Lifelong learning, one key to a better quality of life, hit by government funding phase out

The Open University is currently very unhappy with the Labour government. Today I received the strongly worded email below from the university Vice Chancellor. I have to say that that the Open University's view is one I agree very strongly with - its short sighted to put barriers in the way of lifelong learning, a very valuable concept in building and maintaining a high quality of life through nurturing talents and equipping people for today's world.

I wrote to you last Monday to inform you of the unexpected decision by Government to phase out funding for students studying for qualifications equivalent to, or at a lower level than, a qualification that they already hold.

I write now to keep you updated on progress.

I have met with my fellow Vice Chancellors at the UUK meeting last week and there is much support across the board that this development is not helpful to the life-long learning agenda nor indeed to Government's own pronouncements about nurturing the talents of all its people. We are not alone in opposing this policy.

David Vincent and I also had a meeting with the Minister for Higher Education, Bill Rammell yesterday and we were left in no doubt that this decision is unlikely to be reversed....

...I remain of the opinion that this policy runs counter to the intention of the Leitch report on skills and the Prime Minister's own position on lifelong learning. We are a nation operating in a first world, high-skill, knowledge economy and we should be providing every incentive to encourage our people to align their knowledge and skills with that economy. This policy seems hardly likely to do that.

Brenda Gourley, Vice Chancellor