CELEBRITIES AND THE CHARITY CAUSE What positive impact· does celebrity endorsement really have?
ISSUE 237
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VAMPIRE VACATION Transylvania isn't just • about the living dead. Concrete discovers a country alive with culture.
TUESDAY 12th JANUARY 2010
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www.concrete-online.co.uk
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IS STRIPPING WORTH IT? An anonymous writer provides a candid report about the realities of stripping to support your studies.
UEA'S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
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STUDENTS TO FUND BUDGET DEFICIT? Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, announces plans to cut millions from university budgets. Politicians will look to tuition fees review to plug the spending gap, says NUS President Wes Streeting.
David Churchill The Government has announced that the Treasury is to significantly reduce its funding of universities across the UK by a total of£600million. The details of the reduction were outlined in the Government's pre-Budget report in December, which also stated th.at the cuts will become entrenched in public spending policy by 2012-2013. The announcement has prompted widespread speculation from leading figures across the sector about which areas will be most affected, and the specific implications the reductions will have for universities and students. Labour's Higher Education Minister, MP David Lam my,· emphasised that decisions about how the
cuts will be distributed had not yet been made, but with the cuts almost certain to create a vast fiscal deficit on university ledgers, it is feared that the financial burden will be transferred onto students in the form of higher tuition fees. NUS President, Wes Streeting, warned that "some vice-chancellors and politicians will now look to the current review of tuition fees to plug the spending gap". The proposals have also caused concerns as to whether the quality of scientific research from UK universities will be able to continue to compete on a global scale. According to Universities UK, the UK currently lies second in a league of countries which are most important to the production of scientific research in the world . Despite the fact that
the UK houses only 1% of the global population, it is responsible for producing 8% of the world's leading scientific papers, with a citation share of 12%, a record second only to the US. With the UEA's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) being one of these centres of excellence for producing leading scientific research, the UEA is likely to become one of the biggest casualties of the proposed cuts. Representatives of UEA's Students' Union voiced their concerns over the impact that "such vicious cuts" would have on UEA students and its research reputation . The Academic Officer, David Sheppard, predicts "serious repercussions on the quality of education and research" at UEA, adding that any "attempts to plug the funding gap with an increase in student
fees" would be "disastrous". But the proposed cuts have coincided with the ongoing independent review into fees and higher education funding being conducted by Lord Browne. lt is believed that he will now be forced to recommend that the Government lift the cap on tu ition fees, which currently stands at £3,225 a year, in order for universities to maintain 'real term' funding levels. The current funding system operates according to a "unit of resource" scheme - a "unit" representing a fixed sum that universities receive per student - which it has been calculated will be reduced by approximately £1,000 per student, per annum, once the cuts have been implemented. Raising tuition fees is understood
WINTER SNOW CASTS ITS SPELL OVER UEA STUDENTS
THE BIG SWITCH-OFF: NORWICH STREETS LEFT IN THE DARK Nick Church County Council Norfolk leaders are to press on with controversial plans to save cash and reduce carbon emissions by switching off around 27,000 streetlights across Norfolk and over 7,000 in Norwich itself. The plans, which would replace lights with
more efficient models and cells that switch off after 12am, have been met with strong resistance from City Councillors, including a councillor responsible for community safety and cohesion . lt would cost the County Council £274,000 over the next three years, after which the Council will save £167,000 each year.
Streetlights would be switched off between the hours of 12am and Sam in quiet residential areas with low incidents of crime and traffic accidents these included numerous streets with high student populations. There would be exemptions for streets that have busy nighttime economies and footfalls, as well as those with high rates of crime and accidents. Police
crime statistics have been used to determine areas of low crime and in trials in other areas, such as Essex, there has been no record of increased crime, according to the County Council report. Bert Bremner, executive member for Community Safety and Cohesion, voiced concerns at the scrutiny panel debating the proposal on January 6th and has called the plans
dangerous and motivated solely by cost-savings. "All over the south of the City, in the Golden Triangle, Lakenham, Tuckswood and Eaton, whole streets are to suffer a total switch off. Most of the University ward will be left in darkness ... Why are we not having a one in three lights off... That would actually make for a greater saving, but without the risk of robbery,
muggings or worse in our blacked out streets." Stephen Morphew, Leader of Norwich City Council said: "(There are] concerns that reduced hours of street lighting will pose increased risks for crime and disorder and road safety and there is little evidence from elsewhere to show what these effects may be. These concerns are