POsT GRADUATe students are facing an inflation-busting fee increase in a move that will net Queen's University Belfast an extra £1.7 million.
Thousands of full-time students taking 'taught' courses are being asked to pay almost £500 more this year compared to last. Those taking part-time studies are also contending with higher bills.
The rise of more than 12 per cent far exceeds the rate of inflation, although Queen's says its fees remain favourable with other comparative institutions.
masters students are required to pay annual tuition fees to cover the cost of registration, tuition, supervision and examination.
This is the second year in a row there has been a price hike for postgraduate taught courses. in 2011/12, both taught and research PhDs cost £3,732. since then, there have been modest increases in reserach fees, broadly in line with inflation.
Taught fees, however, have spiralled - rising to £3,920 last year and now £4,400.
There are approximately 3,600 students taking taught courses, meaning this year's increase of £480 each is worth an extra £1,728,000 to Queen's.
The group that will see the greatest difference are part-time students, who typically extend their one-year course over two or three years. some part-time students told The Irish News they felt aggrieved.
The change means they must now pay more per module this year than they did when they first enrolled.
Queen's said, however, that part-time fees were charged according to 'CATs points', "based on the fee rate for the course of study in any particular year".
"Queen's is committed to providing an outstanding postgraduate student experience, offering high quality and sustainable education," a spokeswoman said.
"As a result of a three year benchmarking exercise, our postgraduate
taught fees have been realigned with rates across the sector.
"These remain favourable with other comparative institutions, including the Russell Group of the UK's leading re-search-intensive universities of which Queen's is a member, where average postgraduate taught fees are £6,000." she added that information that fees may vary from year to year was listed clearly on the fees and funding section of the university website.
"students studying the same PG taught course pay the same fees as each other irrespective of mode or year of study," she said.
At the University of Ulster, meanwhile, the cheapest masters course this year will be £3,890 up from £3,770.
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