New Education Secretary Gove silent over fees

by Veronika Leitner

Michael Gove, the former Conservatives’ Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has been announced as the new Education Secretary following the change of government.

The Tory MP for Surrey Heath, will stay in his area of expertise but now as a member of the Cabinet.

No announcement regarding a minister for Higher Education has yet been made.

Gove is thought to have shaped the majority of his party’s Education policies, which focus heavily on “supporting teaching and learning” in primary and secondary schools.

Differing views

Some have suggested that the silence over Higher Education issues could be due the fact the two coalition partners have completely different views on the subject - especially tuition fees.

Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, stated two weeks ago that his party’s proposals "couldn’t be more different from the Conservative plans."

The Liberal Democrats want to phase out student fees and completely abolish students’ up-front contribution by 2016.

Many Lib Dems, including Nick Clegg and David Laws, have signed a pledge opposing any increase in student fees.

They also committed to challenging the incoming government “to introduce a fairer alternative”, describing the Tory plans as “deeply flawed, absurd, and an incoherent muddle.”

David Cameron’s party manifesto did not mention any changes to students’ financial contribution but offered an early repayment discount of 10 per cent if graduates make monthly payments of £500.

This proposal was dismissed by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) as increasing the governments costs in the long-run.

Furthermore, only high-income graduates would be able to commit to large instalments.

'Idealism'

The Liberal Democrats offered students free education, a proposal “motivated by idealism”, according to David Cameron.

The Instititue for Fiscal Studies (IFS) figures show that the Lib Dem policies on higher education could prove to be both unfair and expensive. While university will be free to students, the estimated £1.8bn annual costs will hit non-graduate taxpayers.

The Liberal Democrats will also face angry reactions should they fail to keep their promise to students, who are thought to have accounted for a large share of their votes.