THEY might seem unlikely bedfellows, but the student movement has an ally in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The OECD is backing calls for the reinstatement of the Educational Maintenance Allowance.

In its latest ‘Going for Growth’ report the most dominant global voice in economic issues suggested that improving the educational achievement of young people with an EMA could boost youth unemployment in Britain and ‘propel’ economic growth to aid recovery from recession and close the budget deficit.

The Government has suggested it is committed to introducing a more targeted education allowance, following significant and volatile protest, but has budgeted only £180m as opposed to the original £570m that would have been spent on supporting young people from poor families staying on in education.

If you add to this the fact that it appears the vast majority of universities will also be charging the full £9,000 per term fees for degree courses, support for young people to achieve their maximum potential, especially young people from less well-off households, has dropped significantly.

The world looks very different for an 18-19 year old today than it did just one year ago. Furthermore, it cannot be ignored that youth unemployment, and in particular long-term youth unemployment, is rising to levels that should be seen as a major cause for alarm.

Whilst there is a reduction in publicly-funded support for young people to access learning and skills the capacity of further education institutions in the region is also in decline. Six of the North East’s colleges have announced over 800 job losses, with both teaching staff and administrative support staff facing the axe.

This represents over half of all FE job cuts that are happening around the UK at the minute, showing once again that this region is bearing the brunt of public spending reductions.

Colleges and universities are stating that the reason for these job losses is the significant reduction in part of their funding package from the Skills Funding Agency as the Government nationally has changed the way in which further education is funded, with some institutions losing millions of former ‘adult responsive’ budgets.

It is hard to see how the North East will maximise the opportunities that are being identified across a range of sectors while the funding for skills and learning is in such short supply.

This might well be short term loss leading to longer term failure.

:: Kevin Rowan, regional secretary, Northern TUC