Mark Firth a steel manufacturer, Master Cutler, and Lord Mayor of Sheffield once lived here in Firth House.
The listed building is currently having a little work done. There has been some wear and tear over time. Firth House has been the home for many University departments but after the final department recently moved out I believe that the building no longer belongs to the University. Presumably the new owner has decided that this is an opportune moment to get things done.
My first experience of Firth House was when it was the location for the Department of Continuing Education. This was an arm of the University that provided a wide variety of courses for the public. These courses included many on local history, geography, guides to local flora and fauna (with field trips), and others on languages. There were courses on all sorts of things that would be of interest to people in or out of work, or retired, including one course which was designed to get people up to speed for entry to University.
The Department of Continuing Education has long since moved on, changed name, and moved on, and changed name, etc. This constantly shifting base suggests that it isn't the most fashionable of departments. But the value it gave to the local community was significant and these types of courses were run by many colleges and universities across the country.
The cost of the courses went up over time, as was to be expected. The introduction of tuition fees however changed the make up of which services it was practical to provide. The new fees effectively put paid to the general courses and now very few further education establishments run them. The focus now is almost exclusively on part-time or full time degree courses or certificates in higher education. Most of the course lecture times are now during the day whereas previously they were mainly in the evening. If you are working in a traditional nine to five job then these courses are not available to you.
An effect of the introduction of tuition fees has been to price the general courses out of the market, they may have been worthwhile but they are not profitable enough to run. And while the loss of those courses has a great impact on those wishing to continue to learn for the pleasure of learning there has been a much greater impact on those that wish to enhance their career prospects. I know many people that returned to education purely because these courses were available in the evenings and because they were affordable.
The changes to the fee system and how these types of courses in colleges and universities are now organised will put off many people. Barely any of the people I knew that took courses in the past would be able to make their way into University or enhance their career prospects now.
How is this fair and equitable that the low paid or the unemployed no longer have an opportunity to progress?
When tuition fees were introduced by a previous Labour government this opened the door for continued increases. Under the Tories further increases have taken place and further burdens placed on the poor and low paid, the removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) in England is one example.
The removal of EMA directly affects students from less well off backgrounds as it was often the enabler for them to stay in education beyond the age of 16. And now the Tories, without a vote, without open debate, and not mentioned at any point by them previously in their manifesto or leader debates, have undemocratically decided to scrap maintenance grants.
Maintenance grants are available to students from the lowest income backgrounds and are to cover living costs of up to £3387 per year. Those students fortunate enough to be able to get to university from poorer backgrounds are now also under attack. All of this because it is unpalatable to fund education from taxes. And the losers in all of this are those that haven't been fortunate enough to have been born into reasonably comfortable homes.
It stinks.
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