A full rundown of the Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and Green party manifestos as they spell out policies on adult, further and higher education, plus trade union issues. The party manifestos – FE Adult and HE (.pdf) The party manifestos – FE Adult and HE (.doc)

The excellent Campaign for Science & Engineering (CaSE) wrote to the leaders of the three main political parties asking them to set out their policies for science and engineering in advance of the election. They’ve so far heard back from David Cameron and Nick Clegg. It’s well worth taking a look at the replies. For [...]

Education issues are largely devolved in both Wales and Scotland. However there are some issues which are covered in the Plaid Cymru and SNP mafestos: Plaid Cymru: We support a Welsh-language Coleg Ffederal with an independent stream of funding and an independent student register. We will also continue to campaign for a National Veterinary School for Wales. We [...]

The Liberal Democrat manifesto has now been published. This is what they say about post-16 education. On science and research they say: creating a dynamic environment for science and innovation Britain’s future depends on a vibrant research base and the ability of innovators to exploit the country’s intellectual capital to generate new homegrown high tech [...]

Interesting article by the Times science editor Mark Henderson on science in the manifestos (so far): Manifesto watch: Labour and the Tories on science EDIT: Mark has now followed-up with a view on the Lib Dem manifesto on science: Manifesto watch: the Liberal Democrats on science

The Conservative manifesto has now been published. This is what they have to say on post-16 education: Improve skills and strengthen higher education Developing economies are able to provide highly-skilled work at a fraction of the cost of British labour. The only way we can compete is by dramatically improving the skills of Britain’s workforce, yet thousands of young people leave [...]

Labour’s election manifesto has now been launched. The key points on post-16 education are: Spending increased on frontline Sure Start and free childcare, schools and 16-19 learning. Every young person guaranteed education or training until 18, with 75 per cent going on to higher education, or completing an advanced apprenticeship or technician level training, by [...]

UCU today demanded that the Conservative Party comes clean on its plans for university funding after David Cameron told the Today Programme that university fees were here to stay. The Tory leader’s comments appear to put him at odds with his universities secretary, David Willetts, who said recently that universities had not yet made the [...]

Just been having a quick peruse of post-16 education in the BBC’s rundown of key party policy from the three main parties. Conservatives: ‘create 10,000 extra university places in 2010 and 100,000 additional apprenticeships and training places a year; give bonuses for early repayment of student loans.’ Labour: ‘encourage universities to set Academies up as well [...]