An army training scheme popular with many York students has been axed in new Ministry of Defence budget cuts.
The University of York runs a detachment of the University of Leeds’ Officer Training Corps programme, (OTC), which has over 70 cadets.
By cutting the OTC, the Ministry is estimated to save almost £80 million a year.
The scheme was axed after frequent criticisms appeared in the national press, with one defence source, quoted in The Times, calling it “an expensive luxury a modern army can do without.”
It has also been claimed that the majority of the cadets have no further contact with the military after completing the OTC programme.
In York, however, this is not strictly the case with three officer cadets from the detachment already achieving the rank of Second Lieutenants, meaning they have a received a Territorial Army commission from the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst.
Several further cadets have also passed the Army Officer Selection Board, guaranteeing themselves a place at Sandhurst, whilst many more state that their intention is to join the army after leaving university.
Last year LUOTC earned a bronze medal in the famous Cambrian Patrol placing them in the top half of the prestigious armed forces competition. The team for this year, captained by York third year and commissioned Second Lieutenant Sam Payne, hope to earn a silver medal, and have already begun the arduous physical training necessary to stand them in good stead for the competition in October.
Budget cuts threaten not only the detachment’s attendance at the competition, but its very existence. This is not the first hit the OTC has taken in the recession, with the TA budget slash meaning that students no longer get paid for their services, and some members of staff have also been forced to work on a voluntary basis. Despite this, the detachment has not seen a fall in attendance, and all are hoping for a policy U-turn, similar to last Autumn, to ensure the survival of their institution.