A confidential government report has recommended that university tuition fees should not rise, and that access to student grants should be extended. The review delivers a crippling blow to QUB’s support towards increasing students’ fees.

BY LORCAN MULLEN

The interim report is the result of a government review, chaired by Joanne Stuart, head of the Institute of Directors in Northern Ireland. The review was designed to offer an objective examination of tuition fees for political debates on the future of higher education in Northern Ireland.

Considering evidence provided by universities, students’ unions, and other concerned parties, Stuart’s review advises that the cap on tuition fees should remain, and that access to grants should encompass more students from middle-income homes.

The report also undermines the whole rationale behind the existence of tuition fees as a source of funding. It states that the review body “found it difficult to link the additional income generated from the introduction of variable fees with an improved student experience.”

“In essence, students are customers and will rightly demand a high level of service and the ability to see how their money is being spent… If serious consideration is to be given to increasing the fee cap, then the HEIs will need to be able to show the improvements to the quality of the student’s educational experience,” the report asserts.

The tuition fees system, introduced in 2006, currently requires students to pay £3225 per year of university study, increasing with inflation. Queen’s University, as part of the ‘Russell Group’, have led calls to more than double this figure. The stance has had political support from the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson (responsible for UK university policy), and lobbying group the CBI.

Stuart’s review echoes the complaints of student campaigners; that the additional income from increased fees has not been honestly accounted for in the expenditure of universities.

“Currently, only a portion of the income generated through the increase in student fees in 2006 has been ring fenced for reporting purposes…it is therefore difficult to report exactly on how the revenue has been spent and any improvements that have been made as a direct result of the additional income. There should be greater transparency of how additional income from fees is being spent,” the report concludes.

However, the document dismisses the common argument that increased fees restrict access to lower-income students. The draft review finds that “there is no evidence of an adverse impact on participation or in subject areas as a direct result of the introduction of variable fees”.

The final report will be read by the department for employment and learning’s Sir Reg Empey, and will also be presented to the Assembly’s DEL committee. An extensive consultation period will follow the report’s publication, ahead of any decisions on the future shape of the system. It is unclear how the Stuart Review will impact the fees debate, in light of the Government’s proposed University funding cuts.