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PROBLEMS WITH NEW STRUCTURE EXTEND TO SENATE Robin Budd It is not only students who are set to be pushed out by the new governance plans. Members of the teaching staff may be replaced. as appointments by the Vice Chancellor become more common and democratically chosen faculty members are phased out. The changes have been described as "a move away from the democratic checks and balances that are part of the existing system" by senior philosophy lecturer
Rupert Read. Unfortunately. no other faculty member has been willing to comment so far. Under the new plans. each of the four faculties social sciences. arts and humanities. health and science - would be run by an executive; this executive comprises of five appointed members. in charge of overall faculty policy. There is no involvement at this level for students. and no real way for school members to question Purely consultative see page 6
STATESIDE UEA MEETS TARCiET FOR STATE SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
Celia Dearing & Helen Pike News Editors UEA has met and exceeded its target for state school admissions this year. According to the Times University Guide. 88.4% of students admitted to UEA come from state schools.
This is significantly above the suggested target of 77% set by the Government and an encouraging achievement. Universities are , however. permitted to set their own benchmarks for admitting an appropriate proportion of state school students. according to the size of the university and nature of the region. David Marshall. Director of Admissions. says that "we do not outwardly seek out state schools. but UEA strives to be fair and we are getting students from a broad spectrum". The success of UEA in this area may be a result of the accessibility of its admissions system. UEA admis-
sions currently have two Schools and College Liaison Officers who maintain communications with state school students through sixth form visits. open days and higher education fairs. where. in their capacity as UEA graduates. they are able to deliver a repertoire of relevant advice. In addition. there are summer schools planned, which aim to give young people a taste of what life as a student entails including attending lectures and living in student residences. The importance of such transparency has been emphasised in the Schwartz Report on Fair Admissions
to Higher Education. which states that "higher education is a commodity. it can affect salary. job security and power to influence society. It is therefore vital that all stakeholders in the admissions process - applicants. parents. schools. teaching and admissions staffbelieve the system is fair". There were. however. universities across the UK who didn't meet their targets and were thus "named and shamed" recently in the national press. Those Universities included Oxford. Cambridge. Warwick. Edinburgh and Exeter. Both Oxford and Cambridge missed their tar-
gets by about twenty percentage points and have been warned by the Office of Fair Access (OFFAl that they face tough penalties if they fail to reach their targets in the next academic year. This could include removing their ability to charge up to 拢3000 per year in tuition fees. This has muddied the waters somewhat and many of the leading universities have accused the government of "social engineering" in their demand that state school targets are met. Conversely. last Thursday's speech by higher education minister Toothless, see page