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gairrhydd Cardiff’s Student Weekly
Monday 4 February 2002
cinema ticket and popcorn
Film bring news of exclusive screenings of classic films and your chance to get a free day o u t a t t h e U G C C a r d i f f . Tu r n t o G R i P p a g e 9
USIT collapse leaves Fees don’t go travellers in limbo
by James Bladon THE PLANS of thousands of student travellers have been thrown in to confusion with the collapse of the USIT Campus travel agency. The USIT Campus shop on the first floor of the Union ceased trading on Wednesday as Britain’s second largest student travel company went in to receivership. The collapse of the company has come as a huge shock to scores of Cardiff University students who had reservations with them. Jim Neidhart a 2nd year student at Cardiff University said, “I booked a round the world ticket only last week with USIT, but there was no mention that they were in financial trouble. Obviously it’s a great worry as I’ve paid a substantial amount of money but have not yet had my tickets.” The Graduate Centre at the University had also planned trips to Paris and Amsterdam through USIT Campus. Graduate Centre Manager
Terry Delahunty said, “At this stage we are not sure exactly what is going to happen. We are trying to get details of the tour operator in order to learn what the current position of the trip is.” A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), of which USIT Campus was a member said, “Anyone who has booked scheduled flights with USIT will be OK to travel. If they have their tickets already then they should check in to fly as normal, for those who have paid for tickets but are waiting for the them to arrive I would advise that they contact the airline directly”. It is in the case of land based travel that customers of USIT Campus may face potential problems because the firm was not a part of a regulatory body. Had the company been affiliated with a group such as ABTA then client’s reservations would have been covered in the way the flights are by the CAA. But because USIT Campus weren’t students will now face an uncertain wait to see if their reservations will be honoured, or
to unis Adam Dobbie
CLOSED: Is this the sign of things to come?
if they will receive any compensation at all. An CAA spokesman said, “Any non-flight packages should be covered by the companies insurers.” Any customer who wishes to make a claim should contact Ashbourne Tilley Special Risk Insurance Company on (0207)
481 8239 Cardiff Student Union President Tom McGarry said “We were aware that USIT travel suffered seriously as a result of the events of September 11.” “I would urge anyone who has made a reservation with USIT to visit the Student Advice Centre on the third floor of the Union.”
by James Bladon READERS OF Saga Holidays brochures may be surprised to see that Cardiff is now an English city. Unsurprisingly, this is not a major constitutional change that passed the rest of us by, but an incredible error on the part of the tour operators. The Hilton Hotels in Cardiff and Newport were promoted as holiday destinations in a section entitled ‘Southern England’.
Welsh MP Roger Williams said of the mistake, “This is appalling and not what one would expect.” He added, “On a more serious note this episode indicates to me that Wales still has a lot to do to establish itself as distinct from England”. A spokesperson for Saga apologised for the ‘brochure error’, saying “We apologise for any offence that it may have caused. The heading of the section should have read Southern England and Wales”.
CARDIFF: Capital of Wales
PIC: Rob Jackson
Cardiff, England?
IN A stunning admission Government officials revealed that not a single penny raised from tuition fees have benefited universities. The revelation was made to MP’s last week during a House of Commons committee meeting. Professor Sir Howard Newby, chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council, told the all party public accounts committee that there had been a “displacement effect” whereby the Government had reduced the budget for British universities by £400m, exactly the same amount as had been generated by fees. In effect, the government has generated £400m per year in extra income. Labour MP Gerry Steinberg said, “I am staggered.” The MP said he had only backed the Government’s plans to introduce tuition fees in 1998 because of the extra funds they would generate for cash-strapped universities. It had been hoped that maintenance grants would be re-introduced as a result of the unpopularity of tuition fees, but this now appears to be increasingly unlikely as a result of Treasury fears over the cost of proposals. Students who graduate with debt averaging £12,000 now pay a maximum of £1,075 a year in fees. It is this type of statistic which is largely responsible for the few numbers of students from poorer backgrounds attending university. Government officials said universities in England need to do much more to attract and retain poor students and called on more institutions to use a scheme piloted in Bristol. The University of Bristol now takes students with poorer A-level results than are normally required if they come schools that perform badly. David Normington, the permanent secretary for the Department for Education and Skills, meanwhile, told MPs there was a “mountain to climb” to reach the government’s target of attracting half of all 18 to 30-year-olds into higher education by 2010.
EXTRAVAGANT STUDENTS LIVE BEYOND THEIR MEANS: SEE PAGE 3