Education cuts cause dismay

Design educationalists have responded with dismay to leaked Government proposals over the future of university education, which will mean students paying more towards their schooling.

The plans, which were due to be announced by the Dearing Committee on Wednesday, propose a 1000 annual tuition fee and the scrapping of remaining grant entitlements.

The poorest families would be exempt from the tuition fees, with a sliding scale of parental contributions made as incomes go up.

Georgina Follett, head of the School of Design at Duncan of Jordanstone College at the University of Dundee, describes the move as “ever so disappointing”. She concedes that: “We can’t continue to educate people for the sums of money we are getting.”

Vicky Sargent, consultant director of education at Design and Art Direction, says that colleges will have to become far more efficient.