The National Union of Students (NUS) in the UK has launched a campaign to put pressure on leaders of educational institutions to abolish in-course tuition fee increases for international students.
“Each year, up to 175,000 international students come to the UK in good faith only to find that the tuition fees for their course have increased without warning”
At the moment, many international students see their tuition fees rise in line with inflation over the course of their studies. At least half of all UK universities do not provide students with a fixed fee guarantee, according to the NUS.
The Fix International Fees campaign – #FixIntFees – asks students to sign a petition calling on Vice Chancellors and Principals to offer price guarantees. It also invites international students to add the cost of any tuition fees rises they have paid in the last year they have paid to an online calculator, which will produce a ‘grand total’ of additional fees paid by international students in the UK.
The campaign was launched this month with an open letter signed by more than 80 NUS and sabbatical officers from universities across the UK branding the in-course fee increases “inexcusable, unjustifiable and extortionate”.
The letter states: “Already paying high fees and budgeting meticulously, these rises threaten international students with hardship and worse: non-completion of their studies.”
Last week the University of Edinburgh announced that it will introduce a new system of fixed annual fees
It also references the ‘Pound in Your Pocket’ report, a research project published by the NUS in 2012 that showed students who pay unexpected additional costs of £1000 or more are three times more likely to leave their programme than other students.
Last week the University of Edinburgh announced that it will introduce a new system of fixed annual fees for its international students as of 1 August 2014, following a campaign by Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA).
University tuition fees for international students in Scotland are currently unregulated, varying from institution to institution, and can change during the academic year. Some reported fee hikes of up to £450 during the 2011/12 academic year, reflecting the average rate of inflation in the UK.
Under the new system, which campaign organiser and NUS Scotland’s International Students’ Officer Aurora Adams called “a real and impressive victory”, incoming undergraduate and postgraduate students on programmes lasting more than a year will not see their fees rise in line with inflation for the duration of their studies.
The changes will not affect students who are already enrolled, or those beginning their studies during the 2013-14 academic year.
