Northern Ireland

Students ‘will not tolerate' any tuition fee rise

Fergal McFerran, president of the NUS-USI
Fergal McFerran, president of the NUS-USI Fergal McFerran, president of the NUS-USI

A PAPER outlining future tuition fees options must be seen as a test of character for politicians, students have urged.

The broad options include keeping the existing fee structure, introducing a model of fee-free higher education similar to Scotland or increasing fees up to £9,000 a year.

A rise in tuition fees in Northern Ireland to levels commensurate with England, the paper says, would "provide more overall resource than under the existing system of public grants and tuition fees".

The NUS-USI said the paper must be seen as a test of character for any future Executive.

Union president Fergal McFerran said it provided political parties an opportunity to outline how ambitious they could be for the future ahead of the 2016 assembly elections.

"This paper and the options outlined within it present an opportunity to commence progress towards delivering an end to tuition fees," he said.

"We believe that there should be free education and that there can be no increase in tuition fees. Across the world there are countries which fund tertiary education entirely through public funding. We're very clear, we see this as a question of political priorities.

"In the coming weeks and months political parties will be setting out their stall and putting themselves before the electorate. We want to know whether they believe it would be fair to continue with the failed tuition fees experiment by lumping more and more debt on students. If there is one thing that should allow for consensus in politics here it is the future of our students and our young people, this is an opportunity to reflect their hopes and ambitions."

The student movement, Mr McFerran added, was committed to continuing to engage with politicians on the issue, "but we will not tolerate any suggestion of raising tuition fees".