SUUCL want to make uni free by seizing control of the banks!!!

At the NUS National Conference next week, representatives from student unions across the country will be debating motions which call on the NUS to lobby for the abolish graduation fees (305a), and boycott Barclays until the bank divests from fossil fuels (401a).

But perhaps the most radical motion of all comes from our very own SUUCL.

The Student’s Union UCL, jointly with the University of East Anglia Students’ Union, have submitted a motion to the NUS to make education free… Sounds great, but is it feasible? Read on.

Motion 304a resolves that the NUS will campaign to make higher education free by taking the UK’s 150 largest businesses, and the entire education sector, "into the democratic ownership of the workers", and transferring funds accordingly.

304a is an amendment to the original motion 304, which asks the NUS to publicly oppose a Graduate Levy, which would fund tuition by taxing corporations for each graduate they hire.

The motion argues that a Graduate Levy would make employers less likely to hire graduates versus non-graduates, making university riskier for working-class students. The Times reported in November that a Graduate Levy was being discussed in Whitehall.

How the NUS intends fulfil their Robin Hood quest to expropriate big business is unclear; Motion 304a is unlikely to be make its way from the NUS to Parliament. But we can live and dream that there will one day be a motion which makes higher education once again free again in the UK.

Vive la révolution.