Education: Part-Time University Study
Debate between Lord Morgan and Baroness Garden of Frognal
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My noble friend is right. I have just mentioned the student tour. We also know that the Student Room has dedicated information on finance for part-time students, and we hope that the messages that go out to the different universities and institutions that particularly look after part-time students will encourage them to take advantage of the finances that are available. He is quite right that the older students may well be more cautious, but of course most of the part-time students will also be earning in some capacity or another and therefore may feel that this is a good use of their money.
Lord Morgan
My Lords, the number of part-time students has gone down by 40% since 2010. Since it is known that many of them come from more disadvantaged backgrounds and ethnic minorities, is this policy not a serious blow to not only our universities but the prospects of greater social mobility and equality in this country?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
I agree with the noble Lord that part-time study is an incredible asset in social mobility and a benefit to the community and individuals as well. With the measures that we are taking on student loans and in trying to get the message across to encourage people to study, we hope that we will be able to build on the ideas coming out of the Universities UK review.
Education: Languages
Debate between Lord Morgan and Baroness Garden of Frognal
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My noble friend makes an interesting point. Many schools up and down the land have after-school clubs in languages, and some have Saturday schools as well. There are also supplementary schools that meet at the weekend. These are largely set up by specific ethnic communities and are where children who go to a state school during the week learn their heritage language: for instance, Arabic, Polish or Greek. However, I agree that there is more that we can do, and Saturday clubs might provide a way through.
Lord Morgan
My Lords, is it not ironic, in view of what we have heard, that modern languages are a particular casualty of the disastrous changes in the Government’s funding regime in universities? Does this not completely contradict what the Minister has been saying?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
No, that is not entirely true. Modern languages are categorised as one of the strategically important and vulnerable subject areas, so increased funding is going to universities to try to ensure that language provision remains.