The uni should focus more on widening access for poorer students, and less on expensive developments
The new ‘student forum’ will replace the Museum of Antiquities to create a “pleasant green space” Photography: Elliot Bentley
Last week I wrote a news article for The Courier on the “student forum”; a new open area to replace the derelict (and now demolished) Museum of Antiquities. The University’s press office describes the planned work as being “a pleasant green space, with landscaping and artwork”.
Not half a bad idea, really. Even with the current pile of rubble standing, the removal of the Museum considerably opens up the space and gives a nice view of the Armstrong building. The focal point of the area is to be Generation, a work by Newcastle graduate Joe Hillier consisting of three giant heads (and currently on display in the quadrant).
So it all sounds pretty good, right? Well, that is until you hear the price of the development: a whopping £1.5m. It’s an incredible amount, especially when you consider it’s being spent on a space the size of a moderately large back garden.
What could possibly justify such a large amount of money for such a simple development? It boggles the mind – it’s not as if complex construction work is being carried out, or any state-of-the-art computers are being installed.
Then again, I suppose it’s probably easy for the University’s accountants to lose their sense of perspective. After all, the Uni’s total income last year was £382m; and as investments in the campus go, it’s a pretty minor one.
The shiny King’s Gate building, for example, cost £35m (although plans for a VIP lounge, which would have cost an additional £850,000, were eventually scrapped); the unfinished INTO block next to the Herschel building, set to provide accommodation and lecture theatres exclusively for international students, is costing another £34m.
While, even for the University these are massive investments, they still only take up a fraction of its development budget. According to documents freely available on the University’s website, improvements planned for the campus from 2010-2015 will total a cool £130m.
From that perspective, £1.5m is a drop in the ocean for the Uni’s budget; a mere 1% of its five-year plan. It’s still, however, a silly amount to spend on a “pleasant green space”; the equivalent of 160 bursaries.
And on the subject of bursaries: it’s interesting to note that the Uni’s £130m development fund is more than double the £55 million pledged in October for “bursaries, fee waivers and activities [to help] widen participation” over the next five years. It speaks volumes that more money is being spent on artfully landscaped plazas and shiny administrative offices than making the University as open as possible.
What use is this Student Forum, anyway? When was the last time you saw anyone sitting around outside on campus, other than the couple of weeks in May when the sun comes out? A cynic might accuse the University of building this “student forum” merely to impress visitors on open days, rather than genuinely improve the campus for existing students in a practical way.
Who knows, perhaps I’ll be proven wrong next year when the “student forum” becomes a cornerstone of student life. Even if it does, however, I still doubt it will be worth the exorbitant cost; and I fear that Newcastle University is placing too much importance on impressing wealthy prospective students than enticing those who wouldn’t consider it in the first place.
Do we need the new Student Forum?
Posted December 12, 2011
The uni should focus more on widening access for poorer students, and less on expensive developments
The new ‘student forum’ will replace the Museum of Antiquities to create a “pleasant green space” Photography: Elliot Bentley
Last week I wrote a news article for The Courier on the “student forum”; a new open area to replace the derelict (and now demolished) Museum of Antiquities. The University’s press office describes the planned work as being “a pleasant green space, with landscaping and artwork”.
Not half a bad idea, really. Even with the current pile of rubble standing, the removal of the Museum considerably opens up the space and gives a nice view of the Armstrong building. The focal point of the area is to be Generation, a work by Newcastle graduate Joe Hillier consisting of three giant heads (and currently on display in the quadrant).
So it all sounds pretty good, right? Well, that is until you hear the price of the development: a whopping £1.5m. It’s an incredible amount, especially when you consider it’s being spent on a space the size of a moderately large back garden.
What could possibly justify such a large amount of money for such a simple development? It boggles the mind – it’s not as if complex construction work is being carried out, or any state-of-the-art computers are being installed.
Then again, I suppose it’s probably easy for the University’s accountants to lose their sense of perspective. After all, the Uni’s total income last year was £382m; and as investments in the campus go, it’s a pretty minor one.
The shiny King’s Gate building, for example, cost £35m (although plans for a VIP lounge, which would have cost an additional £850,000, were eventually scrapped); the unfinished INTO block next to the Herschel building, set to provide accommodation and lecture theatres exclusively for international students, is costing another £34m.
While, even for the University these are massive investments, they still only take up a fraction of its development budget. According to documents freely available on the University’s website, improvements planned for the campus from 2010-2015 will total a cool £130m.
From that perspective, £1.5m is a drop in the ocean for the Uni’s budget; a mere 1% of its five-year plan. It’s still, however, a silly amount to spend on a “pleasant green space”; the equivalent of 160 bursaries.
And on the subject of bursaries: it’s interesting to note that the Uni’s £130m development fund is more than double the £55 million pledged in October for “bursaries, fee waivers and activities [to help] widen participation” over the next five years. It speaks volumes that more money is being spent on artfully landscaped plazas and shiny administrative offices than making the University as open as possible.
What use is this Student Forum, anyway? When was the last time you saw anyone sitting around outside on campus, other than the couple of weeks in May when the sun comes out? A cynic might accuse the University of building this “student forum” merely to impress visitors on open days, rather than genuinely improve the campus for existing students in a practical way.
Who knows, perhaps I’ll be proven wrong next year when the “student forum” becomes a cornerstone of student life. Even if it does, however, I still doubt it will be worth the exorbitant cost; and I fear that Newcastle University is placing too much importance on impressing wealthy prospective students than enticing those who wouldn’t consider it in the first place.