Competition: get published by the Guardian

November 14, 2011 - 13 comments

Ones to Watch has teamed up with the Guardian’s Education section to bring you a unique competition.

Want a Guardian byline in your portfolio? You could see your work published on one of guardian.co.uk’s prestigious online comment sections: the Mortarboard blog.

All you need to do is write a blog of no more than 600 words on the following question:

With fees tripling to £9,000 a year at most universities, is it inevitable that the student will become a consumer?

We’re open to any interpretation of the question that you choose but are looking for something original, engaging and well-researched, that is written clearly and accurately. The competition is open to any undergraduate or postgraduate student at UK universities.

The winning entry will be published on guardian.co.uk and on Ones to Watch.

The competition is now closed.

About the author

Rosie Taylor

Founder

Phillip

As I can’t enter the competition (not being a student) what I think an enterprising University could do is provide the ability to gain a degree online. Most lectures and course notes are available online anyway. The university can offer cut-price fees for such students (£2k a year?) with course work submitted electronically. They may have to attend 2-3 times a year (e.g. to sit exams) but the huge costs of fees, accomodation and living expenses does not need to be ‘found’.

This can allow students the opportunity to work full-time AND get a degree and enter the world without a huge debt around their neck. And (based on my experience of university) the degree course could be condensed into 1-2 years.
Suninthegloom

I believe this competition has missed a valuable contributor- year 13s- the first year group which will actually have to pay these horrendous fees. I think it is silly to make a competition concerning a particular generation most directly and then exclude them from contributing their opinions.
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bored&dissatisfied

Agreeing with suninthegloom- We are the people most affected by the huge raise in fees, should we not have a chance to be vocal about it as well as the students already safely installed in a University? Their future is a degree, ours is not so certain. Many intelligent and mature students- with the potential to enrich the future society- are missing out on a degree just because they can’t afford it.
Jenny Daniel

what’s happened to my paragraphs?!
- Takingoverme42
  
  Haha, yeah it ate my paragraphs too, the end result showing your submission made me WEEP.
  - http://onestowatchmedia.com Rosie Taylor
    
    Don’t worry – paragraphs reappeared when the entries reached us!
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tl

has the winner been announced? Never seen any article on it on Mortarboard
- K Grape
  
  Aye, I’m wondering what on earth happened to it!
http://onestowatchmedia.com Rosie Taylor

Just a quick update for those wondering – the shortlist will be announced this week, with the winner published the following week. Watch this space for more info shortly…