text_body: --- DIVISION TITLE ---
  
  Opposition Day - Higher and Further Education
  
  --- MOTION EFFECT ---
  
  
  
  The text of the rejected motion was:
  
  That this House 
  notes with concern that September 2012 marks the first term where students will face the trebling of student fees to Â£9,000 a year; 
  further notes that barriers are also being put up for vocational routes, with direct Government support for learners cut for level 3 courses and above, which includes apprenticeships and access courses to university, and with Higher Education-style loans being introduced, costing learners up to Â£4,000 a year; 
  and calls on the Government to change course and, as a first step, reduce tuition fees to Â£6,000, funded by reversing the corporation tax cut for banks and requiring graduates earning over Â£65,000 a year to pay higher interest rates on their student loans.
  
  following the rejection of the above text the MPs agreed to replace it with:
  
  That this House congratulates all those who have recently achieved their educational qualifications; notes the number of full-time higher education students in 2012 is expected to be higher than in any year under the previous administration; believes that the pupil premium, which is designed to raise the attainment of pupils from low-income households, represents a powerful mechanism for widening participation in higher education; welcomes the increased spending on widening participation in higher education, including the higher maintenance grants, the National Scholarship Programme and the extension of tuition loans to part-time students; further notes the Institute for Fiscal Studiesâ recent finding that the new student finance system âis actually more progressive than its predecessor: the poorest 29 per cent of graduates will be better off under the new systemâ; supports the extra information provided to prospective students through the student finance tour and the Key Information Set; further supports the efforts being made to ensure the best possible match between students and institutions, with one-quarter of all undergraduate places removed from centralised number controls; and congratulates the Government for working with employers to deliver an unprecedented increase in apprenticeships, with 800,000 new starts since September 2010.
  --- COMMENTS AND NOTES ---
  
  (put thoughts and notes for other researchers here)
  