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Whichever party is in power next year, top of the agenda will be reducing the deficit. Considering there has even been talk of cuts to front line services (i.e. health), there seems little doubt that the university budget will be significantly trimmed. Universities have cut staff, dropped courses and some are even alleged to have been fiddling student numbers. With all this in mind, can future university students realistically expect for tuition fees to remain at their current level?

If our universities are to maintain their position as world class institutions, it seems inevitable that tuition fees will have to rise. Of course this is not what most future university students want to hear, but other alternatives that are currently being mooted are far worse in my opinion. For example, ‘Lord’ Mandelson has recently pushed for private companies to sponsor courses in exchange for first pick on new recruits and adapting the syllabus. In my opinion, anybody but academics guiding the subject matter is a dangerous idea that would seriously de-value the quality of the education offered at our universities.

I’m sorry to say to all of you considering university next year but at the moment I’m in favour of raising tuition fees. I’m more than happy (and hope to be!) convinced otherwise over the next few months however.