PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
OPEN UNIVERSITY SUPPORT FOR PART-TIME STUDENTS (29 June 2010)

That this House welcomes the Government's commitment to review the system of financial support for part-time students; further welcomes the contribution to the Higher Education Funding and Student Finance Review of The Open University, the United Kingdom's only university dedicated to distance learning, which is campaigning to obtain a fair settlement for part-time students; believes that part-time higher education is ideally placed to help the UK re-skill out of the recession through its ability to provide flexible, dynamic and innovative provision; further believes that The Open University has played a vital role in promoting social mobility and in widening participation through flexible part-time provision; further believes that all students, whether full-time of part-time, should be eligible either for fee grants or fee loans depending on income; and calls on the Government to create a single integrated system of institutional funding and student support in England that draws no distinction between modes of study.

Sponsored by:
Iain Stewart (Conservative)