Results 1-20 of 40 for ("top up" fees) speaker:Mr David Rendel

Health and Education (30 Nov 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...agenda. Too much of Government policy at present seems to run counter to those principles. One example is the Home Office policy of charging international students for visas despite the fact that fees income from non-European Union students already makes up 7 per cent. of the UK higher education sector's budget. A second example is the decline of modern language teaching, and...

University Admissions Policy (25 Oct 2004)

Mr David Rendel: The Minister has just challenged us to find a better deal; he may find that, at the next general election, when we offer the young people of our country the chance to get rid of top-up fees and current tuition fees, and offer to introduce grants for less well-off students, they think that that is a better deal. The most prosperous countries are those that invest the most in higher education....

University Admissions Policy (25 Oct 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...vouchers. Today, the Conservatives propose a voucher-type system in higher education, which would inevitably curtail the expansion of the sector to embrace historically under-represented groups. There is one point on which we agree with the Conservatives: OFFA should go. Our argument, however, is not that all intervention is wrong, rather that it would make much sense for the Higher...

Higher Education (14 Sep 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...than under the current Labour scheme. I take the difference to be caused by the fact that, under the Conservative scheme, students will not have to take out a loan to pay three times £3,000 of tuition fees, which they must do under the Government's top-up fee scheme. That is the only logic that I can perceive behind claiming that the debt would be £9,000 lower. If that is the...

Higher Education (14 Sep 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...that that is not the case. The most fundamental criticism to be made about the Government and the Conservatives involves their lack of vision about higher education in general. Ministers come up with only one answer to the question, "What is higher education for?" They say that it is there to serve the needs of the economy by creating a skilled work force. They believe that the kinds of...

Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Skills: Higher Education (9 Sep 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...letter to me of 6 August, that over the past year the percentage increase in the number of English student applicants under 21 has fallen as compared to the increase in the cohort of that age group? Can he give any reason for that—as the Prime Minister did not—other than the one I suggested: that people were being put off by the top-up fees with which they are now threatened?...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (21 Jul 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...education, as does my party. However, the number of young people in England aged between 18 and 20 applying to university has fallen as a proportion of the total number of people in that age group. In fact, the figures are down to about 12,000 below the level that one would have expected over the past two years. I believe that that is because of tuition fees and top-up fees. Can the Prime...

Orders of the Day — Higher Education Bill: Clause 29 — Director of Fair Access to Higher Education (23 Jun 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...have thought that starting to introduce Ofsted to the university sector would be going further than his Government, let alone us, would want. Our problem with the way in which OFFA is being set up, and the reason we would prefer the powers to remain with HEFC, is that it seems punitive and almost vindictive in terms of the universities. The powers of OFFA seem to be there to punish...

Orders of the Day — Higher Education Bill: Clause 29 — Director of Fair Access to Higher Education (23 Jun 2004)

Mr David Rendel: First, of course, we are worried about access, which is why we have made various suggestions, not least that top-up fees should not be introduced at all. That is one of the reasons why access will be restricted for certain groups in our community, particularly those who come from non-traditional backgrounds. I apologise if I said traditional when I meant non-traditional. To be honest, I...

Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Skills: Gap Year (27 May 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...round the first year sixth-form students in my constituency this year has shown that many of them have been significantly put off the chance of going on a gap year because of the coming change in top-up fees, what investigations have the Government made to see what effect top-up fees will have on those who are deciding whether or not to take a gap year?

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (10 Mar 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ..., who told her that because of her student debt of £12,000, the building society cannot lend her enough. The Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education recently admitted that top-up fees are likely to push student debt up to some £20,000. What does the Prime Minister think that that will do to the housing market?

Public Bill Committee: Higher Education Bill: Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies (2 Mar 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...position to him. If he believes that his way of funding universities is so much more secure than our method of doing it through taxation, will he explain why, when the Government first introduced fees and told universities that the money would be additional in exactly the same way that he says that top-up fees will now be additional money, that did not happen in practice? All that...

Public Bill Committee: Higher Education Bill: Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies (2 Mar 2004)

Mr David Rendel: The Liberal Democrats also welcome you back to the Chair, Mr. Hood. At the beginning of our debate, it was said that the first string of amendments was the critical group that would decide the whole future of the Bill. I have always believed that the second string of amendments is equally important for the following reason. The first string was all about variability, which, as we all know,...

Public Bill Committee: Higher Education Bill: Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies (24 Feb 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...the gap between the richer and poorer universities will tend to widen in terms of the resources coming to them. On the whole, the poorer universities will not be able to afford to charge the full fees, because they are less prestigious and will have the hard-to-fill courses. The less prestigious the university is, the less it will be able to charge full fees, the less money will come into...

Public Bill Committee: Higher Education Bill: Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies (24 Feb 2004)

Mr David Rendel: The hon. Lady has missed the point. Extra money will be raised through top-up fees or through extra taxation, depending on which policy eventually holds sway. Either way, it would be possible to use some of that money for early-years education. It is for Parliament to decide how much money should be used for early-years education and how much should be used for higher education. The decision...

Public Bill Committee: Higher Education Bill: Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies (24 Feb 2004)

Mr David Rendel: I entirely agree. This is the point on which I would also support the hon. Member for Nottingham, North, who was keen that we should give people chances in life earlier on. It is important to give people chances and not to restrict their ambitions at an early stage. I entirely agree that we need more money to go into things like early-years education, which is precisely why we have said that...

Public Bill Committee: Higher Education Bill: Clause 21 - Meaning of ''plan'' etc. (12 Feb 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...Under-Secretary of State for Wales believes that if all the devolution powers are included in the Bill, as he and I would like to see, the National Assembly for Wales could decide not to have any fees or top-up fees in future, even if they were imposed in England?

Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Skills: University Science Departments (12 Feb 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...are currently trying to introduce is likely to put enormous pressure on universities—particularly the less prestigious universities—only to run courses where they can charge full top-up fees and which are comparatively cheap to put on. Does the Secretary of State accept that the new scheme is likely to lead to increased acceleration in the rate of closure of science departments?

Written Answers — Education and Skills: Higher Education Funding (22 Jan 2004)

Mr David Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will estimate the additional cost to the Student Loans Company of administering student loans if top-up fees are introduced; and if he will make a statement.

Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Skills: Higher Education (15 Jan 2004)

Mr David Rendel: ...of the modern path to social justice". However, the only way in which students from poor backgrounds will benefit financially under the new scheme, as opposed to using their grants to pay off their fees, will be if they go to some sort of second-class university where the fees are actually lower than the top-up fees. They can then use some of their grant for maintenance. Is that not a...