Funding 

Are you concerned about postgraduate funding? The National Postgraduate Council has filed a petition with the Prime Minister to address the lack of financial support for postgraduate students. This is the statement by the NPC:

Postgraduate students face hardship and financial difficulty as a large majority are part-time and increasingly not continuing directly from undergraduate study. Most postgraduate students are self funding and are limited in their access to funding.

We (the NPC) want to see fairer funding of postgraduates, research and taught, which would give people the ability to continue their studies regardless of financial circumstances.

Postgraduates who dont receive Research Council grants or who are unable to access other forms of bursaries should be able to access a student loan, similar to the undergraduate one.

Fairer funding for postgraduates is not just fair but would also contribute to personal development, social and society development and produce an economic workforce more skilled and capable of sustaining the knowledge economy.

The petition (viewable at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Postgrad-Loans/) is now closed, but raised 1,955 signatures.

You can read the Government's response to the petition at http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page11622.asp.

There is also a facebook group called 'Fairer funding for postgrads?'