Thursday, September 11, 2008

No Decision on Fees For At Least A Year

It is reported in today's Irish Independent (here) that no Government decision about the return of third level tuition fees will be taken for at least a year. Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe said he would have to consider the implications of the return of fees in terms of access to higher education.
"Mr O'Keeffe said it had been claimed in the past that the PAYE sector was not being treated in the same way as the self-employed and this issue was being looked at by a tax expert in terms of equity."

On a related note, Universities UK last week released a report on tuition fees in England: “Variable tuition fees in England: assessing their impact on students and higher education institutions”. The publication is the third annual report that Universities UK has prepared on the issue. According to the European University Association (here):

“Overall there is nothing in the available data that indicates that the introduction of variable fees in England has yet had any lasting impact on the level or pattern of demand for full-time undergraduate education,” the report says.

Meanwhile, John Walshe also writes about the funding crisis in higher education in yesterday's Irish Independent. According to his story (available here):

The latest cutbacks in UCD really take the biscuit. Things have got so tough on campus that official visitors would be lucky to get a cuppa, never mind anything to go with it. "The provision of tea, coffee, biscuits, etc, should be discouraged and reduced," says a memo sent to staff...

On a more serious note, UCD is expecting a deficit of €15m this year and worse next year unless action is taken to control costs. The university will have to find savings equal to 9-10pc for 2009.

1 comment:

Kevin Denny said...

Rationing of toilet paper would clearly be a good economy:the current zero price is inefficient. UCD also provides visitors to the campus with free air, throwing away a potentially lucrative revenue stream.