Podcasts

In this lesson we focused on the media form of pod casting. We looked at a podcast from Richard Eno about getting into the media industry; http://media23.podbean.com/pb/a01e52ad6ea88d8cccb27e04729e7cb5/4cc4985c/blogs23/302944/uploads/RenoCast-TheMediaIndustry.m4a

Our assignment for this week is to write and produce our own podcast on any topic of our choosing. I have decided to base my podcast on the recent change in university fees. This podcast will be based around a rant on the subject.

Transcript:
So, the new spending review has been released from chancellor George Osbourne. As many of you already know, the country is in economic ruin. So it comes as no surprise to most people that we will now be paying a lot more to the government, while the government are going to give us a lot less in return. As usual, university tuition fees have come up again. And guess what. They're going up again!

To all you potential university students out there, you have Lord Browne and his review to thank for this, which has now been endorsed by a certain Lib Dem minister, Vince Cable, who seemed to be strongly against rising tuition fees last time I looked.
The Browne Review suggested that there should be no limit on the amount a university can charge its students, however, there would be a levy placed on universities charging over £6000 a year, to cover the cost of the government having to loan the students money upfront.


Students would not have to begin paying their loans back until they begin earning £21,000 a year. Any money that isn't paid off within 30 years would be written off. The problem at the moment with universities, which is causing the rise in applicants, is that it is too easy to be accepted and get a degree, so more people are capable of filling the qualified jobs, causing more unemployment, as the skilled have to take up the unskilled jobs. It seems to me that the second part of the Browne review encourages people to go and get the degree any way. This way, even if they can't get a skilled job, they would have an advantage over other candidates in the unskilled jobs, and they would't have to pay the money back because they wouldn't be earning £21,000 a year.


To me, the logical option, would not be to raise tuition fees because this penalises the students that genuinely need the qualifications, and brings back the days of elitism and inequality, but to raise the bar of the ability universities allow in, this way the system is fair and judges ability rather then money, which is how an educational establishment should be run.

Cast your minds back to May this year. All the parties were scrapping it out to try and win your vote. Along side the economy, trying to win over first time voters was one of the main focus points. This included university tuition fees. Now, the Lib Dem manifesto states that they believe university should be free to all those that have the ability to go to university, and should not be put off by the cost. This has been one of the key beliefs of the Lib Dem's for years, but now they have had a sniff of power, their beliefs, and those of the people that voted for them have gone out the windows of the Houses of Parliament. I wonder how many of them would still vote for them as part of the Coalition.

This year was the first year I really took an interest politics and the election, and I was keen to know what the parties had to say. If I could have voted, I would have voted Liberal Democrat. I thought they had the best policies (including their policy on university tuition fees), well, except for immigration, which is where I thought the Conservatives were better. So, when I heard that a coalition was to be formed between the two parties, I thought this was the best possible out come, well, until now.


I completely understand that there has to be some compromise from each of the parties, other wise it would never work, but at the moment it seems that Conservatives are getting more out of the relationship. There surely has to be a point where Nick Clegg and Vince Cable stand up for the voters of the Liberal Democrats, instead of bowing down to the PM.

I can understand that not everybody shares this view, such as Head of Multi-Media at Totton College, Richard Eno, who thinks all universities should be privatised, and why would they? Not everybody has to go to university, so why should they have to pay for the people that do? Generally these people are people that have either already been to university, or people that do not want to go. However, if this is how you want to think. Why should people have to pay for the elderly to get a free bus pass or money towards their fuel bills in the winter? Why should people have to pay to give the unemployed a living? Britain is a welfare state, that's the way we wanted it, and that's the way we've got it. When, or, if you ever got into this situation, you would want these services. Education is a right, not a privilege.

The government is always banging on at us to make things fair and equal. We need to break down the class barriers. So why are were returning to elitism. The coalition is making so only the rich can afford the mountain of debt that comes with university. How is this fair and equal and breaking down the class barriers. If anything, it is making them bigger!

Does it not make more sense that an educational institution should be deciding its limited positions on a persons ability, rather than the size of their wallet.

However, its not just people that need to go to university that feel this way; a teacher at Totton College, who did not wish to be named, was very passionate about the subject, and would have gone on strike, but feared they would lose her job if they did.

If your one of those people still in favour of raising fees, think about your children. If you have, or planning to have children, think about when they go to university, either you or your child will have to face up to, or over £30,000 in debt, I'm sure you'll change your mind then!


Since first writing this, it seems that Mr Clegg and Mr Cable have given in to the mounting pressure. On BBC's Sunday morning show, 'The Andrew Marr Show', the deputy PM indicated that a cap would be placed on university fees. In an attempt to backtrack over their pledge, which seems to have gone missing since the coalition was formed. The President of the 'National Union of Students Scotland', Liam Burn said "He and his party made a simple and explicit promise to students to vote against any increase in fees", "You could be forgiven for thinking that this has all been choreographed for some time now to make students grateful for being charged twice as much for their education." I seem to remember that Nick Clegg's mantra in the election was "No more broken promises." I think he must have forgotten this somewhere along the way.


Either way, it makes no difference. A lot of future students would still struggle to pay the current fees of around £3000 a year, never mind the rises.