UK Education News

The practice of paying tuition fees for university education in the United Kingdom started in September 1998 to fund the education of undergraduate and postgraduate certificate students. They were required to pay a maximum of ｣1,000 annually for tuition as per the initiative of the Labor government under former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Prior to this, much of English universities did not charge tuition. In January 2004, further developments with regard to the funding of higher education were announced by the UK government, increasing the maximum amount of tuition fees that universities can charge to ｣3,000 per year. In the 2010/11, tuition fees further increased to a maximum of ｣3,290 every year.

The previous year 2009 saw further calls being made for funding as a result of the rising cost of education and budget cuts being imposed by the government as part of its austerity measures. As a result, the Browne Review of former chairman of BP John Browne mentioned proposals to altogether remove the cap on tuition fees.

These resulted to protests by student demonstrators who were vehemently against the idea as it will make education a privilege only available to the rich and not something the government is responsible for providing its citizens. Despite angry protests from students the House of Commons eventually authorised the bill allowing students to be charged tuition fees of up to ｣9,000 annually. In response, sixty four universities have already signified their intention to charge the maximum tuition fee when the 2012 term opens.