Along with students, university chiefs call the plans of tuition fees hike in the United Kingdom 'morally wrong' and merely a 'sticking plaster'. They made these statements as the Labour Party government is planning a rise of tuition fees for the first time in eight years.
Furious education leaders accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's government of asking already debt-ridden students to 'foot the bill' to keep the lights and heating on in their universities.
In addition, they warned that 'universities cannot carry on with being funded by an ever-increasing burden of debt on students'.
Amid fears of a growing financial crisis in the sector, the Government is hiking charges for students from next year.
In a statement to the House of Commons, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson revealed domestic students will now face maximum fees of £9,535 per year.
Tuition fees had previously remained frozen at £9,250 per year in England since 2017.
angry union leaders accused Mr. Keir Starmer's government of asking already debt-ridden students to 'foot the bill' to keep the lights and heating on in their universities
In a statement to the House of Commons, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson revealed domestic students will now face maximum fees of £9,535 per year
Ms Phillipson said the tuition fees cap was being increased by £285 per year due to the 'severe financial challenges' facing educational entities.
She said there had been a 'significant real-terms decline in their income' due to rampant inflation in recent years.
But the National Union of Students said students were being asked to 'foot the bill' to keep the lights and heating on in their universities and to prevent their courses from closing down amid the 'crisis'.
Alex Stanley, vice president for higher education of the NUS, said: 'This is, and can only ever be, a sticking plaster.
'Universities cannot continue to be funded by an ever-increasing burden of debt on students.'
Earlier this year the University and College Union (UCU) warned that universities faced 'catastrophe' if they were not given an emergency rescue package by the Government.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said the tuition fee rise was 'economically and morally wrong'.
She said: 'Taking more money from debt-ridden students and handing it to overpaid underperforming vice-chancellors is ill conceived and won't come close to addressing the sector's core issues.'
Nicola Ranger, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said: 'As student nurse numbers collapse in every English region, ministers decide to make a bad situation worse.
'Today's announcement will discourage more people from joining the profession. That means fewer highly-skilled staff on wards and in communities.
University leaders had been calling for ministers to lend a hand to institutions struggling financially due to high inflation and a fall in international students. Due to inflation eroding the real-terms value of domestic fees, universities have been left increasingly clinging on foreign students, who can be charged significantly higher fees than UK students.
Source: Daily Mail
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
