Angry lecturers meet MPs over �50m university cuts
OUTRAGED lecturers and students protesting against plans to axe 550 jobs at their university declared “the gloves are off” when they packed a committee room meeting in the Houses of Parliament to protest to MPs about the “devastating” �50m cuts planned at the London Metropolitan University
OUTRAGED lecturers and students protesting against plans to axe 550 jobs at their university declared “the gloves are off” when they met in Parliament today.
The packed a committee room meeting in the Houses of Parliament to protest to East London MP George Galloway about the “devastating” �50 million cuts planned at the London Metropolitan University.
The cuts are being debated in the Commons next week.
RISK
The Bethnal Green & Bow MP called the meeting at Westminster following the warning that nearly a-quarter of the university’s staff are at risk at the campuses in Whitechapel and Aldgate, in his constituency, as well as at Moorgate and Holloway.
The university, the largest in London with 34,000 students, insists the cutbacks are necessary to repay �50m after auditors found drop-out rates were higher than stated and having been overpaid’ by Whitehall by �15m a year since 2005.
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But protesters insist lecturers should not have to pay for the university’s mistakes.
DEVASTATING
Galloway, together with Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn whose constituency includes the main Holloway campus, has pledged to fight the cuts which he says could have a devastating effect on places for school pupils who want to go onto university. The two MPs plan to lead next week’s Commons debate.
Students, meanwhile, have been occupying the cafeteria at the Whitechapel campus in Commercial Road since Monday.
