Model Letter to (Minister for Higher Ed) David Lammy

Rt Hon David Lammy
Minister of State for Higher Education
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA


Dear Mr Lammy,

London Metropolitan University is the largest university in London and I study there. It has 35,000 students and the equivalent of 2,300 full time staff. Press reports on the BBC, in the Evening Standard, Guardian, Independent, Times Educational Section and the local press are really frightening.

They tell us that the university will have to pay back £50 million (Independent on Sunday) and that 700 members of staff could lose their jobs (Times Higher Education). Clearly this would be the end of our university. What will become of my course, my tutors, my university and me?
I have planned my life around my study and I am deeply anxious that the University will not be there if these cuts go ahead.

Whoever made mistakes in funding it wasn’t me or my tutors. Surely if mistakes were made then those who made the mistakes should pay – not me or my fellow students.

In any case surely the funding authority has some responsibility? They accepted these figures for three years and now want to claw back the money.

At a time when universities are being encouraged to widen their educational base it seems utterly crazy to scrap the careers of 35,000 students and 2,300 full time staff in central London. If your government has billions of pounds to spend on banks and pay-offs to rich bankers, why can it not rescue the university?

The press is aware of the problems and we will not go quietly.

Please confirm that my university will be allowed to continue and prosper with or without its current management.

Yours faithfully,

Signed .........................................
Address .........................................
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