Pakistan Education Network

The review should determine what happens to university fees

The details of a review into fees paid by England’s university students are to be announced on Monday.

The government will outline the scope of the inquiry and name the person who will lead it in a written statement to the House of Commons.

The review is expected to be wide-ranging, looking at various funding options, but will not be finished until after the next general election.

Students have been staging campaigns against any increase in fees.

A new series of protests by the National Union of Students have been run across England since the start of the university term.

Students in England and Northern Ireland, and non-Welsh students in Wales have to pay tuition fees of up to £3,225 a year.

Welsh students studying in Wales pay fees of £1,285 while there are no tuition fees in Scotland.

STUDENT FEES (2009-10) England: £3,225 p.a. N. Ireland: £3,225 p.a. Scotland: free to Scots, £1,775 to other UK Wales: £1,285 to the Welsh, £3,225 to other UK Students from elsewhere in the EU pay the same as those locally Those from outside the EU pay whatever the university charges

But some university vice-chancellors are reported to want to raise tuition fees to as much as £7,000 a year.

When variable tuition fees were introduced in England in 2006, allowing universities to set their own fees up to this level, the government promised there would be a full review before any lifting of that limit.

With recession cuts looming, all sides are keen to get their message across in the debate over who should pay what in higher education.

Earlier this week, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson warned that the higher and further education sectors faced “increasingly tight fiscal constraints” and needed to raise more of their own funds.

“We will also have to look at the contribution that individuals make to the cost of higher education, which we will do through the independent fees review,” he said.

The Confederation of British Industry angered students by saying they should accept higher tuition fees as “inevitable” and pay more interest on their student loans.

NUS president Wes Streeting said: “Little over a month ago, the CBI called for a rise in fees, and polls have found that most university vice-chancellors would like to charge students £5,000 or more a year.

“Students are already graduating with over £20,000 of debt, and in the current economic climate it is extremely arrogant to argue that they should pay even more. We believe the review must look at alternatives to the disastrous system of top up fees.”

The NUS says students should be properly represented in the review.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Thousands of students in England are still facing delays to loans and grants weeks after the start of term, according to the latest figures.

According to the Student Loans Company there were 132,000 “applicants who have not received first maintenance payment after approval” on October 25th.

This total will include applicants who failed to take places – but at least 60,000 are still being processed.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson criticised the delays on Tuesday.

The loans company had assured students that all payments would be processed by the end October – and the next update on figures next week will show whether this has been achieved.

(more…)

Popularity: 29% [?]

Education is must for elected officials
Peshawar: According to a Gilani Research Foundation survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan, majority of all Pakistanis believe education is extremely important for elected officials and that people without proper education should not hold public office; 70% of all respondents claimed that the government is doing wrong by eliminating the requirement for a Bachelor’s degree for people running in the election, 29% favour the decision and 1% gave no response.

In response to another question, 48% said both good education and relevant experience is necessary to be in the government, 34% said only good education matters, 17% believe only relevant experience counts and 1% gave no response. A nationally representative sample of men and women from across the country were asked “Recently, government has decided to withdraw the requirement to have a bachelor’s degree for participating in the elections.

In your view is this decision right or wrong?” Twenty nine percent (29%) think it is the right decision, where as 70% believe otherwise. One percent (1%) of the respondents gave no response. It is notable that a slightly higher percentage of urbanites (31%) as compared to their rural counterparts (28%) are in the favour of this decision.

In a follow up question the respondents were asked “In your view, in order to run good government is it more important to have good education, relevant experience, or both education and experience?” Thirty four percent (34%) prefer highly educated people to be elected in the government, 17% said relevant experience matters the most, whereas 48% believe both good education and experience count. One percent (1%) of the respondents gave no response. The findings reveal that a proportionately higher percentage of ruralites believe being highly educated (36%) and having relevant experience (`8%) is more important to run the government where as a higher percentage of urbanites believe it’s a combination of both good education and relevant experience which counts.

A significantly higher percentage of ANP voters (81%) think both education and experience are important. The study was released by Gilani foundation and carried out by Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International. The latest survey was carried out among a sample of 2765 men and women in rural and urban areas of all four provinces of the country. F.P. Report

Popularity: 9% [?]

HEC effort under Dr Atta-ur-Rehman was not convincing
Islamabad, Aug 19: Dr Muhammad Waseem from Lahore University of Management Sciences has said that Higher Education Commission (HEC) is promoting quantity at the cost of quality.

Dr Waseem was addressing the 3-day “Teaching and research methodology skills workshop for teaching faculty and PhD students”, hosted by Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, in collaboration with Higher Education Commission that concluded here Tuesday. (more…)

Popularity: 44% [?]