This article titled “Tuition fees 2012: what are the universities charging?” was written by Ami Sedghi and Jessica Shepherd, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 23rd June 2011 17.40 UTC

Here is our list of universities and how much they intend to charge in tuition fees from next autumn.

Last week it was announced that Welsh universities have been barred from charging maximum fees unless they re-think their plans to encourage students from a poorer background to take up a place at their institution. Jessica Shepherd has written:

All 10 Welsh universities and four of the country’s colleges want to charge annual fees of more than £4,000 by autumn 2012. But to do this, they had to submit plans to subsidise more low-income students. These plans had to be endorsed by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. However, the quango has told the 14 institutions their plans were not ambitious enough, and that they must rewrite them if they are to charge higher fees.

A growing number of English universities plan to charge £9,000 per year – the maximum possible. This has raised fears that the government will have to claw back funds from universities – possibly by reducing the number of places on degree courses – if the majority of institutions charge the maximum. It was revealed last month that all 123 universities and university colleges in England have planned on charging £6000 or more.

The latest universities to announce their 2012 tuition fee plans are:

• The University of West London has announced that it will charge a standard fee of £7,500. Those taking specialist art courses will be charged £7,700 and those planning on specialist music or performance courses will face the higher fee of £8,200.

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) became the first Russell Group university to not plan the maximum £9,000 fee for students in 2012 when it announced its fee plans earlier this month. In a narrow vote by the academic board, the institution in the same group as elite universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, chose £8,500 fees.

MPs voted in December to allow fees for UK students on undergraduate courses to rise from £3,350 a year to £6,000, and £9,000 in “exceptional cases.”

But ministers assumed that universities would charge different levels of fees and that the average, across more than 130 institutions, would be £7,500.

The government pays students’ tuition fees in the first instance. Graduates pay the government back when they are earning more than £21,000. If the average fee is higher than ministers anticipated, the government will end up paying more up front, and this may not be sustainable.

So far only a handful of institutions (announced so far) have published plans to charge less than the maximum.

Vince Cable, Business Secretary, announced in Parliament:

the introduction of a fee cap of £6,000, rising to £9,000 in exceptional circumstances

Universities that charge more than £6,000 must set out targets to widen their pool of students beyond white, middle-class teenagers. These must be agreed by the government’s access watchdog, the Office for Fair Access.

Universities and colleges had until Tuesday 19 April 2011 to submit their access agreements to Offa. They will then assess their agreements and announce all that have been approved by 11 July 2011 – so the fees below are the amount universities are intending to charge. These will be updated as further universities publish their plans.

The latest Guardian University ranking tables were published last week showing that the University of Cambridge had over taken Oxford to take first place on the league table. We have added in the new rankings onto our table and spreadsheets.

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This article titled “Private schools suffer drop in pupils” was written by Jessica Shepherd, education correspondent, for The Guardian on Thursday 28th April 2011 06.00 UTC

The number of pupils at private schools has fallen for the second year running as the economic climate forces families to tighten their belts, figures have shown.

Student numbers dropped by 786 this year – a fall of 0.2%, the annual Independent Schools Council (ISC) census reveals.

The figures cover nursery-age pupils to 19-year-olds at 1,228 day and boarding schools in the UK.

Last year the number of pupils at private schools fell by 0.6%. Private schools saw a slight dip in pupil numbers in 2005, but that was attributed to falling numbers of school-age children. The last drop before that was in the early 1990s, at the end of the last recession.

Rudolf Eliott Lockhart, head of research and intelligence at the ISC, said this year’s fall in student numbers was down to the economic climate. “The drop is inevitable in this climate and will affect some families,” he said.

The 0.2% decline includes pupils whose parents live in the UK and those whose parents live overseas. When the two are separated, the figures show that the number of students whose parents live in the UK has fallen by 0.5% – to 480,814, while those whose parents live abroad has shot up by 5.5% – to 24,554. David Lyscom, the ISC’s chief executive, said the rise in overseas students was “a great British success story”.

The number of pupils who board has risen by 1.7% to 68,102, the figures show. Almost half of these students are sixth-formers.

The ISC’s census also shows that the average cost of sending a child to a private school has risen by 4.6% this year to almost £13,200 a year.

The average termly fee for boarding and day schools, excluding nurseries, is £4,393. There are three terms in the school year. For day pupils, the average termly fee is £3,736, while for boarding pupils it is £8,384.

Some 22 schools charge more than £10,050 per term. Queen Ethelburga’s College, York, is thought to be the most expensive mainstream boarding school in Britain and charges £32,985 a year for sixth-formers who come from overseas.

Lyscom said the average fee rise was the second lowest since 1994 and showed that independent schools were “very sensitive to the needs of parents and are doing everything they can to keep fees to a minimum”.

The ISC said 14 of its schools had closed in the past year and described the economic climate as “the most challenging for decades”. Some 33% of pupils in ISC schools now receive help with their fees – 7.5% more than last year.

