International News

Letter from London Top-up fees stimulus College corridors are buzzing with students this autumn as universities finally get the new academic year underway. British academia seems to be bursting at the seams as students fill every lecture hall, classroom, cafeteria and university bar in the scramble to be educated and entertained, fed and housed. Space is at a premium in lecture theatres, classrooms, canteens and halls of residence, all of which need to be bigger, better and more convenient. A glaring omission in the carefully crafted information put out by universities in glossy literature and websites, is the size of classes, which according to a senior university lecturer have quadrupled from 16 to 64 during the eight years of his teaching. It’s surprising this issue has received little attention thus far because in the UK, parents who can afford to do so select private schools for their children and demand detailed information on class sizes, and teacher-pupil ratios. But at the university level class sizes suddenly become irrelevant. The introduction of top-up fees of upto £3,000 (Rs.2.4 lakh) per year at the discretion of institutional managements which will become a reality in Autumn 2006, may help the situation. Some universities will spend part of their additional income on improving staff-student ratios, now that it seems likely that almost all universities will levy the maximum £3000 for undergraduate courses. Student competition will be for bursaries offered to those from less well-advantaged backgrounds. University and college managements are already drawing up spending plans for 2006 onwards. Much of the additional revenue will go into upgrading infrastructure, libraries, computer rooms and student accommodation. Some universities are already commissioning market research to ascertain student preferences. For instance Anglia Polytechnic University is investigating what students will demand when they pay more. The higher fee-paying student is expected to be a discerning individual, who will demand excellent leisure and study facilities and high quality living quarters. Parents are sure to inspect residential accommodation so universities are gearing to provide comfortable ensuite rooms, storage space and multiple TV rooms in halls of residence. Evidently students’ leisure activities will be well provided for with universities already going the extra mile to provide high quality facilities. The University of Plymouth for example, has extended the library and is planning to improve water sports facilities so students can go sailing in their leisure time. The University of Exeter, which has estimated that it will rake in an additional £2 million (Rs.16 crore) annually from top-up fees, is planning to use the money for a variety of projects, including recruiting additional staff. All indications are that the mere prospect of charging top-up fees is actually breathing new life into universities. Although everyone agrees that the additional incomes derived will be hardly enough to compensate for years of under-funding, large and small plans and building projects are already underway in universities across the country. Marketing initiatives resulting in intensifying competition between higher education institutions look set to make life a lot better for…