activity on the doorstep of your community.” Cannabis is used for a variety of purposes, such as for its fibre
flickr/ sillydog (hemp), its medicinal properties to treat illnesses such as glaucoma, and as a recreational drug. Cannabis is a Class B drug – it is illegal to have for yourself, to give away or to sell. Possession is illegal whatever the reason for use, including pain relief. The penalty for possession of cannabis can be up to five years in jail. Supplying someone else can get
you fourteen years and an unlimited fine, and, even if it is given away, it is also considered ‘supplying’ under the law. Allowing other people to use cannabis in your house or any other premises is illegal. If the police catch someone smoking cannabis on any property, they can prosecute the landlord, owner or person holding the party.
In a time of cuts and efficiency savings, perhaps we should be grateful that ‘60 Second Sabb’ is being extended...
I decided to start writing these articles with the intent of them fulfilling some kindv of public service commitment by letting you the readers know what arcane rituals are performed at SURHUL’s general meetings and perhaps encourage some of you to actually go, so the sane proportion of students have some degree of representation there. Well I’m sorry to announce that I have horribly failed in my duties as I left half way through on account of not hating myself. If the Orbitals liveblog (which you should all read) is anything to go by the meeting lasted a grand total of five hours. Five hours! That’s about a terms worth of work for a management student. With the lack of any obvious SU hate figure having emerged yet, unlike last years host of pantomime villains it wasn’t even possible to get angry during the meeting. It was just really really boring. I shed a tiny tear as the final round of 60-second sabb ensued (where the sabbatical officers tell us what they’ve been up to) which is now going to be replaced by three minute ‘Sabbatical Updates’ for the sake of greater accountability. Postgraduate Students Officer David Pavitt made the good point that this motion was perhaps not the best of ideas as it should be in the interests of the students to keep the meetings as short as possible (he’s right!) and that if we want to read about what the sabbs have been up to we can get a full account on their blogs which of course each and every sabb keeps updated and recent (he’s wrong!). VPSA Jake Wells informed us about the upcoming RAG naked calendar, VPComCam Sarah Honeycombe enthused about the lobby outside college council and VPEdWelfare Katie Blow told us ‘I look like a whale, I am so angry’ but she did at least get to be president for the day as the great leader was on annual leave. What President Dan Cooper has
2
been up to however is outlined in great detail on his blog on the SURHUL website (which is to his credit very up to date) and contains details on the most recent college council meeting (the highest decision making body in all the land) which is well worth a read as the college’s own website appears to have neglected to put the minutes and agendas of any meeting online since January. A number of interesting and indeed uninteresting questions were raised from the floor including one student who noted that Wedderburn recycling is being put in with general waste which ethics and environment officer Ed Resek has promised to get to the bottom of and another student who wondered why Holloway’s excellent Insanity Radio isn’t being played in SU venues. Sarah Honeycombe promised that by the end of the week this goes to print that Insanity will be played in the SU. Hurrah! The second motion of the evening following the sabbatical update motion was put forward and went into discussions for a very long time. It was brutal. It was about what file formats should documents on the SU website be in. There’s literally no way I can make this sound interesting but I am pleased to inform you that it was set as a procedural motion meaning that it will also be discussed at the next meeting. See you there guys! Finally the creation of an information officer was discussed which would involve the handling of data security. This would involve one officer having access to a lot of sensitive data which a number of people in the room found objectionable but MSL who is the company that currently runs the abysmal SU website has proven to be extremely hackable and this was mentioned in the same breath as allegations of electoral rigging at the SU which the chair was quick to dismiss. As the details and implications of the role were fairly complicated the general meeting decided to refer the motion to the executive who will no doubt find the motion equally complicated. And it was at this point that I snuck off home. Following this there were a couple of hours of elections for various representatives and sub-committee positions that were largely uncontested.