QMessenger Issue 50

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Issue 50

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Tuesday December 13 2011

Read about our birthday in our leader this week.

Ken the critic Livingstone criticises chemical company’s sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics.

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The Newspaper of Queen Mary Students’ Union

Senate says No, Minister » University has no confidence in David Willetts following Senate vote

Sam Creighton Queen Mary Senate has declared official opposition to David Willetts and the government’s reforms to higher education. At a meeting on Thursday December 8th, a motion of no confidence in the Minister of State Universities and Science passed through Senate – the body responsible for overseeing academic activity at Queen Mary and second in authority only to College Council – unopposed. The motion stated: “The Senate of Queen Mary, University of London has no confidence in the policies of the Minister for Science and Higher Education David Willetts. We call on the government to pause its implementation of the White Paper, which has the potential to inflict great and irreversible damage to Higher Education in the UK.” Queen Mary Students’ Union (QMSU) passed a similar motion at the last meeting of Student Council. This means the two institutions are united in joining the national movement against Mr Willetts, which includes Oxford, Leeds, Bath and Birkbeck universities who previously passed motions of no confidence in the minister. The motion was proposed by Rich-

ard Saull, a politics lecturer and UCU Branch Secretary and seconded by Omar Garcia, Professor of Hispanic Studies and Comparative Poetics and Director of Taught Programmes in the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film. Mr Saull commented: “I want to thank and congratulate my colleagues on Senate for voting for this no-confidence and thank the Principal for facilitating it.” He said that in the future he may get College Council to consider the motion but pointed out that they fill more of a governance role and that “what’s important is that the academics at Queen Mary have made known their discontent with current government policy.” Oscar Williamson, QMSU Vice President Education and Welfare, who was present at the meeting said: “’The HE White Paper reads like a work-in-progress, and its contradictions, oversights and omissions have inflicted an unprecedented amount of uncertainty on the sector. I have yet to meet anyone who’s read the proposals and has any confidence in them. This result is a credit to Senate.” Three of the five abstentions came from the Principal, Simon Gaskell, and the two Vice-Principals present, Susan Dilly and Evelyn Welch. It is thought that they made this deci-

David Willetts speaks at the University of Birmingham sion because they deemed it unwise to make their individual political beliefs known when they would still have to work with Mr Willetts and representatives of his department to carry out their duties. The university has released a state-

Image by Dept. of Business, Innovation and Skills

ment, saying: “Following a motion proposed by an elected member, Queen Mary’s Senate has passed a motion of No Confidence in the Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts. Senate is composed primarily of elect-

ed members of staff from across the College, student representatives and Heads of School/Directors of Institute.” The exact numbers of the vote were 27 for, five abstentions and none against.

Blacklash stops change to dyslexia funding

» University were to stop full-funding of dyslexia testing » Students were to pay up to £250 Kaamil Ahmed Plans to change the way services for Dyslexic students are provided were scrapped last week after controversy. The university had planned to stop covering the full cost of tests used to determine whether a student has Dyslexia in January, but has been criticised by both students and staff.

The changes would have meant that the College would still cover the first £150 of a students Diagnostic Dyslexia Assessment but that the student would have to fund the remainder of the cost themselves. Depending on which educational psychologist is used for the assessment, this could have left students with a charge of anywhere between £65 and £250. Simon Jarvis, head of the Disa-

bility and Dyslexia service at Queen Mary, confirmed that the department had planned to limit its contribution to the cost of the tests but said they would now be looking for an alternative solution. “Our proposal had been to reduce our support from the full cost to a flat contribution of £150,” said Jarvis. “In the light of representations made to the DDS since the proposal was raised

at a recent meeting, we are reviewing whether we can secure additional funds to continue to meet the full cost of assessments for UK students.” Jarvis said that with an increasing number of students taking assessments, how to fund them is increasingly becoming an issue. He explained that the Access to Learning Fund (ALF), which provides support for students in financial hard-

ship, is diminishing - in part because of the amount provided for dyslexia assessments. Jarvis emphasised that his department would have ensured that students who could not afford the tests themselves would not have become disadvantaged if the proposals had gone ahead. “Students receiving funds for the cost of their dyslexia assessments

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QMessenger Issue 50 by Kaz Gander - Issuu