T otal E quality F or S tudents is about equality of opportunity and equal access to time and resources for all regardless of disability, gender, ethnicity or a low income background.  This should be the overarching aim of all education that unlocks the full potential in our citizens. Many students are held back from achieving their full potential because of their circumstances. Even one student failing because of financial pressures on time and resources is a tragedy – one casualty is one too many. At University did you: Repay fees? Work part-time? Have what you needed? Have a life? Succeed? Many now do not have these basic advantages. If you did, then please do something about it.  “ Courses of higher education should be available for all those who are qualified by ability and attainment to pursue them and who wish to do so .” Robbins Report, 1963 This did not include “ and as customers have at least £9000 per year available for fees and can feed and house themselv

When is a University not a University? Belfast Telegraph Article 20th October 2015 see: http://www.belfasttelegraph. co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/ were-all-poorer-if-profit-not- learning-is-bottom-line- 34122818.html#comments When it is a business perhaps?    The recent episodes of Queen’s: A University Challenged on BBC were illuminating.   They shed some light onto the vast extent of an operation that is typical of a modern university.   But shocking to many was the incessant stressing of Queen’s as a “business”. That the programme makers dwelled on this reflects an emphasis deliberately concocted by the management. This uncovering of Queen’s as a “business” reveals an inherent dilemma and tension affecting many universities. The programme’s episodes serve us well by opening up the debate about what a university is, what it is for and its mission in our advanced society.   For if indeed it is a “business” it is a strange one.   Strange for a business to be regulated by Royal Ch