Sources for Group Writing Task : University Fees

As a group, you will answer the following question:


Is the University of Essex right to set its tuition fees at £9000 per year?

The BBC has a very useful Q&A page on the subject, which should provide sufficient background information to help you to understand the context.  You should then divide the following texts between members of your group.  Each group member should take notes on their designated article and be prepared to feed information back to the group.  You will use the information you gather to write a group essay.

TEXTA :“From the Vice-Chancellor” and “Focus on Quality as fees set at £9,000”. Essex Quarterly. April 2011 ; “Vice Chancellor’s Update” Available online at https://www.essex.ac.uk/budget_prospects/vc_updates/240211.aspx [Retrieved 25 July 2012]

TEXT B: Vasagar, J. (2011) “Fees will put teenagers off applying for university, say 42% of vice chancellors” The Observer, 12 June. Available online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jun/12/fees-chancellors-poll-universities?INTCMP=SRCH [Retrieved 25 July 2012]

TEXT C : Paton, G. and Collins, N. (2011) “Ten universities could fail after £9,000 tuition fees” The Telegraph, 7 June  Available online at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8560874/Ten-universities-could-fail-after-9000-tuition-fees.html [Retrieved 25 July 2012]

EXTRA TEXT text:  BIS (2011) “Putting students at the heart of higher education”. Available online at   http://bis.gov.uk/news/topstories/2011/Jun/he-white-paper-students-at-the-heart-of-the-system [Retrieved 25 July 2012].  A full pdf of this document is also available here: http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/higher-education/docs/h/11-944-higher-education-students-at-heart-of-system.pdf