Laura McInerney is correct when she takes aim at this mendacious government for its attempts to limit access to university education for all (Cuts to university targets in England are insulting to working-class people like me, 21 July).
In 1973, I was fortunate to attend university from a working-class comprehensive at a time when, according to Hansard, 5.57% of the population attended university.
My university was dominated by independent and grammar school students bathing in their privileged access. How wonderful it was that a Labour government some years later opened up university so there was greater access to opportunity, benefitting individual students as well as society.
To now try to crash the gears into reverse is an act of vandalism. It is quite simple: when I see the parents of independent, fee-paying schools equally happy for their children to embark on vocational courses instead of attending university, I will know that there is equal access to opportunity. Until then, we need to defend the right of working-class children to experience the life-changing opportunities that a university education can offer. Why would any credible government wish to deny this?
Gary Nethercott
Woodbridge, Suffolk
• There are some underlying assumptions of Gavin Williamson’s recent announcement on higher education (English universities must prove ‘commitment’ to free speech for bailouts, 16 July). First, that the only purpose of universities is to create wealth; second, that courses should be judged solely on graduate earnings (not taking into account, for example, the income difference generated by private/public sector routes); and third, that universities are “providers” that operate as businesses.
It may well be the case that we have too many universities and courses, and we certainly need to be increasing funding for further education, but Williamson will find that nursing courses come rather low in his rankings. Perhaps he thinks that nurses are of low value to society.
Maybe we should be alarmed that the minister in charge of our universities, and the truly world-class research they produce, is a man with a BSc in social sciences.
Rhona Jamieson
Kibworth, Leicestershire
