What's World Class Funding all about?

In October 2007 Gordon Brown stated:

“our ambition must be nothing less than to be world class in
education...”

Yet only 3 OECD* countries in Europe and North America spend less than the UK on higher education†.

All of these countries spend more on higher education than the UK:
FINLAND - 1.7%
DENMARK - 1.6%
SWEDEN - 1.5%
CANADA - 1.4%
SWITZERLAND - 1.4%
GREECE - 1.4%
NORWAY - 1.3%
BELGIUM - 1.2%
AUSTRIA - 1.2%
POLAND - 1.2%
FRANCE - 1.1%
IRELAND - 1.0%
HOLLAND - 1.0%
AMERICA - 1.0%

The 3 that spend less:
CZECH REPUBLIC - 0.8%
SLOVAKIA - 0.7%
ITALY - 0.6%

*Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
†Expenditure per GDP

The average OECD country’s expenditure on higher education is 1.1% per GDP.

Based on 2005 figures, if we met this average, our higher education system would have an extra £2.5 billion per year!

What could this money do?

• Increase the number of lecturers by 67%
• Reduce fees by £1000 per student, per year

Prime Minster Brown, IF WE ARE TO HAVE A "WORLD CLASS EDUCATION”, THEN WE MUST HAVE WORLD CLASS FUNDING.

Why call on the government to meet the OECD average on higher education spending?

1. This is a campaign Universities can support.
2. This is a campaign that doesn’t endorse the current system.
3. This is a campaign that asks for what is not only reasonable, but right.
4. This is a campaign we can win!