Matthew Trenaman, Reading Socialist Party
Student ‘personal statements’ hold an important role in the university application process. They present the opportunity for prospective students to show their love for a subject.
They allow the student to speak directly to the university. However, this vital part the application process has unfortunately also become victim to the ongoing collapse of our country’s education system.
Less and less
Universities spend less and less time reviewing the personal statements of applying students. On average, universities now only spend two minutes per personal statement, according to the Higher Education Policy Institute.
The ‘prestige’ Russel Group universities spend on average only one and a half minutes on each statement. There is no other word to describe this than a disgrace.
How many students have been completely overlooked as their statement was rushed over? How many potential great scientists, mathematicians, or engineers will not be able to contribute their skills to help create a new, fairer world, because their statement was rushed over?
It would be easy to blame the staff who are not spending enough time on each statement. However, this would be a very shallow approach. Overworked staff simply do not have the time.
Last year, over 320,000 students applied to universities – a 5% increase from the previous year. But the staff numbers have not been rising as quickly.
And no wonder. University workers’ pay has been cut by over 25% in real terms since 2009.
To make it worse, government funding has been falling too. Government university funding in 2021-22 was 78% below 2010-11 in real terms. And extortionate tuition fees have notplugged the funding gap.
The answer to this issue is clear. Universities must be funded by the government, not tuition fees.
Universities should be seen as a public service due to the great role they play in equipping us with the skills needed to pursue our goals. Universities should be properly publicly funded.
The fee system is outdated. No student should come out of university with debt. This is what the Socialist Party and Socialist Students recognises.
Free education
Replacing the current system, with free and publicly funded education, that is democratically run by staff, students and the community will help universities properly fulfil their goal of being a place where anyone can become educated, a place where people can freely research, and put forward their ideas.
This might seem far away. However, it is completely possible. Only by mass organising and mass action will we be able to achieve this.