Lyscom said independent schools had shown “remarkable resilience against a difficult economic background”. He said this reflected the “high quality of education that our schools offer to parents and the value for money that this represents”.

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This article titled “Rise in university applications slows amid fears about degree costs” was written by Jessica Shepherd, education correspondent, for The Guardian on Tuesday 26th April 2011 23.01 UTC

The rapid increase in the number of young people applying to UK universities over the last five years appears to be tailing off, statistics show. The figures come as research reveals that half of today’s undergraduates would not have gone to university if they had been forced to pay £9,000-a-year tuition fees.

Figures published by the University and College Admissions Service (Ucas) on Tuesday show that the number of applicants – while at a record high – has only increased by 2.1% in the last year.

Between 2007 and 2008, the number of applicants grew by 8.3%. A year later, this figure climbed to 8.8%. Between 2009 and 2010, the growth was 15.3%.

Many expected a rush to get on to courses before tuition fees rise to up to £9,000 a year in autumn 2012. Almost three-quarters of universities in England intend to almost treble their fees and charge the maximum.

This year’s smaller-than-usual increase in applicant numbers may indicate that young people are starting to look for alternatives to university amid fears over the rising cost of degrees.

Last year’s spike in applicants is thought to have been triggered in part by the recession and fears over tuition fee rises. More people enrol on degree courses in times of economic hardship.

This year’s Ucas figures show more teenagers are applying for vocational degrees, such as engineering and nursing, while fewer are opting for languages, arts and humanities courses. Some 633,811 applicants hope to start full-time undergraduate degree courses this autumn, the Ucas figures reveal.

There are likely to be about 490,000 places available, which will leave more than 100,000 would-be students rejected by all the universities to which they have applied.

Ministers allowed universities to offer an extra 10,000 university places for last year and this. But in 2012, these places will not be available.

Meanwhile, just over half of 12,658 undergraduates have told pollsters they would not have gone to university if tuition fees had been £9,000 a year. Market research firm High Fliers Research questioned students from 24 universities, all of which intend to charge £9,000 from autumn 2012. found that women, those from the north of England and those who achieved three B grades at A-level, or less, were most likely to be deterred by maximum tuition fees. Those studying arts, humanities and languages were more put off than those taking other subjects.

More than three-fifths of students quizzed at Loughborough, Sheffield, Lancaster, Liverpool and Reading universities said they would not have started their degree if they had had to pay the maximum fee. Students at Oxford and Cambridge universities were the least concerned. Some 25% and 27% respectively said they would be put off by fees of £9,000.

Students who had gone to state schools were more likely to be deterred by the higher fees. Some 59% of those who had attended comprehensives said £9,000 fees would have put them off university, compared with 39% of those who were educated privately.

The initial charge of tuition fees is borne by the government, which pays the fee for each student in the form of a loan before recovering its money once the student has graduated and finds a job that pays more than £21,000 a year.

This year’s Ucas figures also show that degrees in history, philosophy and classics are less popular than they were last year, while places on physics, maths and engineering courses are more sought after.

Applications for history and for philosophy are down by 1.5%, while those for linguistics or classics have fallen by 4.2%. Applications for European languages have dropped 0.8%, but non-European languages have increased by the same amount.

However, applications for maths and computer science have risen 6.5%, while for engineering they have climbed by 4.7%. Nursing has grown by 14%.

The proportion of university hopefuls who are older than 18 when they apply continues to rise. The proportion of 19-year-olds who applied this year has grown by 6.2%, while those aged 24 has grown by 4%.

Check how much universities want to charge in tuition fees here

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Cambridge University plans to charge tuition fees of £9,000 a year from autumn next year – the maximum allowed, a leaked paper has revealed.

The consultation paper shows the university wants to almost triple fees from the current maximum of £3,375 for this autumn. It states that to charge less would be “fiscally irresponsible”.

Students whose family income is under £25,000 would pay £6,000 and a bursary of up to £1,625, under the plans contained in a report from Cambridge’s working group on fees, which has been published for consultation. Students will be means-tested for reductions if their family’s income is less than £43,000.

David Willetts, the universities minister, said universities would only be allowed to charge £9,000 in “exceptional circumstances”.

The £9,000 fees will be a flat rate for all UK and European Union students on all courses. Students take out a loan for the cost of the fees. The government pays the fees until the students have graduated and earn £21,000.

The document states: “The level of tuition fee charged from 2012 entry should be the maximum permissible, ie £9,000 per annum with any subsequent adjustment for inflationary increases.”

Cambridge is believed to be one of the first institutions to announce it is planning to charge students the maximum fee.

The fees are currently about £3,000, but the review by Joanne Stuart from the Institute of Directors, said they should rise to a maximum of £5,750.

In an earlier report Ms Stuart said fees should be frozen.

