Education Return and Awarding Qualifications in 2021 Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Education Return and Awarding Qualifications in 2021

Zarah Sultana Excerpts
Thursday 25th February 2021

(3 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Zarah Sultana Portrait Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Lab) [V]
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University students have been treated appallingly. They were encouraged to return to campuses in September with the promise of a normal university experience, only to be fenced in, fobbed off and unable to access rooms they had signed for. They have paid an estimated £1 billion for empty, unused accommodation, and the impact on their mental health has been dire. Students at more than 50 universities, including Coventry and Warwick in my constituency, are now on strike. Will the Secretary of State listen to the rent strikers and offer rent refunds and rent reliefs, and finally put an end to fees and the marketised higher education system that has driven this injustice?

Gavin Williamson Portrait Gavin Williamson
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The hon. Lady is probably aware that my hon. Friend the Universities Minister laid out a set of packages of support for university students as part of a £70 million hardship fund. I would be happy to get her to write to the hon. Lady with the details of that.