Published at 11:25, Monday, 08 February 2010

University of Cumbria students feel let down by cuts and uncertainty they fear may jeopardise their futures.

That’s hardly surprising. They were invited to bring their dreams to the fledgling university on promise of an emerging centre of excellence. Realisation now is that they may have misplaced their faith.

Current troubles will hit students hard with a double whammy.

Not only has the university pulled the plug on Carlisle’s planned Caldew Riverside campus, cut courses and axed staff but the Government has also imposed national funding and intake caps which will severely limit alternative options and development.

One disillusioned young man put the sense of foreboding shared with fellow students succinctly.

“If it carries on the way it is, it’s going to implode,” he said.

That fear must also be harboured – if only privately – by university chiefs who had high hopes for lifting standards of education in Cumbria to new levels before being caught up in cruel funding issues.

Disappointment runs right through Carlisle. Regeneration and population growth was anchored on university success. To unhappy students that’s the least of their worries though.

They came here to learn and prepare positively for chosen career paths. They brought their dreams in good faith and with high hopes, only to have dreams shattered and hopes dashed by enforced shrinkage and narrowed horizons.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk