Northern Ireland students take to the streets over fees hike

Students in Northern Ireland took to the streets last week to show their discontent over an expected rise in university fees next year.

It had been proposed that charges for undergraduate courses in the North be increased in line with inflation from September 2009.

In response to these proposals, a number of protests were held, with Coleraine seeing the largest turnout.

While students succeeded in making their voices heard last Tuesday, the following day the motion to increase university fees was passed by Assembly members in Stormont by just one vote.

Speaking after the vote, president of the National Union of Students – Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI) Katie Morgan, expressed her disappointment with the result but was keen to highlight a positive outcome for the Union.

“Despite losing the vote, there is an upside in that we [the NUS-USI] got a seat on the Review Committee, so that should give us more influence in years to come,” she said. The ultimate aim of the NUS-USI is for free education.

University fees were reintroduced in Northern Ireland three years ago and at present students there pay up to €3,145 every year for undergraduate courses. Under the new measures this amount will rise to €3,225.

However, although these amounts are in place, third level institutions in the North are under no obligation to charge the full amount to their students. According to Morgan: “Even though fees are in place, this does not mean institutions need to charge them.

“The charge could have created a market among the institutions – one could charge €1,000 and the other could have charged more or less to attract students.

“It’s not the government’s fault that these institutions are charging the maximum fee – greed got in the way,” she added.

The rising costs of higher education in Northern Ireland have led to significant growth in the number of students working part-time.

According to the Ulster Bank 2008 Student Living Index, published in August, more students in Belfast take on jobs during the academic year than in any other UK university city.

The Index also predicted that 64% of Belfast students will be in employment throughout this academic year, with 34% of these students saying that going to university would be too expensive without this additional income.

According to Morgan, the fees are having a significant impact on these numbers. “Regarding the UK, Northern Ireland students work more hours because of costs of living. They’ve got to be suffering in their studies as a result,” she said.