Liam Burns: NCH a 'perversion of public investment'

The news of the proposed establishment of the New College of the Humanities comes as no surprise, and the coalition government's wholesale withdrawal of public funding for humanities leaves me with some sympathy for the intentions behind Professor Grayling's initiative. But the virtues of his intentions are severely undermined by the realities of this development for students, institutions and society.

The claim that such extortionate fees are justifiable by the fact that 20 per cent of students will receive support is not a new argument. The nature of mortgage-style fees in the US have always been defended by citing the large scholarships available to the very poorest.

Just because you can point to one poor student who got the "golden ticket" completely ignores the majority perception that such universities are not for them - debt, perceived or otherwise, is a massive barrier to education, and it doesn't take a course in "scientific literacy" to know that if you take on "too many" poor students, you won't have the cash to exempt them from these extortionate fees.

The really insidious part of NCH is the parasitic nature of this institution. Public money, in the form of tuition fee loans, will be used to initially prop up NCH. At a time when the government insists there is no money to invest in humanities in public institutions, the idea that funding will now be directed towards private enterprises is a hard pill to swallow.

Scotland should never go near such a perversion of public investment, and luckily with the rejection of tuition fees by more than 85 per cent of MSPs as a result of NUS Scotland's campaigning, there should be no mechanism to do so any time soon.

Prof Grayling comments that "society needs us to be thoughtful voters, good neighbours, loving parents and responsible citizens" and I wholeheartedly agree. But it's not unreasonable to suggest that Scottish society wants those attributes regardless of the financial background of its citizens, not by virtue of it. l Liam Burns is president of NUS Scotland and president-elect of NUS UK.