Defend Education

 

 

 

                    Our Union's priority is to Defend Education at LSE, Defend Education nationally and Defend Education for all students yet to come. 

 

Read our progress report here. 

What do we want?

- Our GTAs to get fair pay and fair treatment

- More support for international students

- Proper feedback on our work

- A higher education system that is fully and publicly funded

 

 

 

The majority of teaching is done by Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) whilst they continue their studies. GTAs often earn less than the minimum wage, and we think that our teachers deserve better.

 

LSE students are paying considerable sums of money to study here, many of us will be trapped in a lifetime of debt, yet we cannot even get satisfactory feedback on our work. Students often find the teaching experience at the LSE impersonal and many feel that the LSE is seemingly more interested in research than teaching.

 

In 2010, the British higher education system underwent huge cuts. The government has slashed funding for higher education and young people today are suffering as a result. Students at the LSE now pay at least £8,500 a year, leaving us with huge amounts of personal debt and further entrenching the view that education is a privilege, not a right.

 

International students are facing more attacks with the scrapping of the Postgraduate Work Visa and 2,600 students from London Metropolitan University being threatened with deportation. 50% of our students come from overseas and we're proud of our diverse student body. We believe that international students are students not suspects! Look at the Speak Up page to read what the Union is doing to help.

 

 

Our achievements so far:

 

·         Establishment of the first Postgraduate Research and Teaching Committee and other collaborative work with the UCU. Read more here and here. 

·         More course reps than ever engaging and influencing the School.

·         Expansion of Teaching awards.

·         Most successful Education Assembly ever.

·         Joint lobbying of senior MPs about treatment of international students.

·         Support for refugees and asylum seekers getting equal access to education at LSE in conjunction with STAR’s Equal Access campaign. 

 

What can I do?

-Read Alex Peters-Day's Lent Term update.

-Read Alex Peters-Day's Article on this year's campaign.

-Sign the pledge and agree that we need to defend education, both at LSE and nationally.

-Email the Community and Welfare officer, Jack Tindale, with first-hand accounts of problems that international students have faced in the UK.

-Email the Education officer, Duncan McKenna, with testimonies relating to GTAs and feedback.