The Socialist 7 July 2009

Action now to defend public sector

Jobs not dole

Brown's dead duck government

Postal workers need a national fightback

National Express goes off the rails

First Bus - no to pay freeze

Demanding justice for Shrewsbury 24

News in brief

Why women don't have real equality

Police trigger ethnic clashes in Xinjiang

Honduras coup - a warning to workers in Latin America

Sri Lanka: Protest over DfID role

Stalin's Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky

Arundhati Roy - politics and literature

Higher fees in higher education

Drama students enter the stage of struggle

Teachers' MOTs

First strike against Trust schools

Strike against BSF proposals

RMT Annual General Meeting: "If provoked - Will strike"

Save jobs at Vestas wind turbine plant

Private companies caught in jobcentre scam

South West Wales Media: Fight for jobs, defend conditions

Oilc - fighting for decent working conditions in the North Sea

Previous issues, etc

Print this issue




Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/587/7522

Google search the site	Printable version	email to friend

Home | The Socialist 7 July 2009 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Bookshop

East 15 acting school

Drama students enter the stage of struggle

Students at the East 15 acting school are standing up to unfair charges and inadequate facilities. A letter from the school's director, Professor Leon Rubin, to the student body, notified of a rise in the controversial 'Learning Resource Fee' (LRF). A fightback is in the offing among students at the Loughton campus.

James Ivens, Debden

Professional dramatic training has a unique nature. Lateness and non-attendance, as in the industry, earn permanent exclusion. Combined with the intensive nature of conservatoire training - over 40 hours a week in contact time alone - the timing of Professor Rubin's letter, in the busiest period at the end of the academic year, appears cynically calculated. This sort of struggle is new to East 15 students, to say nothing of other drama schools. But students have made the decision to channel their anger.

The letter suggested the Loughton students association, East 15's branch of the University of Essex students union, had agreed this change, and won concessions on financial transparency. Students are demanding details of discussions, and complete access to the school's and university's accounts, to confirm both claims.

The LRF is an annual charge made against East 15 students for "materials, services and other professional expenses", and reached £280 in the academic year 2008/09. A minority of institutions in the Conference of Drama Schools (CDS), of which East 15 is a member, charge a similar fee. However, such fees are both smaller and more transparent. Nor does it apply to any other course at the University of Essex, which the school joined in 2000. Students demand the abolition of the LRF.

In addition to an above-inflation rise of £20 in the LRF, the university has imposed above-inflation rises of £80 for EU undergraduates and £500 for overseas undergraduates in tuition fees. Students are demanding a return to, and freeze on, the 2008/09 fees.

Compared with other leading CDS schools, and even compared with its own recent history, many of East 15's "learning resources" are subpar. Access to catering facilities, student support, and the recently downsized library, are inadequate. Students are demanding improved facilities and services, with no increase in payment. This first year has been scheduled more 'independent study' than any other in the school's history.

A response has been delivered to the director by a delegation of the student body, accompanied by a mass petition in its support, putting forward these requirements, and demanding a meeting on Thursday 9 July to discuss them.

In this issue

Action now to defend public sector