Zeichner slams ‘massive misrepresentation’ by Russell Group

 Responding to the Russell Group’s warning that “universities will be brought to their knees in six months”, Cambridge Labour Parliamentary candidate Daniel Zeichner accuses them of a massive misrepresentation of the facts that it is unworthy of a group claiming to speak on behalf of academic excellence:

“Instead of a serious debate about funding, today’s contribution by the Russell group is a hysterical and seriously misleading account of the facts. It is right that they lobby hard in support of universities, and I will be the first to support them, but suggesting that our universities are facing meltdown is absurd.”

The HEFCE grant settlement issued just before Christmas shows a planned reduction from £7.8 billion to £7.3 billion next year, although the amount for teaching within this rises from £6.585 billion to £6.645 billion. This is achieved by reducing the amount allocated for capital spending and switching it to teaching.  

Mr Zeichner says that the reporting of the group’s statement is an object lesson in poor journalism:

“From an initial announcement that money is to be switched from capital to current spending, fears are raised that £600 million is being ‘cut’ from day to day spending. You then take a projection from a think-tank about what might need to be done in future years, and multiply the first figure by four to get £2.5 billion. You then ignore the overall spending by universities and colleges (some £23 billion) and describe this figure as a third of university spending. And finally, The Guardian heads the article: “Brown orders £2.5bn cut”. It makes a useful headline, but does nothing to contribute to the serious debate about how we continue to maintain Labour’s record levels of investment in Higher Education.”