A consultation on student finance will be launched next month.

Employment and Learning Minister Danny Kennedy told the Assembly that Ms Stuart’s update will be a “key consideration” for his department.

Speaking in the Assembly, Mr Kennedy said “the option of maintaining the status quo” has been rejected in Ms Stuart’s updated review as it would “not address the deficit in higher education funding”.

“Based on the calculations and assumptions made in the Stuart update, there would be a short fall of between approximately £40m and £65m per annum upon roll out to a full three year cohort.

“Instead, Joanne Stuart recommends an increase in the maximum fee cap of between £5,000 and £5,750.

A fifth of recent graduates are unemployed – the highest proportion for more than a decade, statistics published today show.

Between July and September last year, 20% of new graduates were out of work, the Office for National Statistics said. This means the proportion of recent graduates who are unemployed has almost doubled since the start of the recession in 2008.

The statistics, taken from the Labour Force Survey, are for graduates who are economically active and looking for employment, but are unable to find work. They show that recent graduates fared worse than other sections of the labour market. At the start of the recession, unemployment for new graduates was 10.6%, compared with 5.2% across the UK population.

In place of commercial water the university shall make available additional water fountains, vending machines that will dispense sparkling and flavored water and reusable water bottles.

[via TreeHugger]

The awards seek to ‘recognize and encourage world-class research and artistic creation.’ Lord Stern was recognized in the Climate Change category for his study

The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, published in 2006 Speaking on receipt of the reward, Lord Stern stated “I feel very privileged to receive a prize that is dedicated specifically to climate change research… It is certainly a very clear statement of the importance that the BBVA Foundation attaches to an area so vital for the future existence of human beings on this planet”.

TAFE Colleges in NSW currently offer over 1,200 nationally recognised qualifications and its network of colleges train over 400,000 people annually. The Department’s international division is responsible for promoting the states programs and achievements internationally.

In the below question and answer, the DET answers questions on why international students would choose to study in NSW over other destinations as well as the direction and challenges faced by TAFE Colleges in NSW.

Studyfinder: Could you provide a quick background on the role of DET International in the New South Wales education system and how it’s work has an impact on international students studying in New South Wales?

DET International is the unit within the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET NSW) that manages and coordinate international activities including student recruitment on behalf of the DET NSW. DET International has a number of departments including recruitment and marketing, delegations, international projects, study tours and communications.

Studyfinder: Are there any areas of the education sector in New South Wales that set it apart as unique from other, competing sectors Internationally?

A. NSW offers a high level of quality education in a safe destination. The Universities, TAFEs and Schools in NSW have some of the highest academic standards in Australia and students obtain excellent graduate outcomes. Sydney is a fantastic study destination that provides a safe and welcoming destination.

Studyfinder: For international students considering where to study, what would be your message to them on why they should choose an education provider in New South Wales over another country?

A. New South Wales offers internationally recognised qualifications with excellent graduate outcomes. In particularly the programs of DET NSW (TAFE NSW and NSW government schools) provide international students with a unique opportunity to study with Australian students in practical and safe academic environments.

Studyfinder: How have the recent fluctuations in the international economy had an impact on the education system in New South Wales? What strategies have been taken by the Department to ensure the continued growth and development of the local sector?

A. I think the changes in the economy have had an impact on all sectors of the economy but education is very much an investment in the future. Many students are turning to education during this period to improve their skills and be in a better position to get jobs. DET International has continued its marketing of its programs in key markets but also developed new markets and new products to meet the needs of international students.

Studyfinder:  Are there any specific challenges faced by TAFE NSW over the next 3-5 years? What are these and what work is being done within the sector to resolve them?

A. There is strong competition from other educational providers in other countries. The challenge is to be able to continue to develop high quality education programs that prepare students for the fast changing economy. Our job at TAFE NSW is to give students the skills they need to find work after graduate.

Thank you to the staff at DET International for assisting in this article.

Researcher Rob Lawrence said a September survey of 1127 potential overseas students suggested a more price-sensitive market for Australian providers.

“Contrary to last year, when [students] were saying that parents entirely funded them, it now seems that more and more students are going to have to be self-funded alongside their parents,” he said.

More than 50 per cent of prospective students could not rely on parental income alone.

“That means we’re going to have to [recruit students] who can afford to come here in an era when [education and] living costs are rising,” Mr Lawrence said.

More than 60 per cent of prospective students expressed very high levels of agreement with the statement that “Australia has increased the costs of education”.

Lawrence’s survey this year, which included a little more than 2000 foreign students already here, set out to identify the effect of rising costs, safety concerns and tougher rules for skilled migration. The study, for education broker IDP Australia, used the organisation’s overseas network and the results were presented at last week’s international education conference in Sydney.

“In [last year's study], Australia was the country associated most with affordability, safety, access to permanent residency,” Mr Lawrence said.