Students in England are paying the highest university tuition fees in the world, according to a report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
They are charging on an average £9,000 a year, according to a new study. The amount is two times more than institutions in Australia and about six times more than the fees paid in Switzerland and Italy. The next highest is the US, with fees of about £5,300 pounds followed by Japan on about £3,300.
It is the first time that the OECD has labeled universities in England as the most expensive. The last report, published in 2014, included data on fees for 2011, before the fee increase to £9,000. Last year’s report showed the UK as the fifth in the world, behind Chile, Korea, America and Japan.
In its report, the OECD said: “As part of a plan to stabilise university finances, tuition fees in England sharply increased in 2012. In parallel, student loan-repayment conditions were improved in order to accommodate the increase in tuition fees.
Responding to evidence from the OECD, Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust said: “This important international evidence shows that English students pay more for university than their counterparts elsewhere, While this has not yet reduced the numbers of poorer young students, it has seen a big fall in numbers of mature part-time students, an important group of access students too often forgotten.”
Vice president of higher education Sorana Vieru told: “Saddling students with enormous amounts of debt is simply unfair. Once again, access to education for groups including mature part-time students has been brushed under the carpet. Government cuts to widening participation funding and the planned conversion of maintenance grants to loans risks putting people off applying for university, or dropping out once they are through the door of their institution.”
The findings come at a time when the Government is considering allowing universities to charge higher fees. A Green Paper on higher education last month indicated those with high-quality teaching should be allowed to increase their fees in line with inflation. However, student leaders are worried that – with the axing of maintenance grants planned for next September – young people from disadvantaged backgrounds could be put off from applying, fearing they would face rising debts.
Other findings within the 2015 edition of the OECD’s annual ‘Education at a Glance’ report include that teachers’ starting salaries in England and Scotland are below average and among the lowest in Europe.