UCU demonstrators prepare for the march with flyers, fancy dress and props. Photo: Michael Northcott

Students and lecturers across London are putting the final touches to preparations for a mass demonstration against education cuts and tuition fee rises tomorrow.

The march, organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) and the University and Colleges Union (UCU), will begin at 11.15  with a gathering at Horse Guards Parade, in Whitehall and will march  past the Houses of Parliament from 12.30 ending with a rally at Millbank at 1.15pm.

Higher Education institutions face cuts of £2.9 billion in their public funding including the  entire teaching grant for the Arts and Humanties. The Coalition government proposes a doubling in tuition fees to £6,000 a year, with a higher bracket of up to £9,000, to fill the financial void created.  The demonstration is predicted to attract thousands students and university staff from London and across the UK.

In Lewisham, Goldsmiths Student Union was the focus of national media coverage for the second time in a week, as demonstrators gathered to prepare banners for the march, watched by a Sky News team.

James Haywood, Communications and Campaigns Officer on the Goldsmiths Student Union said: “Preparations are going well. It’s been full on.

“We’ve been knocking on doors on at student halls, advertising on social networking sites, and we have sent out an email to all students. We’re expecting a big turn out,” he added.

Demonstrators from Goldsmiths will be meeting at 10am outside the Richard Hoggart Building.

Tower Hamlets’ Queen Mary University is also expecting to send a significant contingent. Sam Creighton, Vice President for Communications at Queen Mary Student Union, said 500 signatures backing the protest had been gathered.

Students from the university will meet at the Blomeley Centre at 9am, with participants encouraged to wear fancy dress.

Both sets of demonstrators will meet fellow London students, congregating at the London School of Economics, student union in Holborn, before converging with another group marching from the University of London Union in Bloomsbury. From there they will join the main group at Horse Guards Parade.

“We are taking to the streets in unprecedented numbers to tell politicians that enough is enough,” said Aaron Porter, President of the National Union of Students.

Eastlondonlines will be following the march live throughout the day, as well as Twitter