The University of Stirling has confirmed that they will not raise tuition fees in the next academic year for students from the rest of the United Kingdom.
A spokesperson for the University told Brig: “Tuition fees for undergraduate degree programmes for students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the 2017-18 academic year will remain at the current level.
Tuition fees are reviewed on an annual basis in line with sector averages, government policy and other financial factors.”
This announcement comes following the news that the University of Glasgow, University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews will be raising their tuition fees for students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Students from the rest of the UK pay £6750 per year, for a maximum of 4 years, for undergraduate courses at Stirling University.
Overseas students (students from outside of the EU) will see a slight tuition fee raise from £ 11,555 to £ 11,845.
Brig also spoke to Matt Adie, VP Education for Stirling Student Union about the University’s decision:
“The Union welcomes the commitment from the University of Stirling not to raise fees for rUK students into the 2017/18 academic year. The University has a significant number of students coming from the rest of the UK and today’s announcement reassures all of us that these students won’t be further constrained by a rise in fees.
The Union will continue to work with our national colleagues to call for the rights of all students to access free education, as per our current policy.
“Higher Education within the UK is on the cusp of major changes, brought about by the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). TEF seeks to link teaching quality with tuition fees, allowing those English Universities deemed to have “gold” standard teaching to raise fees for students in line with inflation.
This has the potential to have a knock on effect to Universities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A number of Scottish Universities have already announced their intention to increase fees for rUK students and so the University of Stirling’s decision to maintain fees at their current level is highly encouraging to see.”
