Leaders at Jisc, the UK’s education and technology not-for-profit, the Association of Colleges (AoC), Universities UK (UUK), and ucisa, the professional body for digital practitioners in education, have sought parity of online access for UK further education (FE) and higher education (HE) students during the coronavirus crisis.
This issue impacts on a significant number of learners. In FE, AoC figures show that 16 percent of 16 to 18-year-old learners are entitled to free school meals, and HESA data for 2018/19 shows that 18 percent of the HE student population England are in the lowest quintile on the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
While welcoming the government’s recent announcement of new, generous mobile and landline packages to ensure people are connected, chief executives of these four education and technology bodies now request that students are considered as priority group of vulnerable consumers in discussions with telecom providers.
Jisc, ucisa, UUK and the AoC plan to collaborate with governments and telecom providers to help ensure that learners can continue their education and thrive through this challenging time.
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